When was the last time you fulfilled your social responsibility of "paying it forward?"

Although I can be quite talkative at times about random, unimportant topics, I've recently discovered that I can be a little stingy when it comes to sharing professional advice. I share a ton of stories and articles online, but how many times have I shared my advice in public? Almost never! While I'm trying to fix that now with the new Google+ community "Life of a Texas Job Seeker", a person can still get a little discouraged in the "pay it forward" department with minimal feedback. So you can imagine my excitement when I received the opportunity to help a young college student this week with his career goals. While it felt great to get back on the "pay it forward" wagon, the best moment of the experience was bonding with another person over shared professional aspirations and dreams.  

So I decided to share some more advice! :)

Blurry but confident!

I think we often forget what it felt like to be a recent college graduate!

I remember being overly confident in my abilities the first few months after graduation, only to receive a rude awakening that I was just another applicant with no experience! Although I was lucky to have friends and mentors in place to help me along the way, not everyone has someone in place to show them the way. 

So my "Pay It Forward" advice is to share your knowledge! 

It was brought to my attention this week that college students and recent graduates are pretty much alone in their career search journey. They have the career center at their schools, but even then there's only so much information a college counselor can provide. What they really need and want is advice from professionals about how to achieve their dream jobs. For example, resume reviewing, interviewing tips, how to network, how to negotiate, business acumen, what to wear, what to read and etc. I was extremely lucky to have numerous executives take me under their wings, but why should that flow of information stop with me? 

So let's start sharing what we've learned! The only cost on your end is your time!

I can tell you without a doubt that the advice shared with me over the past few years has meant more to me than the four years I spent in college. So let's start paying it forward and making a difference in the lives of our future business leaders. 

What would you do when faced with a compromise?

Picture: www.colourbox.de

Today was your ordinary unemployed Monday with no news from recruiters or hiring managers, but I did notice one thing as I began to clean out my email inbox: a startlingly amount of emails from health insurance companies requesting interviews. While most people would find this as good news, I find it weird because my resume clearly does not show I have a background in insurance sales. I wonder if my resume contains some type of secret keywords for the insurance industry. Who knows, but it did make me wonder:

When you’re actively looking for a job should you pass on undesirable opportunities?

Should you comprise what you really want for a paycheck?

So I posted this question online and to my surprise I received a few answers. Here are a couple of the answers:

“Run your job search like a business, gain new experiences and broaden your options while building your skill set! There is no direct route to success, just as long as you hit your goal and you’re moving forward. Lateral moves are not acceptable. – Sean”

“Wait until you find your desired job. Set yourself up for the future you want to have       – Tamara”

I have always been a very goal driven individual and I established very early on that I wanted to achieve the following steps in my career journey:

1. Begin a career in Project Management
2. Become a Project Manager
3. Become an Senior Level Executive with a specified background in Project Management
4. Become a Management Consultant
5. Ultimate Goal: Become a CEO or COO of a Fortune 500 corporation

I know I’m young and I still have time to figure things out, but tell me –at 29 years old, how much time do I really have left to do something other than achieving my career goals?  

Today has left me with a lot to think about, but I would like to share one last thing:  Gary Spinell, Author and Financial Executive shared the following with me today. Since he’s already in the role I’m trying to achieve, I figured he may just know what he's talking about: 

Hi-Brandi, There are 2 considerations: one is your financial situation because everyone's is different and if your income needs are immediate then you have to decide if you are willing to have the income or hang on longer for something better. The other factor is the industry/career aspect.

If you are looking to change industries, or get into a different type of department or even a special company where you believe there can be upward opportunities, then sometimes stepping back is acceptable to achieve your long term goal. However, if you are looking to stay in the same profession and career, then the REAL key is to only take a job in which you will learn something new that will help you land the job after this next one!

Consider the average tenure with a company today is only 2-5 years, so if in several years you are out looking again, be sure you obtained some valuable experience in this next job to leverage into landing a future one.

I am financially stable and wanting to change industries, so maybe when thinking about my long term goals, insurance could be worked in for a year or two?  I see a pro/con list in my near future. I'll keep you posted. If you're interested in checking out Gary's 5-Star book on Amazon, click here: http://amzn.com/B007ZGWOBA