Advice from my Dad

By someone else on January 15th, 1997

The things that I think are important at this point in your career are:

developing an expertise, and
stability of employment.

You need to develop an expertise that can be transferred to other companies if you so choose in the future or you always start at the bottom, or entry level. You need to become an expert or experienced in something and have a reputation of successful assignments. It is easier to find out what this skill or area is in a larger company so that you can move around within the company without having to change employers. This develops a reputation of stability while you are trying to find out what you really like. You should focus on finding the area that you like better than other areas.

When the opportunity presents itself, you should talk to people in the departments or functions at your company that you might be interested in and find out what they do, what it is like, and when, and if, there are any openings. From inside the company you can get into jobs/departments that you could not get into from the outside.

Money and/or an individual opportunity are not always as important as developing an expertise that you can rely on and build from for future companies or assignments. It improves your marketability.

DAD