Career advice I wish someone had given me.

August 21st, 2008 • 13 comments Culture Briefings, Ideas & Innovation

I think my non-traditional career path is testimony to the increasing dissonance ambitious young self-starters like me have felt with the traditionally available career options. I do receive occasional emails from young graduates who are seeking career advice. Since I don’t have the bandwidth to share my learnings via email exchanges, this is a good home for it.

It is what I have learned from managing and pursuing my career. It may not apply to you or you may not agree with this, but I am not looking for approval or arguments. I wrote this down because I always wished someone had told me this. This is for those who remind me of me

1) Pay close attention to your industry and adapt to its changes.
For professionals in the industry of communications (creative or business side) it is most important to pay close attention to the quicksilver nature of our industry and be flexible enough to adapt and grow with it. In my case, when I entered the workforce, the magazine industry was struggling (still is) and the new media wave hadn’t hit the industry in full force just yet. I changed gears and it has served me well. I also realized that I didn’t need to work at a magazine to be able to write. And incidentally, after I quit the industry, I’ve published work in InStyle, Allure and Zink magazines. Besides, I satiate my ‘writing’ urges here on my blog.

2) Explore the dualities of your skill-set.
By this I mean – don’t allow yourself to be pegged into a singular role. I think most smart people have the inherent capacity and the appetite to understand and function well within both the creative and the business side of work. Personally, I didn’t want to be pegged down as a ‘creative type,’ but I didn’t want to be pegged down as a ‘finance/ business’ type either. The solution for me was to find roles that allowed me to balance and grow in both areas. The solution for you may be different – but I’d say if you are on the client side, explore the agency side at some point and vice-versa. You’ll be surprised at what you learn.

3) Jobs are not always for learning what to do.
Some jobs are fantastic case-studies for learning “what not to do” or “bad business practices.” And I’ve had my share of those kind of jobs. It is easy to think when you are stuck in a miserable job that you are not learning anything. But you will only understand the true extent of what the job has contributed to your professional growth, when you are at a distance from it and looking at it from a different lens. So do not fret if you are stuck in a job you don’t like and feel like it is a waste of your time and talent — trust me, if you are not learning about how to be better at what you do, you are most certainly learning, how to not get worse and what not to do. And those types of jobs and learnings, are equally important for your growth. The bottom-line is – you will still emerge a better thinker and will be able to effectively articulate and assert yourself.

4) You are in control of your career.
I don’t know if I can sum this up as lucidly as the others…. Maybe because I am still learning… Upon graduating from college, I had a very narrowly defined understanding of the types of jobs that exist. I struggled to find the perfect fit for me and I kept exploring until I found my niche. I fear that many young people, perhaps do not realize how wonderful this opportunity is. Do not let peer pressure and college dynamics let you believe that your career path is pre-defined. It is what you make of it. Take control of your career. Be ruthless in your pursuit and humble in your deliverance. I guarantee, you will weather any career-storm.

5) Don’t be afraid to email the CEO
I have no shame or fear in expressing my opinions, asking for a job or writing an email of appreciation to the CEO of any company. Sometimes it gets ignored, but three out of five times, it landed me a job. If you don’t think this way – I’m sorry but you might as well accept defeat and move out of the industry because I can promise you, that for every one person who is not thinking this way, there are 5 others who are, and they are the ones who will land your dream job. When you want a job – pull all stops to get it. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to win.

6) About burning bridges and such.
I steadfastly believe: to never burn a bridge. But some bridges are not worth managing. You will come across certain people who you are better off without in your life. I say that because I’ve been there twice and it has made me wonder and ask myself – What’s the one good reason why I would want to keep this bridge afloat?
I ask myself,
Would I ever work with this person again? No.
Would I ever hire or recommend this person? No.
Would I ever help this person? Probably not.
What if in the future, this person is asked to provide a testimonial to their experience with me? This was a tricky one. But I’ll take my chances and say, even then its not worth it.

And quite honestly, I’ve felt much better about myself since. If you are true to yourself, it is perfectly okay to allow a bridge or two to crumble and break down. Or in some cases, take an axe and break it yourself. You cannot always be political and diplomatic – in life nor in work.

EDIT: Dion Hughes left a very insightful comment below. That people change – and it is worthwhile to keep all your professional relationships, at the very least, open. I have to concede to this – it is good advice. I have been in the workforce only four years and I have much to learn. One of these things is: leaving room to allow people for a second chance.

7) On quitting..
I will pass on to you a gem of an advice my friend gave me, “Don’t accept a new job because you can’t wait to quit your old one – run to the new job because you can’t wait to begin that one.” Thats it.

EDIT – (Props to Manoj Damodaran)  I should also add that think twice before quitting a job. Climbing the ladder by jumping titles – while great for your wallet, not so good for your professional growth. Regardless of your job title, to thrive in this industry (creative, communications, media) you’ve gotta pay the dues. Take the garbage out, do the shit-work, make photo-copies, feel your intellectual muscles degenerate and wonder why you went to school — think of it as the initiation process to grander things. I’ve had $6/hour internships at top magazines in NYC, written for free for numerous publications, worked for pittance to build my experiencefolder. Now I don’t. I will not work for free, consult for free or even write for free – unless it is for a cause or a company I truly believe in. But I think I’ve earned my right to be there. You will too – with persistence and perseverance.

