Dear Recent Grad,

Congratulations! We’ve made it.

After patiently toiling through The Gauntlet of job applications and endlessly replaying our tell-me-about-yourself speech, we can finally kiss that reheated McDonald chicken nuggets diet goodbye and afford something nicer (like groceries).

Our first full time job. Sure feels nice huh?

It’s both exciting yet nerve racking when we come to the realization that we’ll be spending over 90,000 hours of our life into this thing we call our Career.

90,000 hours. (Imagine the number of Pokemon you could catch with all that time!).

While the consistent paychecks are nice and the hunger to succeed burns strong, a handful of us, in fact 20% of us according to this Gallup poll will be making a job switch in this next year.

And if you’re not actually ready to leave, 60% of us are in fact exploring and open to hearing more about that next exciting opportunity.

In my past 3+ years as a recent grad I’ve made a few career decisions that has now led me to an unbelievable opportunity at Otto, a startup in San Francisco that’s re-imagining the future of transportation starting with self driving trucks.

In this short gap before I start later this week I took some time to reflect and examine a bit closer at the things I learned and the decisions I made that I hope can help you, dear recent graduate as you start your career.

Job #1: Pivotshare

Now if you were like me I graduated not knowing a thing about what I wanted to do with my life.

What I had in front of me was an internship that turned into a full time job at a 8 person tech startup where I was paid a handsome contracting rate of $13/hour managing what all us Millennials are stereotyped as experts to know and do – social media.

Balling.

.

In those short 8 months I stayed mindful of the things that I did and did not enjoy and neatly filed them in my imaginary “Career Briefcase.”

What I enjoyed: small family startup culture, constantly evolving tech industry, autonomy to experiment and work independently

What I didn’t enjoy: variety in my day to day work, lack of a hands-on mentor

Job #2: Google

On paper leaving my first job out of college just 8 months after I started was a reasonable risk to take, let along for a company as sexy sounding as Google.

In the eyes of future employers I figured the difference between staying for 8 months vs 1 year couldn’t have been that big of a gap for a recent grad who just entered the work force. After all, what more could I have accomplished…what more could I have proven in the next few months that would truly make a dent in their impression about me?

Probably not a whole lot.

This basic economical concept of opportunity cost was and will continue to be a driving factor in any decision. In this particular case and in that particular time, I had nothing to lose but everything to gain by leaving early and starting this new new adventure at Google.

So, Google.

My one year at Google was always shadowed by a footnote that most people misunderstood. I technically did not work for Google but rather was employed as a contractor by Adecco, 3rd party staffing industry. As a contractor for Google my day to day work resembled what I would personally consider, a glorified internship that had a 70/30 split between monotonous and intrinsically challenging and interesting work.

Was data entry, playing with SQL functions, and talking about data management something that got me out of the bed every morning?

Not really.

But what it did do was something even more important and long lasting. It gave me the confidence to network behind a recognizable brand  that opened the doors to the career I’m passionately enjoying now – recruiting!

During this year I learned a few things about myself which I once again, stored into my Career Briefcase.

What I enjoyed: working in the tech industry, a fun and easy going culture, flexibility

What I didn’t enjoy: lack of people interaction, unclear personal and team goals, limited career and personal growth opportunities

A few other tidbits I stuffed in my Briefcase:

-The best way to get “unstuck” is to say Yes.

-Networking is easier than you think…if you don’t ask you don’t get. By the time my 1 year contract ended I had finished around 10 informational interviews with Googlers in the recruiting industry that pointed me in a clearer direction.

-Perks are great (and there are a LOT of them @ Google) but they get old…even riding on these 8 person conferene bikes!

 Humans naturally acclimate to things so focus on the job itself.

My contract ended and I was in scramble mode to find my new home. My ideal career was starting take shape and I was excited to assemble some of the pieces I had been storing in my Briefcase together from the past 1.8+ years.

Enter, Linkedin.

Job #3: Linkedin

How we doing audience?

Not that I’ll be able to hear you anyway but if you’re getting something out of this post let me hear you say – Woop Woop! And if you’re not? Keep reading. ;p

By this point you might be saying to yourself…sheesh Albert, 3 jobs in less than 2 years? Where’s the loyalty? Aren’t employers worried that you’re a fickle employee who has the attention span of a 3 year old?

Fair, all fair points.

But hey, I was still in my early 20’s and more importantly, I had a relentless goal to find a career I found true fulfillment in. Was it worth trading these short term misdemeanors to find a job that I would be devoting 40-50 hrs a week doing?

Absolutely.

Linkedin was my first taste of recruiting and on a macro level, my entry ticket into an unknown profession that had a lot of folks asking questions like, “Recruiting is like headhunting right?” or “So you do HR and work with benefits?”

As a Recruiting Coordinator it was a balancing act of scheduling interviews, giving tours, and taking notes in hiring meetings.

I learned a lot and got a flawless picture of what a well engined, fast paced recruiting engine looked like but as you may have guessed, I got hungry and wanted more for what I knew I could accomplish as a *full cycle Technical Recruiter.

*Full-cyle recruiter – managing the entire process from sourcing, engaging, closing, negotiating candidates.)

After 3 jobs I knew this was what I wanted to be…a Technical Recruiter! It fit with my personality, innate talents, intrinsic motivations to help people and it all revolved around the tech industry.

This was it! I found it!

But the path from a Recruiting Coordinator to a Technical Recruiter in an internal setting might take a few years.

I’ve come this far to finally find a job that I knew I would succeed in but now you’re telling me I have to wait?

How long?

In a corporate internal setting like this, at the minimum at least 1.5 – 2 years.

