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Article - Don't Wait for Opportunity to Knock Don’t Wait for
Opportunity to Knock February 1997 Original, Updated May 2007 What do I mean by “Don’t wait for opportunity to knock”? I mean provide yourself with opportunities, allow for the future and future changes, and be proactive in your career as both a student and a professional. I find there are three areas (Proactive Opportunity Creators) one should engage in or understand in order to ensure opportunities await when you are ready to take advantage of them:
The first Proactive Opportunity Creator focuses on self-assessment. The second two focus on maintaining and expanding your network. You’ve likely heard the saying by Earl Nightingale (or more recently, Oprah Winfrey), “Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity." Notice that I say “opportunities await when you’re ready.” When you are prepared, opportunities will be ready for you and will come more easily to you. Luck may play into the picture, but the opportunities will not come if you are not prepared. First Proactive
Opportunity Creator: There is no point in providing opportunities for yourself in areas that you hate. You want to have options open in areas of interest to you - areas that you excel in and are good at. What if you don’t know what you like and what you’re good at? What are some things that you can do to find out what you like and what you are good at? Exploring your skills through a career physical such as the 825 Basics CareerPE™ Workshops, is a great place to start. While in school, work within your field through a co-op or internship position. Get a wide variety of experience. Find out what you like….and more importantly, find out what you don’t like. Talk to professionals about what they do. My mom was a teacher and my father was a funeral director and I majored in chemical engineering. I had no idea what engineering was about but I knew I enjoyed creative problem solving and was good in math and science. I explored the various areas of chemical engineering in school, co-oping in various different jobs. I didn’t like my first engineering assignment, like the second one a bit more and ended up loving the third one. I was able to explore my strengths through various job opportunities, thus creating a better picture of my future career path. But it’s not enough to explore while in college. Our skill set changes and our interests may evolve. Continue to learn once you’ve graduated. Whether you continue in formal education and pursue an advanced degree or you take advantage of skills-specific training through your organization or companies such as 825 Basics, the learning should never stop. By continuing to enhance your skills, explore your strengths and weaknesses, and improve your understanding of yourself, you will create opportunities for yourself in areas you may have never considered. World-renowned poet, Nikki Giovanni, shares “If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else.” I would add to the quote to say “If you don’t understand yourself, you don’t understand anybody or anything else.” Your view of the world is likely a bit blurry if you do not understand yourself. Second Proactive Opportunity Creator: The excerpt below from an article by W. Noel Haskins-Hafer in the SWE National Magazine, July/August 1996 titled “The Values of Volunteering” explains the importance of this opportunity creator: “Volunteering can be an effective way to learn core business skills such as marketing, fund-raising, budgeting, public relations, personnel management, project scheduling and finance. Want to get ahead? Then get out and volunteer. That’s what more and more companies are telling their employees, and they are richly rewarding those who listen. At a recent panel discussion in San Diego, 5 managers from corporate human resources departments and outplacement and executive recruiting firms identified highly valued upper level management skills such as flexibility, problem solving, team playing and leading, the ability to effectively network and a sensitivity to the needs of others. Technical skills were ranked considerably lower. When an audience member asked how these skills could be learned, the response was uniform: VOLUNTEER.” Volunteering and getting involved are important. From my experience as a recruiter, volunteer experience is at least as important, if not more important, than grades when considering students for summer, co-op, or full-time positions. And the opportunities I have had since college have largely been a result of the professional and social organization experiences and leadership roles in which I have engaged. What do you think are some of the key words most often scanned for on resumes? Interpersonal keywords most requested by employers using resume-scanning software include the following: ability to delegate, ability to implement, ability to plan, communication skills, high energy, leadership, multitasking, oral communication, organizational skills, public speaking, team building, team player. How many of these skills can you obtain in the college classroom? Not many in most curricula. But you can learn all of these in professional and social organizations. Volunteering and participating in professional and social organizations perhaps can help most with networking. Networking is critical in the creation of opportunities and the ability to know when an opportunity exists. We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” If you’ve taken the steps to know yourself and understand what you can bring to the table, then the “who you know” part can become last piece to the puzzle. Networking is a skill and the more you volunteer and practice, the
better you will become. Networking with a purpose will gain the greatest
advantage and satisfaction when seeking opportunities. Networking is
sharing information, ideas, contacts, resources, knowledge and
opportunities. Networking with a purpose ensures you are on the
receiving end of the sharing in addition to the giving end and that you
are positioned appropriately for opportunities that may await. Third Proactive Opportunity Creator: Staying connected with your university and/or community is another aspect of maintaining and expanding your network. The connections I have made through my university and community have been the contacts that have assisted me the most thus far in my career. Once again, networking is key and staying in touch with the university through recruiting, visiting when you are in the area, or even attending alumni club events in your home area are enough to keep you involved and connected. You never know when you may need the assistance of faculty or administrators on campus. As an example, I had a friend who got his PhD at another university and did post-doctorate work abroad. When he came back to the states, he had to look for a job. He came back to his alma mater for assistance because of the strong corporate presence and the strong alumni relations. He networked with alumni, worked through the engineering department and career center, and got a job within about two weeks of really looking. Community connections today may come in the form of an Internet space like Facebook or MySpace, a neighborhood association or a child’s school community. Utilizing these networks to share information and resources can help you explore opportunities and avenues perhaps not considered through typical professional or social organizations. With the wide diversity of community members, the diversity of opportunities to which you gain access grows even wider. You never know what the future may hold, but maintaining, nurturing and expanding those connections can help. Conclusion Don’t sit back and wait for opportunities to show up knocking on your front door. They won’t. It is preparedness meeting opportunity that can make things happen in your future. And it’s up to you to become prepared. Remember those Proactive Opportunity Creators!
And don’t forget what the future holds for all of us! By taking a little initiative, getting out there and learning about yourself and exploring the networks in your professional world and community, the most exciting opportunity may be right there in front of you. Don’t Wait for Opportunity to Knock! 825 Basics Workshops can move you towards preparedness. Find you what
you like and what you are good at through the
CareerPE™ Workshops.
Enhance your networking skills in Counterclockwise Networking:
Networking with Direction. |
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