However, the balance is important. Learning when to say no and learning when to ask for more money for your work is incredibly important. And that will come as you learn, grow and feel that you can offer much more. That moment will most likely come when you are done paying your dues.

Lastly, do not take yourself too seriously.
Have fun. It is more important to have lived then have survived. A job at the end of the day is a job. Be nice, help out when you can and do your fucking best. But for gods sake, have a life outside of work. Your life is what makes you interesting, not your job.

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I hope this was of some use to you.
I will update this occasionally. If you have a learning you would like to share on this page, please leave a comment or email me and I’d be happy to include it here.

For or against life-streaming?

August 21st, 2008 • 1 comment To be filed

Today we had a long and revealing conversation on life-streaming. And ofcourse, we spoke about the usual suspects : twitter, tumblr, friendfeed, friendconnect, twine, socialthing, loopt and a few others (I’m tired of typing in the links)
My job at work is to debate the value of these services from the commercial and business perspective but I come back home and ponder over the cultural, human perspective. My thoughts are a slightly disorganized right now but revolve around the same issues I raise every time when I talk about social media and cultures: representation of identities and self, oversharing vs. sharing and the implications of this on our social lives.

As early adapters, over time, we quickly become dismissive of iterative innovations in a saturated space. We are like a herd of sheep (unfortunately so)- we move to greener pastures in no time. But it is exciting to be on the forefront of this technological change that will eventually have deep cultural ramifications.

I dabble in life-streaming and to a certain extent, anyone’s who is on facebook does. If you were to take a quick glance at my facebook profile right now and try to connect the dots – you would be privy to intimate details of my life. In my insular universe, I am broadcasting those details to my audience in a secure environment, because that is the audience I have chosen for myself. But some others – chose more substantial chunks of audience, like the public.

I am personally wary of life-streaming. It maybe because I went through this life-streaming phase when I was much younger. Granted, it was only through words but I have tasted the forbidden fruit and served the voyeur inside us. It was addictive, but as I grew older, I realized it lacked substance. It was easier to life-stream under the cloak of anonymity, but I couldn’t become someone who needed real-life material just so it could be blogged/ diary-ed about.

What I fear will happen with this extreme life streaming is that it may steal us that delightful little moment of surprise and that feeling of ‘unveiling a mystery’ that we experience as we get to know someone or meet someone. I may be old school, but isn’t there some joy in meeting a friend or an acquaintance and learning something new about them in person ?

It’s just me though. I am not a digital zealot. You will never hear me say that the web is going to take over the world (it may in the future and I will stand corrected then) But I do tend to be more cynical than gung-ho.

I look at life-streaming as an over-sharing mechanism. I feel like we are moving to an age where we are wayyy too interested in everyone else’s lives. I know I am guilty of that.

argh! these late night ramblings…..!

Productive creativity

August 21st, 2008 • Ideas & Innovation, To be filed

I came across Fat Pig Chocolate Bars on some random blog and absolutely fell in love with the sheer irreverence and unexpected little surprise of this brand. A little more digging revealed that the creator of the brand is actually a creative agency called, “The Brooklyn Brothers.”

Their approach to doing work is lovely – while they do have a set of clients, they also create and launch and build their own businesses, like Fat Pig Chocolate!

They’ve also written a childrens story book and created (with the help of a partner) a pill that helps reduce menstrual pain. Talk about creating products on two ends of the spectrum.

This industry shift from ‘creating for clients’ to ‘creating for us’ is not particularly unique or new. Creatives want to create – and almost every creative I’ve met in this industry is constantly working on atleast two personal projects at any given time along with their full-time job. A few agencies are partaking in the intellectual property rights to the new products and services they create for their clients so everyone can share the benefits. I think that model has some flaws, but the nature of innovation is such – to constantly push the envelope and experiment. Sometimes, the success is fame and money, sometimes the success if a good lesson learned.
In the meantime, shall we enjoy Fat Pig?

Onwards to becoming an American!

August 7th, 2008 • 2 comments On my mind...

I just feel like I should write something today. In exactly 12 hours, I will have taken my oath of allegiance to United States of America and will officially become an American citizen. The idea of not requiring a visa to visit majority of countries is something I’m looking forward to getting used to. I’m not sad to lose my Indian citizenship because I never understood what it meant to me. I left India when I had just turned 18, so I’ve never even voted before. (Ah-ha and to think I will be able to vote this historic election!!) Neither have I taken an interest in Indian politics. The only thing that makes me a teeny bit sad is that now I will require a visa to enter my own country but its a price worth paying

I am a realist and this citizenship isn’t just presenting me with a passport to the world, but also opening up doors for my significant other who I have seen struggle for the last four years with his H1-B visa situation. Not being able to leave USA for the last 4 years for the fear of not being able to come back, being stuck in an insipid job that sucked the life out of his dreams and just the misery of not being able to believe that ‘anything is possible.’….. I will never know what its like to be in that situation, but boy, am I glad it will change!

It is ridiculous and immature to question my allegiance to either India or USA or ask me what I feel like. I feel ecstatic, stupid. And incredibly proud to have India in my heart and America on my mind (and my passport!)
But just tonight, I will indulge my irrational-self and go to bed with my Indian passport in hand. Tomorrow, it will become a relic, a thing of past, of no intrinsic value but still priceless to me.

Welcome to America, BabEy!