Did They Take the Fork in the Road?

INQUIRING MINDS

By Roy J. Blitzer

Roy J. Blitzer

Like so many people, the COVID-19 pandemic was a time of great change for me. After 22 years as an adjunct faculty member at San José State University and Menlo College, I retired in 2019 from my adjunct teaching assignments and full-time work as an executive coach.

At the height of the pandemic, it was tough out there — the economy was shaking, there was worry our country might be heading for a full-scale recession, and the traditional 40-hour work week/go-to-the-office-every-day routine was no more.

As a way to make use of my pandemic time and to fulfill my personal interest in “where are they now” stories, I decided to track down some students I had previously taught as first-year students to see where they were in their careers many years after graduation.

These students came from an introductory business course I taught at SJSU in 2004. Mostly first-year students at the time of the course, I had them complete a career paper assignment I had created to help bring focus to their career. The students were instructed to conduct an informal interview with someone outside their family who had their “ideal job” — then outline the positions, salaries and progression to the ideal job until retirement at age 65.

View the assignment

In tracking down students to take part in this exercise, I only had hard copies from students who had earned an A on the assignment. I was eventually able to reach 20 students who would be willing to participate in the study, which was mostly done via email and over the phone.

I broke down the responses from the interviews into five sections: Getting the First Job, Getting Other Jobs, Advice, Impact of the Pandemic and Family Influences. I am sharing pieces I found interesting from the interviews, and have used initials instead of whole names when I share about the students to allow for them to speak freely about the topic.

“I was being picky, which people told me not to be. But I also wanted to be in the right fit.”

— AC

Getting the First Job

All but one of the participants earned their undergraduate degree as the economy took a dip during the 2008 recession, or shortly thereafter, and it was not a piece of cake. Five former students went right to work at the organizations where they already had a job in hourly positions that were familiar to them and not necessarily of major long-term career interest. One stayed on as an intern at an organization where her father was a vice president with a 30-year career.

Another cluster took between two and six months to get a job after many applications and rejections. Two moved to another part of the country for work closely related to their interests and education training.

The longest took 10 months to get work. Perhaps the most interesting, though, was AC from Morgan Hill who searched for nine months before taking her first post-college position.

She wrote in her paper in 2004 that she wanted to go directly to graduate school for an MBA and then continue as a manufacturing operations manager at a company like Cisco or Intel at a $96,000 yearly salary. That did not happen.

She started as a staffing coordinator at a cybersecurity company doing its recruiting, at $24-26 per hour. “I knew it would take some time, and I didn’t want to jump into anything,” she said. “I was being picky, which people told me not to be. But I also wanted to be in the right fit.”

Several companies and positions later (professional services/global customer support, sales, and then legal and contract negotiations), she is now a senior project manager back in cybersecurity with a six-figure annual income.

AC loves her work but confided that she would go back to school for a different degree. “If I weren’t lazy and money wasn’t a thing, I’d go back to school to get a degree. I would like to do social work.”

Getting Other Jobs

Everyone acknowledged that they enjoyed their positions and were not only satisfied with their careers to date but also the paths that took them there. Only four of the 20 had to search for work because of a layoff (some pandemic related) or restructuring/downsizing at their organization.

These same four used LinkedIn and other social networking options (Craigslist, etc.) to generate interviews that led to offers and new employment, often in a different part of the country. For some it required this move, plus mastering a new specialty that needed additional training or certifications.

All of the other participants stressed the importance and significance of networking. They stressed how necessary seeking out contacts and maintaining positive relationships was in getting their other jobs. They cited: a supportive and mentoring supervisor/manager who was looking out for them, suggesting and recommending them for internal promotions and transfers; a colleague from another company (vendor, etc.) who knew their productivity level, strong interpersonal skills and work ethic; or even a distant relative or old friend (former sorority or fraternity brother) who surfaced again with a new friend in the field. These networking referrals made it happen and drove their careers forward.

The most fascinating next job story came from PFF. This Marin County native is now living in New York City, earning his living since 2017 as a full-time abstract geometric muralist with both private clients and large corporations (lobby installations, etc.).

