Leaning In

Guest commentator: Zach Baumstein, Client Relationship Manager, SolomonEdwards

Coming out of college I had zero idea of what I wanted to do. 5 years into my first job post-college, I still was clueless…but if there’s one thing I knew for sure, it’s that no one was going to point me in the right direction except for myself.

I was fortunate enough to start my career with Ernst & Young (EY) straight out of college. Big organization, a highly reputable company, and the all-encompassing title of “consultant” gave me an opportunity to carve out a niche from a service line of my choosing.

All that said, I never did find my “thing” at EY. I met some incredible people and learned a lot about myself, but nothing with the actual work seemed to interest me. This led me to my next job at SolomonEdwards and it’s been the best decision I’ve made for my career. Simply put, they empowered me to figure out my own interests.

If you’re like me and still figuring things out, here are a few things I’ve found helpful in finding a drive in my everyday work:

Find A Job That Empowers You

This is easier said than done. In my experience,  I’ve found that business development-oriented jobs (sales) are a good place to start. You don’t have to be the most extroverted natural-born salesperson to do this – the point is that a job like this could let you take a task and figure out how to do it the best way possible instead of having someone dictate what’s right or wrong. Having real ownership over something will show you a lot about yourself, whether you like what you’re doing or not.

If You Think You Can Improve Something, Show How

A great way to find out if you’re passionate about something is taking it apart and trying to make it better. If your mind races with possibilities and you feel a sense of curiosity growing, maybe it’s worth keeping at it. Maybe this isn’t your thing, but rather the one that leads you to your next thing.

At the very least you show those you work with that you’re capable of more.

Be Humble and Care

When you show up anywhere, you’re representing yourself and those around you. Take pride in that, treat others with dignity while you’re doing it, and realize everyone’s got their own battle to fight. I’ll be the first one to tell you I’m not, nor have I ever been, the smartest person in the room. But what I do know is that no one will show me the door for lack of effort or care – that means something to more people than you’d think and can open a lot of doors down the road.

Live and Breathe Curiosity

5 years ago I would have hated this last one. When someone tells me to “just be curious”, it’s like telling me to go climb a hill – I’ve never enjoyed hiking, don’t know the first thing about doing it right, nor do I really care about it frankly. What I’ve found is that if I can put my own stubbornness aside and just start asking questions, I can suddenly do my job just a bit better. You couple this with the tips above, and it can snowball into something really cool.

In no way do I think I’ve found my “thing” just yet. What I am confident of is that I can get behind what I’m currently doing, and I’m motivated to lean in and see it through.