We hear the phrase career ready all the time.
Get the degree. Build the résumé. Find an internship. Create a LinkedIn profile. Learn how to interview. Apply for jobs.
Yes, all of that matters.
But I think career readiness is bigger than that.
A résumé may get somebody to notice you. An internship may help you gain experience. A degree may help get you through the door.
But none of those guarantee you know how to build a career.
I learned that part the hard way.
My career has had some great moments, but it has also had disappointment, uncertainty, missed opportunities, second chances and plenty of times when I had to figure out what came next.
Looking back, three things keep showing up.
Strategic. Engaged. Teamwork.
That is SET.
And for me, those words are personal.
Strategic: What Happens When It Doesn't Go Your Way?
One of the first times I really had to think about my career direction came at the United States Naval Academy.
I was a sports information intern.
I worked hard. I handled the responsibilities I was given. And when a permanent Assistant Director position opened, I believed I had done enough to earn the opportunity.
I was the internal candidate.
I thought I had a real shot.
They hired someone else.
I will not pretend that was easy.
What makes the story interesting today is that the person they hired has remained a friend of mine.
But in that moment, I was disappointed.
I had to decide what was next.
A few months later, I accepted another internship at Indiana University.
Think about that for a second.
I wanted a permanent position.
Instead, I took another internship.
On paper, somebody could have looked at that and wondered if I was moving backward.
I did not know exactly where it would lead.
I just knew I needed another opportunity.
My mother has always said:
“Nothing ventured; nothing gained.”
That has stuck with me.
Sometimes being Strategic is not about having some perfect five-year plan.
Sometimes it is simply being willing to move when the first plan does not work.
You may not control who gets hired.
You may not control who says yes to you.
You may not control when an opportunity disappears.
But you do control what you do next.
Indiana Changed More Than My Résumé
Indiana turned out to be one of the most important stops of my life.
And not because everything went perfectly.
While I was there, another intern was let go.
That changed things.
Some responsibilities shifted. Some opportunities that I thought I would have were no longer mine.
At the same time, new responsibilities came my way.
I could have spent a lot of time thinking about what I was missing.
Instead, I tried to make the most of what was now in front of me.
One of those opportunities was working with our student assistants.
I had to learn how to lead people.
Not from a leadership book.
By actually doing it.
I had to communicate. I had to teach. I had to listen. I had to learn when to step in and when to let someone else handle something.
And I was fortunate to have Jeff Fanter as my supervisor.
Jeff took a chance on me.
He trusted me with a lot, both personally and professionally.
Our relationship gave me a chance to learn something I still believe matters today:
You have to know how to learn, listen, lead and follow.
There are times when you should lead.
There are times when somebody else knows more than you do and you need to listen.
There are times when the best thing you can do is follow somebody else's direction and help them succeed.
That lesson still influences how I work.
Indiana also gave me something I definitely was not expecting when I accepted the internship.
I met my wife.
That is another reminder that our careers are about more than titles.
You meet people along the way who can completely change your life.
Engaged Does Not Mean Collecting Connections
When I talk about being Engaged, I am not talking about how many LinkedIn connections you have.
I am talking about relationships.
Real ones.
People you can learn from.
People you can call.
People who know more about you than your job title.
People you have stayed connected with when you did not need anything from them.
I did not always understand that as well as I do today.
Early in my career, I did not ask enough questions.
I wish I had.
There were people around me who knew things I did not know.
There were skills I could have learned faster.
Graphic design is one example.
I could have asked more questions.
I could have gone to someone and said:
“Show me how you did that.”
Or:
“What am I missing?”
Or even:
“Can you help me get better at this?”
Too often, I tried to figure things out myself.
Part of that was confidence.
Or maybe a lack of it.
Sometimes we are afraid asking a question will expose what we do not know.
The opposite is often true.
Asking questions can show that you actually care about getting better.
I Thought I Could Outwork Everything
This may be one of the biggest things I would tell my younger self.
I believed I could outwork people.
