An expensive lesson in career planning

I’ve decided my seasons will have 10 episodes.

So welcome to the season 4 finale. The season/episode format have no other meaning than just adding structure to my newsletters, that’s all. And when you have your own newsletter and creative outlet, you can do whatever you want! yay

Hopefully what I share with you today gets you thinking and reflecting on your career; it sure did for me, and a topic I reference a lot whenever I’m chatting with colleagues about career-related things. It’s wild the twists and turns a career takes.

Let’s jump in.

I was a Spanish major in college.

I knew I didn’t want to be a teacher (though, tbh, I’m sure I would have loved it). I knew I wasn’t necessarily going to do something in my career related to my degree. I just enjoyed learning the language. And being a liberal studies student was the best. You get to explore a range of topics, not put yourself into some stuffy box. It also gets you building real-world thinking skills. I loved it.

Anyway, as I got to the end of college, I started to show more interest in working with students, college students specifically. I knew I wanted to be in the student affairs realm, working on student programs and campus engagement.

Fast forward to post-college and I’m in a Masters program for Counseling. I went into it right after I graduated, no breaks. I enjoyed that, built a lil community with my classmates, and we all bonded over the intense workload of that program, not to mention needing to do a full year internship as part of the degree. I was a school counselor at a local high school here in Chicago. Loved that experience.

At that point, I was still in the mindset of needing more degrees in order to have the best job possible in the highered/student affairs space. So right after my Master’s, I went on to earn a doctorate; an Ed.D., doctorate of education in educational leadership. Great program as well, learned lots, my writing improved significantly, and I also engaged for the first time in formal research, which meant I’d be published. The dissertation was part of the graduation requirement.

I did a qualitative study on college students’ motivation to lead; whether that be a campus job, student government, greek life, other student groups, anything they would define as leadership on campus—I wanted to know what drove them to be leaders on campus and engage beyond just classroom (dare I say ….build community??????). I felt at home during this project because I was heavily involved myself as a college student, so I empathized a lot with what my interviewees shared with me.

100+ pages later, hours upon hours of writing, hours of interviews, pages of notes, a defense, and a meeting with my committee, I earned the doctorate. How academic of me.

Here’s the research if you’re curious.

I was so focused on getting the best experience, academically, that I could. Because I knew if I did, I would do really well for myself. Like many millennials, I assumed the formula was simple: more school = better job. Reality ended up being a bit more nuanced. I thought I was following the playbook. Now I know most careers don’t actually come with one.

I share all this to say: Whether you’re a student reading this, an early career professional, or you’re 20+ years into your career, pivots are cool. Trying new things is cool. Don’t have tunnel vision, like me back in the mid-2000s/mid-2010s, to the point where you’re not giving yourself the opportunity to see what else is out there and how your skills and experience can apply more broadly across industries, rather than just one.

The funny part is that the skills I built during all those years of school—writing, listening, asking good questions—are the same ones I use today. Just not in the way I originally expected.

Do I regret going to grad school and getting that solid education? Absolutely not. But would I go to grad school today, assuming the same route and programs, knowing what I know today? Probably not.

Thanks for reading and for being here. I don’t take for granted that you care what I have to say. Or even if you don’t care, and you’re still here; thanks for being a fan anyway. ❣️

All my links are here. Let’s connect!