He wrote in his paper in 2004 that he set out to work at Home Depot for 10 years and retire at 65 as a CEO of an “art corporation” — perhaps modeled after MarrsArt studio and gallery — earning $760,000 per year. His degree was in fine arts, and he took my “Discovering Business” as an elective.

His largest mural commission — the one that launched his independent work with enough positive attention to generate future projects – is worth highlighting. He was dating a young woman who ran a dry cleaner in her Astoria neighborhood. Her favorite customer was a contractor and renovator of commercial buildings. When talking together about his most recent project, she mentioned her boyfriend and his geometric/artistic murals and suggested a meeting. He was hired to create the lobby mural.

“He told me I was ungrateful. ‘‘I’m really angry at you because you have it so easy. You know, you are an upper-middle-class white guy...’ That gave me the biggest course correction in attitude from that moment on.”

— NP

Advice Received

Everyone likes to give advice, especially if it is related to getting a job or finding career satisfaction. Improving a resume is also another favorite in the advice arena.

Five of this small sample I interviewed actually remembered the input I passed on from the class and thanked me. This was not original but typical career management counsel — try to align your skills (what you are good at) with your interests (what you like to do, what excites you) with your values (what’s important to you). Know that you will have many jobs, and, most likely, the path of your career will not be a linear one.

Only two remembered or kept in contact with the person “informationally interviewed” for the assignment. No one could recall the specifics of any advice provided.*

Below are some of the pearls of wisdom they did remember from friends, family, bosses and those concerned:

You don’t have to say yes to everything – be discriminating in what you really want to do.
If you want to be confident, act confident. Remember: Be open-minded, ask questions and try not to take things personally.
Be prepared for obstacles along the way. Save for the unexpected yet avoid making decisions guided solely by your pocketbook.
Learn how to take good care of your customer and yourself.
Take chances and take risks. Never be afraid to make mistakes but never the same one twice — that’s failure.
When the times are good, be grateful. And when the times are bad, be graceful (according to the mixed martial artist Dustin Poirier).
Don’t let anyone deflect or block the light that shines on you.

Perhaps a most meaningful piece of advice, especially during these more racially conscious times, came to NP from his boss when he was selling software.

NP who traveled to SJSU from Maryland at 17 but dropped out of school after one year without earning his degree. In his paper from 2004, he wanted to be an entrepreneur, beginning his career in the food industry by working at his family’s pizza business and retiring on income from his investments at 65.

Mid-point in his trajectory, he was selling computer software and struggling. He also admits to being a bit overconfident and somewhat cocky/arrogant.

His boss, from Bombay, India, confronted him: “He told me I was ungrateful. ‘I’m really angry at you because you have it so easy. You know, you are an upper-middle-class white guy. You’re charismatic. You have all the intangibles that would help you in sales and in this industry. I’m an Indian man of color. English is my second language and there’s lots of prejudice that I have against me. So, for me to be great, I’ve had to work two or three times harder than you will ever have to. To see you come in here and not take it seriously offends me and pisses me off.’ That gave me the biggest course correction in attitude from that moment on.”

This advice — not to take his privilege for granted and to be grateful for what he has — helped him the most in his career to date.

*I found a note of humor when I asked a student about the person with whom he conducted his informational interview. He sheepishly replied: “I made that part up,” knowing he needed it to earn an A on the paper. Though some may see this as cheating, I see it now, 15 years later, as a very creative way to solve a problem.

Advice to Give

Interview participants were full of their own advice to pass on to those looking for work or to those in college planning for their futures, in addition to the networking input they received. Some of the often-repeated ones include:

Follow your dream but know when it’s time to move on — get out of an “unhealthy” situation sooner vs. later.
Find an internship and use it to help make contacts and to turn into a full-time position.
Take courses that might directly impact your success in the working world — critical thinking for problem solving; public speaking for making presentations and English composition for emails and reports.
Be an active contributor to all team-related activities assigned — learn to work comfortably with all different types of people.
Use career services (or other professionals) resources to prepare/practice for job interviews and re-build or enhance your resume.

Two former students had advice that I found to be atypical and counter norm:

The first was from CF who is now living in Daly City. He earned a BA in sociology from SJSU, with a minor in business. He wrote his paper focusing his career at Trader Joe’s, retiring with monies from his real estate investments.