And if I outworked them, eventually I would outperform them.
There is nothing wrong with working hard.
I still believe strongly in it.
But there were times when I did not put enough attention into work-life balance.
I did not always understand how important it was to be sharp mentally as well as physically.
I tied too much of my confidence to how much I could produce.
How many hours I worked.
How much I could get done.
How many responsibilities I could carry.
And there is a danger in that.
At some point, you have to ask yourself:
Am I working hard because the work needs to be done, or am I trying to prove something?
I have had to ask myself that question.
More than once.
Your organization deserves your best.
But you also have to be accountable to yourself.
Teamwork Is the Part I Still Have to Work On
Of the three parts of SET, Teamwork may be the one that challenges me most.
That may surprise some people because I have worked around teams my entire career.
But being around teams and being a great teammate are not always the same thing.
I can become very focused on what I want to accomplish.
Sometimes too focused.
And there have been times when I have made a decision without stopping to ask:
How does this affect somebody else?
That is where teamwork gets real.
It is not just being nice to your coworkers.
It is understanding that your decisions have consequences beyond you.
Sometimes I need to ask more questions.
Sometimes I need to listen longer.
Sometimes I need to remember that what may make sense for me may create a problem for somebody else.
That is something I continue to work on.
I think we should be willing to admit that.
You do not reach a certain job title and suddenly stop needing to grow.
Sometimes Other People See Something You Cannot See
In 2013, I was outside the sports communications profession.
There was a point where I had to decide whether I really wanted to return.
I was fortunate because I was surrounded by mentors, friends and people in my network who encouraged me.
People who reminded me what I was capable of.
People who challenged me.
People who helped me see a future when I was not always as confident about it myself.
That period changed how I thought about my career.
I began setting goals that went beyond landing the next job.
I wanted to become a better leader.
I wanted to become a better mentor.
I wanted to have an impact on the people inside the organization where I worked.
And I wanted to have an impact beyond it.
Those goals still motivate me today.
So, Are You SET?
That is really the question.
Not:
Do you have your entire career figured out?
I do not expect you to.
I certainly did not.
The better questions are these.
Are you Strategic?
Do you know what you are working toward?
If the plan changes, can you adjust without losing sight of where you want to go?
Are you setting goals that mean something to you, not just goals somebody else gave you?
Are you Engaged?
Are you asking questions?
Are you building relationships before you need something?
Are you learning from people who have already been where you want to go?
And are you staying connected when there is nothing to ask for?
Are you a Teammate?
Can people count on you?
Do you think about how your choices affect the people around you?
Can you listen?
Can you lead?
Can you follow?
Can you admit when somebody else knows more than you?
Can you help make the people around you better?
Those questions matter to me because I have had to answer every one of them.
And I have not always answered them well.
Why The GetSET Program Matters to Me
The GetSET Program is personal.
I want people to know there is somebody invested in them.
Not just in whether they get a job.
In them.
Their goals.
Their confidence.
Their development.
Their relationships.
Their ability to become the kind of person who can step into an opportunity and make something out of it.
I love seeing people succeed.
I love connecting people who can help one another.
I love watching somebody find the fuel to take a role or responsibility and perform it at a level they may not have thought was possible.
And part of this is simply giving back.
People took chances on me.
People answered my questions.
People opened doors for me.
People challenged me.
People reminded me what I was capable of when I needed it.
I want to be that person for someone else.
So if you are early in your career, here is what I want you to hear.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Ask the question.
Take the chance.
Apply for the opportunity.
Talk to the person you are nervous to approach.
Listen when somebody gives you feedback.
Be accountable to yourself, not just your employer.
And set goals that mean more to you than what is written on a scoreboard or what your supervisor tells you matters.
You may not know exactly where your career is going.
That is okay.
Just do not sit still waiting for somebody else to decide it for you.
My mother said it best:
Nothing ventured; nothing gained.
Be Strategic.
Stay Engaged.
Be a Teammate.
And keep getting SET for whatever comes next.
