Mike and I are both in our first jobs, and both of us are figuring out career development and what that means exactly. My company has a career development workshop that I attended a couple of weeks ago, and during it I learned more about the various career stages, what it means to be at your career best (talents, interest, and organization all aligned), how to ensure your values are represented in your career, and how to make sure you don't fall into career jail where your interest in your job is low while your abilities are high. Since I've only been in my job for six months, the biggest part of my career development plan at the moment is learn more! I'm working to build my technical skills by taking on a variety of projects and utilizing the knowledge more experienced members of my group. I'm also building my supply chain knowledge by reading resources and books given to me by my manager. I'm very lucky to have found some awesome mentors, and I discussed my career development with one of them over lunch last week. She gave me some advice she said she wished she'd been given when she was at the earliest stage of her career like I am. She suggested that I pick one skill: public speaking, communication, or networking and work to develop it now. By doing this, I can give myself an edge and uniqueness and build myself professionally. She suggested some books on networking, and I decided to start with that. Over the weekend, I went to a local used bookstore and picked up two of the books she suggested Never Eat Alone and Love is the Killer App. I also grabbed a copy of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; I've heard many good things about this book and thought it'd be another source of tools to start developing now so that they become habits later on. Mike also wants to read this one, and I'm sure we'll both use the networking books as well.
Oh yes, and I also picked up Mean Girls at the used bookstore because it was only $5, and Mike and I keep wanting to watch it. Who knows, maybe we'll pick up some networking and communication tips there too haha :)
Can't believe you guys have never watched Mean Girls! It's definitely worth a watch for a glimpse of Lindsay Lohan pre-crazy days. When I was working an internship in college, we had a book reading club with a lot of business development/networking books. One of the books I think both of you would enjoy was called "The Fred Factor." One of the more popular books I really didn't like, but can't remember the title, I will be sure to pass along when I can remember :P Hope you both are doing well!
ReplyDeleteOh we'd seen it before, but we wanted to watch it again haha. Oh, we'll have to check that one out as well. Thanks for the recommendation! :)
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