What are the other options?

Go to an agency where you can accelerate your learning curve and get fast tracked on the path to becoming a full cycle Technical Recruiter.

But that would mean I’m leaving Linkedin…a company that has an incredible culture that invests in its employees and has shown that with enough hard work and loyalty, the path to become a Technical Recruiter will certainly be there!

It’ll just take some time.

Decisions.

No one makes a decision without getting all the information they need to run their cost/benefit analysis. So I interviewed a few Technical Recruiters at Linkedin, a few friends in other big tech companies, and learned more about RockIT Recruiting and what a year there would potentially mean for me.

2.5 years out of college and potentially starting my 4th job. Yikes.

But I had a goal that I was pursuing and I knew that taking the risks now to jumpstart my career will only pay dividends in the future. I figured…after all, whose really going to care about my first short stints out of college 8-10 years later when my resume does show that I can be committed to a company long term?

The process of finding a true home sometimes takes a little longer than others and that’s fine. Own it.

With my offer sheet signed, I turned my eyes to RockIT after spending just 4 months at Linkedin.

What I enjoyed: startup feel in a corporate company, talking with people, being around engineers, feeling like I was part of something bigger, like I was making a difference. Feeling valued, even as a contractor.

What I didn’t enjoy: Ownership on the recruiting cycle, feeling limited in my strengths as a connector, marketer and salesman.

Job #4: RockIT Recruiting

My time at RockIT has been everything I dreamed Technical Recruiting to be … and more.

During my first year, all my pistons were firing. I was a train with a nuclear powered motor. I was an Olympic swimmer demolishing world records. I was the Avengers thrashing Loki around like a doll.

I felt alive and never felt so energized every morning to do what I felt like God put me on this Earth to do.

Every decision, every risk vs reward analysis I did led to this and man oh man was it worth it.

The role, money, culture, impact on people and cutting edge companies fit all the pieces that I had put together over the past 3 jobs.

It’s a beautiful story that should just end there.

Wait you’re not telling me you’re thinking about leaving…again?! Sure RockIT has been your longest tenure of 1 year 8 months but shouldn’t you now call this place a home?

You ain’t getting any younger and maybe it’s about time you start taking a risk to settle and show some loyalty to a company that’s treated you so well. Can’t you just give another year?

The short answer? Yes. Absolutely. I’ve sacrificed and I’ve been rewarded…why leave a good thing behind?

When the sole Technical Recruiter @ Otto reached out to me for coffee I figured why not, what have I got to lose? The worst thing that could come out of all this is I end up back at RockIT, where I was perfectly content.

Coffee led to an onsite, a take home project, a chat with one of their founders and finally a verbal offer.

And just like that I was back on the decision block…a place I’ve been very familiar with the past few years…but this time something was different.

Way different.

My Career Briefcase didn’t prove as helpful this time around as I already had all the pieces that I wanted in a career both at RockIT and Otto. The difference this time was figuring out how much weight I wanted to put on each one of those pieces.

Was it money? The opportunity to accelerate my learning curve again? The stability of a base salary vs working on commission? The experience to work in an up and coming industry with autonomous vehicles? The friendships and relationships I’ve built?

Suffice to say it was a tough week and certainly one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make.

In the end, Otto won out and here I am finding myself taking another risk with the same hopes that I will be rewarded the same way I did before when I left Pivotshare, Google, and Linkedin.

My Career Briefcase will never stop growing. There are always things I will learn and as I progress in my career those pieces might shift in it’s priorities but will also undoubtedly be sharpened with every new adventure.

What I enjoyed: a job that I enjoyed and felt motivated in, coworkers that I could truly call friends, learning about new technologies, doubling my earning potential, small family feel, autonomy in controlling your own success

What I didn’t enjoy: commission structure that fundamentally focuses my attention to money, lack of career growth, being treated as a 3rd party vs a partner in the startups we help hire for.

I’ve found a home in Otto that I’m excited to commit the next years of my career to. I traded a good opportunity at RockIT for something even greater and I know this decision will be worth the risk again when I reflect in the future.

If I had told myself just 3.5 years ago that I’d be building out the engineering team for a self driving truck startup in San Francisco, I would have laughed myself out to the room.

But whose to say I won’t be doing that again 3.5 years later in 2019 when I write another post about my journey then?

TLDR;

I know that was a lot to read (I warned you with the blog title) but to help summarize everything here are 3 snack size takeaways you can with you:

1 – Have clear goals about what you want. If you are completely stuck get the info you need from people, books, blogs, whatever and just start somewhere and work your butt off at it. You’ll learn something, fail quickly, and still be young enough to start something again. Just start.

2 – People will give you all sorts of advice. Listen to them but listen to them with your own filter. People’s opinions should only challenge or confirm how you feel about a decision.

3 – Figure out what your own risk tolerance is. My journey was unique to me but that doesn’t mean it’s the same for you. Maybe you’re perfectly happy at the first job you found out of college – that’s AMAZING! Really.

Maybe you have some debt, loans, or some other kind of financial hole which limits your career freedom. That’s fine, I hope those opportunities come sooner when your situation improves.

Or maybe this was that last and final push you needed to start exploring. Wonderful!

Figure out what this means for you – it’s not a one size fits all life we live in!

So that’s that.

There’s definitely still more I want to pour into this post but dinner calls and my butt is sore my sitting on the floor of my room.

Shout out to God for architecting this incredible journey so far. He deserves all the glory and I am excited to see how He will continue to use me for all his good and perfect plans!

Lastly as always, I’d be happy to hear your thoughts on what you agree or disagree with!

Sound off below!

Cheerios

Albert