Do you ever wonder how you ended up where you are in terms of your job choice or career? Were you born knowing what you wanted to do or did you just kind of fall into it? And once you got there, was it everything you thought it would be? Better? Worse? Even more importantly: Are you happy?
Gone are the previous generations in which you worked for one company your whole life. My grandfather started out as a salesman for a large pharmaceutical company and was able to climb his way up the corporate ladder into a senior executive position. My dad, after a couple of brief stints in his younger years, worked for the same company for 20+ years. And the women of these generations? You could either be a nurse, secretary or teacher – oh year, or a housewife. After a few years as a teacher in Utah and still single at the old age of 23, my mom, a born overachiever and leader , was frustrated with her limited prospects and so decided to load up her car and move West to California. She later became a court reporter, which I never could understand given her love for debate – it must have killed her to remain silent – but as she constantly reminds me, she never had the career opportunities I have.
So now here I am with a myriad of options. Seven years into what has certainly been a unique career, I am now attending a top business school and totally confused. One of the great ironies of business schools is that in order to get accepted, you have to write a well-written and focused essay all about why you want an MBA, your short term and long term goals, and how an MBA will get you there. Yet in reality, most of us don’t have a clue. Good thing business schools recognize this and therefore offer a ridiculous amount of career support services – or it could be that having a bunch of unemployed graduates ruins their statistics, but let’s assume the former.
In the eight weeks I have been at business school, I have seen four different career advisors, a career coach, held five informational interviews, and been to career service workshops on building a resume, how to network a conference and how to develop a market plan for your career strategy. I have been to a non-profit conference, joined the general management and strategy club, technology club, women in leadership club, health care club – the list goes on, and attended at least eight different company presentations. I have spent hours and hours researching different companies, available positions – both internships and full time and next week am attending a two day Career Management Conference which includes seminars such as how to build your brand and how to get into that industry or function. I have attended more networking events than I can count and as it is just 19 months until graduation, I need to hurry up and figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life - now! To make a career transition I need to start networking in that industry, taking on leadership roles in my extracurricular activities and planning my academic classes to focus on the end game, right?
I like the fast paced environment of technology, maybe I should be a product manager? The health care and medical device industry are only going to continue to grow at rapid speed, I don’t have a science background but maybe I could go into marketing? What about a strategic and business development role or even better, apply for a general management rotational leadership program? But in what industry and location? Big company or small? Who are my target companies?
In just one generation we have gone from few opportunities to an infinite amount of them. Of course, I should be sure to point out that I speak in relative terms, as I recognize I am one of the fortunate who is in a position to be faced with so many possibilities.
But I now feel just as paralyzed as my mother did many years ago when she, as an ambitious young woman, realized she had very few options. Only in my case, I now have too many. So, how could this be?
A few years ago, while I was living in Switzerland, I came to California for a visit. Staying at my parent’s house, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things on the shopping list. One item my dad had requested: whole wheat tortillas. Simple enough right? Well after spending the last year or so shopping in the tiny Swiss Coop supermarket which was about the size of two aisles in an American supermarket – or perhaps one in a WalMart, I experienced a sudden bout of reverse culture shock. In my little Swiss market, my options were limited. I knew exactly where everything was and I could be in and out in ten minutes. You want milk? There it is. An apple – you have red or green. After about a month, I became accustomed to the limited supply, found things I liked, and grew to be perfectly content with my purchases.
Now here I was in the Alamo Safeway, so massive they even have a Starbucks inside and drink cup holders on the shopping baskets so that all the young mommies can sip their fat-free soy lattes while browsing the aisles, and I felt overwhelmed. I couldn’t find anything! List in hand; it took me ages to find what I needed. Just as my patience was wearing thin, I came upon the tortilla section. White, corn..wheat! I grabbed a pack, but then looking back saw organic wheat, non-organic wheat, whole grain wheat, low-fat wheat, low-carb wheat, small, medium, large – and all the different brands. I looked back at my dad’s handwriting ‘Whole wheat tortillas’. But which ones??
Every time I picked one up, another caught my eye. Dumbfounded, I must have stood there for 10 minutes, drawing on every decision making capability I had in an attempt to make the right decision. All I needed were some whole wheat tortillas! I finally gave up, grabbed the nearest package and finished my shopping.
So, did I buy the right ones? I don’t know, maybe there were some better ones but I could not simply rip open the tortilla packages right there in the store and try them all. But the more interesting question; would I have been more or less happy had I gone into the store, seen just the one option for whole wheat tortillas and purchased them without having to have agonized over the decision?
So, what is the correct answer? Being forced to choose from a limited number of options under the assumption that there is nothing else available, or having so many options, many of which you don’t even know exist until you come across them, that your life becomes a constant pursuit after that desired yet unattainable ‘perfect’ decision.
I don’t really know the answer, but I am glad about one thing. It is fortunate I was born in this generation. I would have made a lousy teacher, nurse, secretary or housewife.
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