Career Reflections

Millennials are the largest demographics in the workplace today. The generation is notoriously known for job hopping. 2019 Deloitte Millennial Survey found that 49% of millennials would quit their jobs within two years and that 25% of those surveyed reported leaving a job within two years. This means that in an average millennial’s career, h/she will have 15-20 jobs!

I fit perfectly within this mold. I am a millennial and am on my 5th job since undergrad. Looking at just the numbers makes it look bad but there’s a rationale or story for all my job changes. Since graduating from business school many of my classmates have also made at least one job change, some even more.

Many look at these job change statistics for millennials and conclude that the generation is looking for a quick promotion or more compensation or are fickle. While these might be true in some cases, I think millennials are valuing their professional growth and have higher expectations from employers. If I am not being developed or have opportunities to grow in my career, why should I stick around? Mobility has also increased, providing the opportunity to seek jobs in other cities that might be a better fit for us personally. Additionally, as employers cease their pension benefits and switch over to 401k plans only, ties between employers and employees become even weaker. No more golden handcuffs.

I recently started a new job and finally feel like I am on the right track in my career. I am excited for this new opportunity to join an organization that is focused on Marketing where I can develop the skill sets I need to succeed in my chosen career path. My journey has been a long one, at least it feels that way, and at times has been frustrating and downright demoralizing. But as I reflect back on my short career span – I have another 35 or so years to go before I can retire, I’ve realized how much I learned at each job and the building blocks I put in place to get me to where I am today.

Here’s what I learned from my most recent job that I can carry forward to be even more successful in my next one:

1. Industry exposure. I got exposure to the food and beverage industry, to players in the space from manufacturers to retailers to consumers. If you want to continue building your career in the same industry learn as much as you can so you’ll have a foundation to build upon in the next job.
2. The code words. SKUs. UPCs. NPD. POS. Digital activation. Media tactics. And many more. Lot’s more acronyms to learn but again my foundation has strengthened and in the future new layers can be added to make it stronger.
3. Acquiring new skills. Project management is a key skill in Marketing. We’re project leaders and decision makers so being able to lead projects, deliver them on time, be organized, and communicate key dates and deliverables is critical to succeeding. In Finance there’s a monthly cadence of reporting results and forecasting, which is easy to manage but in Marketing you’re driving projects forward by providing key inputs, wrangling cross-functional teams, and determining strategic direction. I learned this new critical skill and can continue honing it. My goal is to keep acquiring new skills and mastering them so I can get up to speed faster at every new job.
4. Learn what to do or not to do from your bosses. We either love our bosses or dislike them. Each one has a unique style of leadership. Some of my bosses were great – well versed in the job, focused on helping their direct reports grow, organized, EMPATHETIC, trusting, willing to listen etc while others were nice and gave feedback, but really only had surface level knowledge or were pushovers and couldn’t say no themselves. Few others were abrasive, rude, acted like high schoolers. With each boss you can pick up on the good leadership skills and bring them into your fold and keep a mental list (or a real list) of the ones you never want to exhibit yourself.
5. Advocate for your self. This is another skill, I’ll call it a skill, because those of us who are more reserved, introverted, and socialized based on gender or culture to take a back seat have to learn this very important skill to move up in our careers. This is an area that I need to make progress in because today working hard is not enough. You have to tout your wins and ensure that your boss and those around you know who you are and what you’ve done. I’m not natural at this at all and advocating for myself saps quite a bit of energy out of me. But what I need to learn is to be selective and strategic. Let’s see how this plays off in my new job.

I keep reminding myself and so does my husband that my career is like running a marathon. You can sprint and get ahead at the beginning but what will it matter if you tire out and cannot complete the race? I have to remind myself to have patience and hope luck is on my side. Because let’s be real, there is only so much I can control in my career. I cannot control others performance or business needs.

But also to be frank I am not getting any younger (I look young but in reality have entered my 30s) so I cannot ease up on the gas, I have to keep pushing until I am content with my career achievements.

What lessons have you learned from your previous jobs?