I have the great pleasure of sitting next to the "interns desk" in our office space shared with Capital Valuation Group. I learn what is on the mind of smart articulate and mature 20-22 year olds. These are cream of the crop kids from the UW Business School finance program. (BBA).
Recently there has been a thread of discussion on "what do I want to do with the rest of my life". Tim is heading off to Chicago as an associate in Investment Banking at RW Baird. Paul is headed to T Rowe Price in Baltimore. Both have thought a lot about how this fits into the big picture of life, know why they want to do it, and what their career might look like 5 years down the road.
They know they can find meaningful work just about anywhere, get paid well for what they do, and start off with a very good starting salary. However, what I heard was that this was all secondary. More important was a) How can I make a difference by doing meaningful work; b) maintain a reasonable work life balance; c) be challenged and have flexibility/options as my career progresses and I learn more; d) be recognized for my work, enjoy my co-workers and surroundings, and be treated respectfully as a peer. A very informed and matures perspective. In fact, both made trade offs based upon their view of how closely potential employers met these criteria.
We spent a couple of hours last night talking about where they are headed. I was able to recollect and tell stories of my first few years out of undergrad at Amoco's Finance & Accounting group. I see a huge challenge for many traditional environments to provide the kind of opportunity these top notch grads are looking for.
The end result was providing them with some career management type of articles which I reference below. I think they are some of the few consciously thinking about this now, and I give them great credit. (I did some of this work and thinking myself at this age - but more by accident I think). Here are the resources for all to use.
One of the best was this Bain article Build a Life Not a Resume
The Road to Self-Renewal by John Gardner here and here and here.
Are You Deciding on Purpose an interview with Richard Leider.
Career Anchors by Edgar Schein.
Thanks Tim and Paul, Ryan, Brian, Jake, and others for educating me on what's on the mind of our future organizational talent. I'm looking forward to hearing of your success in life as well as your career.