It turns out he has spent five and a half years as an operations manager at a Bay Area biotech firm, overseeing construction of its research laboratories. He strongly advises “going to trade school” as an alternative to studying for a degree. He is positive the work he is doing does not require a degree and preparation at a trade school would have done just fine for him.

The second came again from NP:

After co-founding and closing a business, he is now a director of sales and marketing for a firm providing software for small business and start-ups.

“If you choose a career that requires a degree — medical, legal, social work, etc. — study hard and strive to be in the top of your class. But if it’s anything else, you should immediately drop out and become an apprentice or get a job that is at the bottom level of whatever industry that you think you’re interested in.”

Impact of the Pandemic

All of the participants were touched by the pandemic in one way or another.

Only three were forced to get new positions, though they all stressed that the period — no longer than four months — required creativity in “working the system” and flexibility in dealing with expense management and housing (i.e., two moved back home). Some were already working remotely in organizations that encouraged electronic communications, so the impact was minor. The revenue of some of the companies that employed them increased during this period, to the benefit of employees in promotion and salary increases.

Each one felt that the work-from-home requirement was helpful and much preferred. They enjoyed keeping, to some degree, their own hours — help with work-life balance — and even the most acknowledged extroverts did not miss coming to an office. This information came as a surprise, along with the fact that no one mentioned mental health issues that required professional help.

“We were able to navigate the processes without any social capital to help.”

— PhD participant

Family Influences

The family backgrounds of the participant sample were varied, though the students all began their college experiences in the Bay Area — all but three studied at San José State University. Those three were at Menlo College, a private school in Atherton, California. The obstacles facing some of these families (divorce, unemployed parents) did not hinder their motivation to get an education.

Of the 20 former student participants, 10 were male and 10 were female. Two earned graduate degrees (one MBA, one MA) and two earned PhDs (one in kinesiology, one in psychology).

Of the 10 males, five were Caucasian and five identified as “Other” (Vietnamese, Chinese, Latino).

Of the 10 females, five were Caucasian and five identified as “Other” (Multi, Vietnamese, Latina).

From the group of 20 former students, 10 were the first in their family to go to college.

I came to the project assuming the first-generation college population would get pressure from their families not only to attend college but also to select a career that would be both lucrative and prestigious. As one of the PhDs noted: “We were able to navigate the processes without any social capital to help.”

That was not the case. In every situation, with or without parents with a degree, the messages for this generation (immigrant or not), at least told to me, were nonjudgmentally supportive and encouraging, without any “musts.” The emphasis was on getting an education, and the goal for the parent was a happy and satisfied child. They added that the profession selected was not stressed.

What pushback I did hear came from a two-teacher household that was initially “crushed and disappointed” when their daughter decided to leave teaching and look for a job in industry, and a father who thought an advanced degree was not money well spent — his grandmother, the dad’s mother, was all for it!

All families did whatever possible to ease the financial pain of the tuition and living expenses.

What I felt was the most touching story comes from JN, who was the first in her generation to attend college. This San José native wrote her paper to have a career in finance, an MBA and a 65-year-old retirement as a CEO.

She is now an instructional designer for First Republic Bank and still contemplating an advanced degree.

Neither of her parents went to college but guided her and her brother to take advantage of the education offered. She says they stressed the importance of knowledge for itself and never pressured her to choose a career to make them look good. She saw that her need to find satisfaction and success was not only for her but also for them. They made huge financial sacrifices for her to attend college, took her back home and cared for her when she became ill, and did everything in their power to be sure she got what she wanted versus what they thought was best for her. She continues to be grateful to them, repaying her support now both financially and emotionally.

In conclusion, the takeaways from this experience validated what career aficionados have been saying for years. There were very few surprises. What did surface was the overwhelming emphasis this particular sample placed on job satisfaction. There is a way to find work that brings you joy. You can do work you love and live a rich and fulfilling life — a plan, determination, flexibility and making use of your networking relationships can help make it happen.

Top Photo: Caleb Jones on Unsplash Photo: Provided by Roy J. Blitzer