Okay so I definitely was not the Wolf of Wall Street by any stretch of the imagination (which is probably a good thing because, spoiler alert, he went to jail). I did however, start my working career by going from umpiring youth baseball, to working at Morgan Stanley in New York City and pretty darn close to Wall Street (South Street if you really want to know). The reason I say this is not to brag, but rather, to inspire you on a Monday morning to realize your potential. Now I didn’t just make that jump by rubbing genie’s lamp, I put in a lot of work to get that job. Here’s how I went from an umpire getting yelled at every game by coaches living vicariously through their children to a Consultant in the Private Portoflio Group at Morgan Stanley:
- I had a resume that was in great shape. Now I had just graduated college so I didn’t have a ton of experience, but I had enough to fill up a full page, and made sure it was in a format that was easy on the eye and didn’t have any mistakes. I’ll break down the importance of a good resume in another blog, but my first resume out of college was the best it could possibly be. So make sure first and foremost that the resume you are using is at least an A if not an A+ because just one spelling mistake could land your resume in the garbage can (or hopefully recycling can).
- I had a great connection at the company. So this is the most important point of the whole post. Without this great connection, I most likely would not have gotten the opportunity. Resume writers cringe when they hear coaches say it’s all about the connections because they make their living writing resumes. Resumes are very important and you of course need to have one, but a good connection at the job you’re looking for is like the Scottie Pippen to a Michael Jordan, the connection is your right hand man and without it you’ll never win an NBA championship. (I think that made sense. Basically CONNECTION=SOCTTIE PIPPEN and RESUME=MICHAEL JORDAN. You can get a job with just a resume but it’s going to be a lot harder of a process. The bottom line is, you should be networking just as much if not more than you are spending working on your resume. I had a great connection at Morgan Stanley and he helped get my resume in the right hands.
- I nailed the interview. Was there a little luck involved since I was fresh out of college? Yes. Was I also a pretty good interviewer from skills I learned in college and internships? Yes to that too. At the time, I was still living at home and didn’t have a family to feed so I also didn’t feel the pressure of someone who is further into life and has more responsibilities. If I didn’t get the job, I’d still be able to go home to a steak dinner cooked by my parents and not lose much sleep. So being relaxed, having interview skills, and knowing my resume, helped me to ace the interview.
These things may sound obvious but it’s so important to have them all working together for you. While yes, there is certainly luck involved, I put myself in a great position to get the job. Believe it or not, that’s half the battle with getting any job, putting yourself in the right position to succeed. So take these three things that I did as a Snap, Crackle, and Pop (wow Joe a Rice Krispies reference, if you didn’t lose them with the Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan reference, you definitely lost them with a CEREAL reference), you need all three of them to be in sync in order to succeed (Or have a good bowl of cereal).
The moral of the story here is, if I can do it, then you can to. So take it one step at a time, work on that resume, then find a connection and then nail that interview. Now go out there and have a bowl of cereal and watch a 1996 Chicago Bulls game, I mean, get that job!
The Workin' Parent 