Category Archives: Success on the Job

Career Advice for Athletes from Athletes

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On Sunday, March 18th, Career & Leadership Development, along with UW-Whitewater Intercollegiate Athletics and the Student Athlete Advisory Council, sponsored the first ever career panel for our student athletes. Seven panelists, all former college athletes who are established and successful in their career fields, provided sage advice for our current student athletes in attendance.

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The purpose of the panel was to provide career advice to students, specifically how the qualities and mindset gained as a college athlete helps with career success. Graduation years of the panelists ranged from 1985 to 2001. All are highly successful in their careers, and each provided our students with great career advice that will serve as a formula for career success.

Two main themes emerged during the panel. First, as college athletes, the panelists indicated that they developed attitudes, behaviors, and skills which have helped them tremendously in their careers. Because of their dedication of time, and the physical and psychological energy required of a college athlete, all panelists believe they learned a tremendous lesson that they’ve applied to help them succeed in their work and life in general. From their current perspective, they each looked back and realized they benefited from athletics in more ways than they realized while they were a student.

The second theme was the advice for career success they provided to our current student athletes. This advice is applicable to all students, but was grounded in the mindset the panelists learned as a result of their participation in college athletics. Here is a sampling of their career advice:

  • Participation in college athletics is hard work. So is a career. The work ethic you develop as an athlete should be applied to your career. Understand that your career requires you to fully dedicate yourself – it’s more than just a 40 hour a week job. If more time is needed, then work more time.
  • Athletes are all part of a team. They need to work effectively with their teammates, coaches, trainers, and everyone else who contributes to success. The same goes for your career. To be successful in your career, you need to be able to get along well with your co-workers, to work effectively as a member of a work unit, and to know when to lead and when to follow.
  • Athletes have a competitive drive. They like competition and don’t shy away from it. Many career fields, such as business, require a competitive drive. This same drive that has helped an athlete succeed should be applied to their career as well. Always strive to do better, to perform better tomorrow than you did today.
  • Self-discipline is required of athletes. Most recruiters I know refer to this as self-management. A bit different, but similar in many ways. Career professionals need to effectively manage their time, organize their work, maintain a healthy body and mind, deal effectively with stress, and accept and learn from failure. Sounds a lot like what athletes need to do to succeed.

Thanks to the following panelists for continuing to give their time and talent to UW-Whitewater:

Mike Grahl, 1998 UWW graduate – Baseball
Interactive Marketing Manager with the Milwaukee Bucks

Aaron Jagdfeld, 1993 UWW graduate – Track & Field
President & CEO of Generac Power Systems, Inc.

Cyndee Kelsey, 1988 UWW graduate – Softball
Client Relations Director for Great-West Retirement Services

Matt Krueger, 1995 MATC graduate – Basketball
Managing Director/Owner in the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network

Tim Patterson, 1995 UWW graduate – Football and Baseball
Owner/Partner of Ansay & Associates, LLC

Lisa Schaffer, 2001 UWW graduate – Gold
Professional IT Recruiter for TEK Systems

Jack West, 1997 UWW graduate – Wrestling
District Marketing Manager for Federated Insurance

Photo by Fabio Stefano Alla

Coming Out at Work

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The biggest hurdle in coming out at work is determining if you are ready to come out. Nobody can really know this but you, and it is a big decision.

When looking for information on coming out at work, I came across a great article:  Coming Out at Work by Russell Kaltschmidt, Editor of gay.com. Coming out is always risky, but you may be able to minimize the risks by following a well thought-out plan.

Kaltschmidt’s advice is to:

  1. Assess your readiness
  2. Perform at your best
  3. Gather supporters
  4. Choose a strategy
  5. Conduct a trial run
  6. Consider the timing

Here are some other links that may be helpful:

Balance

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I just wrote in my Facebook page that I was working on a presentation for work, doing my laundry, and watching a sewing program. I’m not sure that’s a good life balance, but it did get me to think about it.

What is life balance? According to Wikipedia, it is a “broad concept including proper prioritizing between ‘work’ (career and ambition) on one hand and ‘life’ (pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other.”

I understand balance is important in my life, but what should I look for and what does that mean in regard to my career and my personal life? What does that mean to college students?

Often when I talk to students about what they need to do to prepare for their future careers, I talk to them about balance. Grades are definitely an important part of the preparation. Attending classes and keeping up with homework, studying for tests, writing papers, reports, etc. are part of that, too. I also talk about participating in extracurricular activities. We know employers like students who are involved in organizations, community service, and so forth.

If possible I recommend students get involved in two types of organizations – one that is career/major based and one that is for “fun” (not to imply a career/major organization isn’t fun – I hope it is.) Employers like to see leadership roles, too. Employers also are interested in students who have internship experience (for more information on internships, see http://www.uww.edu/internships/ and last week’s blog about Internship Week). Beyond these things, there are also jobs (most of our students have to work to pay for college), relationships, and any other interests a student might have.

Wow! How are you supposed to keep up with all of this! We need to Achieve and Enjoy something in every important area of our lives every day. Sounds pretty simple. But with all the work we need to do, is it really that simple?

Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D. gives ten steps for helping college students cope find their life balance in his article, 10 Tips for Finding Life Balance in College:

  1. Set Realistic Goals
  2. Learn to Study Effectively
  3. Learn to Manage Your Time
  4. Eat Well
  5. Exercise Regularly
  6. Set Priorities
  7. Simplify
  8. Let things Go
  9. Explore Your Options, Get Help
  10. Know When It’s Time to Quit

I don’t know about you, but it looks like I have some work to do to put some balance in my life…after I get my laundry done. Not waiting until the last minute is a good idea. Don’t wait until the semester you’re graduating to think about what you’re going to put on your resume. Planning when you’re a freshman will help prevent some of the stress caused by having too much to do and not enough time to do it.

What ideas do you have to put balance in your life?

Am I Able to Do Everything I Said I Could Do?

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Immediately after I accepted my first professional position, my wife and I sat down with a glass of wine on the balcony of our apartment to celebrate. It was cheap wine – the job search took longer than I thought it would. But the wine tasted especially sweet because my job search was finally behind me. I could relax, begin doing what I was trained to do, and earn a paycheck.

Now, at times, I can be my own worst enemy. Right smack dab in the middle of this special moment I began to listen to my doubts. “Can I actually do everything I said I could do during the interview?” “What did I actually say during the interview anyway?” “I think I’ll be a  great employee, but I hope they don’t want me to be great right away… I should have told them I was a slow starter.” Way to ruin the moment, dude!

Most graduates seek employment within an organization. Success within an organization has much to do with how well your knowledge and skills ”fit” your role, how well your values align with the values of the organization, and how ready you are to assume the habits and attitudes of a professional in your field. Basically, can you do the job? Do you value the work? And do you know how to interact with others in ways that allow for your continued success?

I’m interested in the beginning of people’s professional journeys. How we begin our career influences our success, as does our attitudes about work, colleagues, bosses, and performance. From conversations with recent graduates, here’s some advice that you may find helpful as you begin your professional journey:

  • 80% of workplace success has to do with building positive relationships with your colleagues. Sometimes we get so busy with our “to-do” lists that we miss opportunities to create meaningful professional relationships with those around us. Our colleagues are able to help tremendously with our adjustment to the organization, new location, and how we perform the job, if only we take the time to get to know them.
  • Understand that you’re going through a life transition, not too unlike your transition from high school to college. When you begin your career you’ll need to adjust to a new organization – including all of the nuances of organizational culture and climate. Of course, you’ll meet new people, and you may need to adjust to a new place to live. Besides meeting new people, you’ll leave others behind as your life takes you in directions different than your friends and family. And, like college, there’s probably going to be an expectation that you perform at a higher level than you have the past four years. During life transitions, it’s important to understand how stress affects you, and make sure you get enough sleep, eat healthy, and exercise.
  • While most organizations will orient new employees, I prefer to consider myself in charge of my life. So I find out in advance about issues such as dress code, work hours, and the myriad of other issues that you’ll need to know to fit in with the organization’s culture and performance expectations. I don’t like to find out that I should have known something, and “no one told me” is not an acceptable excuse for a professional.
  • Be positive, and be a learner. Most likely you won’t be asked to be the expert on day one, or on day two for that matter. Work requires us to be life-long learners, so go with this: Ask questions. Ask more questions. Don’t feel like you need to have all of the answers immediately, they’ll come soon enough.

Enjoy your journey!

Prepare for Your Future!

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I had the opportunity to attend Discover M&I  today in Madison. Elaine from M&I really did a nice job hosting college career staff from across southern Wisconsin. I learned quite a bit about the banking industry and specifically, Marshall & Ilsley Corporation.

I was impressed. I’m not someone who is easily impressed – fireworks bore me. What did impress me was the level of passion that Doug Nelson, SW Region President, and John Sylla, Vice-President, Wealth Management, Elaine Schultz, Assistant Vice-President SW Region, and other M&I staff have for their jobs, their customers. Their passion centered around helping people. And that’s what impressed me. It’s so important for all of us to find what we truly love to do, then do it. It sounds easy, but when I was a student the best view I could ever develop of my future was foggy at best.

One way to discover your passion is through experience. Jobs, internships, volunteering - any experience that will allow you to develop skills and learn more about a particular industry are vital to help clear the fog. One of the really special parts of my day was attending a panel of four young people who’ve just started their careers with M&I. Two, Ashley and Donta, are UW-Whitewater students. What they’ve learned through their job and internship respectively is invaluable. They talked about the value of working with other professionals, about being accountable, and about contributing. They said that it’s important to feel that their work matters, that they matter. Because they feel valued at M&I they’re motivated to learn and grow as professionals. Thanks for the great advice Donta, Ashley, Rebecca, and Matt!

This is the inaugural post for the UW-Whitewater Career Spotlight Blog. There are three of us who will be the primary authors of the blog - Kathy Craney, Career Counselor; Ellen Hatfield, Graduate Assistant; and me, Ron Buchholz, Director of Career & Leadership Development. At times we’ll invite special guests. We’re planning to share our advice, reflections, things we find interesting, things we learn about, and information that can help you prepare for the world beyond the campus. We hope you’ll find this valuable!