The Creative Career

During college, I had always assumed that the process of finding stability was a fairly straightforward formula:

get a real job after college = make money = feel stable

Simple, right?

As it turned out, becoming a graduate and getting a job didn’t make me feel like a stable adult. Shocking.

So how long does it take to achieve stability, exactly? For me, I had to find balance in a few areas:

Financial
It’s hard to feel stable when you’re living paycheck to paycheck—it takes time to build up an emergency fund and learn how to manage your money.

Social
I moved to Chicago knowing next to no one. It helped to start out by meeting others in the same position as me through Young PRSA events, but it took at least six months to a year before I felt like I had a really close group of friends that I could call up at any time.

Work Life Balance
It takes time to adjust to a working environment and schedule after college. This is probably the most difficult transition, especially given the unpredictable nature of agency life.

Not to mention emotional stability, relationship stability and finding a comfortable place to live.

And since this is clearly different for everyone, I thought I’d ask a few others for their thoughts on how long it took them to feel “stable” after graduating college.

“Not until my mid-20s after I got some good corporate experience and knew what I wanted”
—Kristen

“Haven’t gotten there yet…”
—Dan

“For some reason, I associate stability with complacency and try to avoid even after 4 years in the “real” world that is Angelosland”
—Andy

“It took me another eight years after undergrad to decide on grad school. now I’m two years out and I’m still not there yet”
—Siobhan

“Not until we moved to Chicago from New York, paid off credit cards and built an emergency fund. Salary < financial intelligence”
—Sean

“I felt pretty stable a year or 2 after I did, but since I moved [to Chicago] things changed a bit”
—Maggie

“Haha I’ll get back to you on that one! Still working on it :)”
—Emily

“This is going to make me sound old fashioned, but I didn’t feel financial stability until I got married. My jobs have been shaky”
—Erin

“It’s weird. I feel settled in the fact that I love Chicago, but I still feel v. unsettled b/c I want a FT job and a place of my own”
—Molly

If you’ve graduated, how long did it take you to find stability (if ever)? If you’re still in college, what are your expectations about finding stability after graduation?

“Think carefully about the username you choose. Once it’s been selected, you won’t be able to change or transfer it.”

-Facebook

Approximately 23% of Facebook users are college aged females. Statistics show that approximately 77% of these females will marry one day, and roughly 85% of those who do will change their names. This means that roughly 3.3 million women who are currently in college will one day change their names. Add to that the women who are out of college, and the 50%+ who will divorce, and you have quite a few people who will be changing their names sooner or later.

Yet Facebook wants us to pick one name for life—like a tattoo that can’t be changed.

So what’s a single female to do? Sign up with a maiden name and stick to it? Wait to see what happens? Take a chance on a future name?

The lack of flexibility is absurd. I guess I’m just going to have to get creative.

Did you create a Facebook URL? Whether you’re a man or a woman, how do you view this issue?

Alexandra Levit said it best when she told new grads They Don’t Teach Corporate in College.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about the corporate world—particularly related to creative communications, in no particular order:

1. “Best,” “Cheers,” “Thanks” and “Thank You” are all good default sign-offs for emails at work.
2. Good ideas can come from anyone, regardless of age.
3. Pay attention to the details (especially when it comes to scheduling conference calls across timezones).
4. Don’t be surprised if you spend hours working on a project just to hear “it’s a good start.”
5. If your company gives you a blackberry, there’s an immediate expectation of availability outside of the office (even on the weekends).
6. On that note, if you go on vacation and leave your cell phone number, there’s a fair chance you’ll be contacted with questions at least once.
7. Recognize that it can be difficult to decipher tone in email—brevity is not always intended to be rude (for example, sometimes messages are kept brief because they are typed out on mobile devices).
8. Kindness will take you far.
9. So will the ability to multitask.
10. You’ll be amazed by what can happen when you just raise your hand to volunteer.

For those of you who have worked in the “corporate” world, what else would you add?

Photo Source: uncultured, Creative Commons

Congratulations to Christy Hammond, the winner of the Grads Take Charge book giveaway—as selected by random.org. Christy, I hope this book will help you as you jump into the challenges and joys of life after graduation this coming December. Enjoy!

It’s hard to believe that it has been a full two years since I stood on stage and gave the commencement speech at the Michigan State College of Communication Arts & Sciences graduation ceremony. I recently revisited my old speech to reflect on how things have changed in those two years—and I actually think it still resonates in a number of ways.

You can watch the video archive on the Michigan State Broadcasting Services Site (you’ll have to jump to 34 minutes in).

The Speech

As a telecom and advertising student at Michigan State, I started learning some important life lessons as soon as I moved to campus, before I ever stepped into a classroom. I think I was walking the streets of Grand River, getting acquainted with East Lansing, when I learned two of the most powerful words of my college career. Two words that have the power to move and motivate people, especially college students. I’ve seen these words in action here on campus many times since, and if you take nothing else away from what I have to say to you today, remember these two words.

Free food.

That said, a lot has changed in the world since that fall when I was first introduced to life as a college student—the old days, before relationships were defined by the all-important question (Should we make this facebook official?), back when—if I wasn’t in my dorm room I couldn’t be reached because I didn’t own a cell phone (which I now can’t live without). I remember during my sophomore year, I had heard about the big Ashley Simpson Saturday Night Live debacle and I tried to find a video clip online. I could not find a clip anywhere. Today, I can go on YouTube and find it in no time. Information is becoming a lot easier to access, and at the same time, a lot easier to distribute.

We live in a connected world today, a world where 1/4 of people have searched on a persons name prior to meeting them, a world where, if you’re not online, you practically don’t exist. People have always maintained their own personal brands to some extent, but today it goes well beyond a resume or list of experiences. We’re defined by our facebook profiles, our voicemail greetings, our eBay ratings, our personal websites, our online photo albums, and now more than ever, by what comes up when our names are entered in that Google search box. It sounds a bit scary, but it’s empowering at the same time.

The Internet world is chaotic right now. No one is exactly sure what to do with all of these new tools. Each and every one of you now has the power to take advantage of all of this chaos and stand out. You are a brand. You are your own Coke, Nike, iPod, Target, or Google, and with the technology available today, you have a lot of the same opportunities as these brands to build your own brand equity and connect with people around the world.

There’s a reason you’re all Time Magazine’s 2006 person of the year. You’re all experts on something. You all have opinions, or some sort of creative viewpoint. A lot of you have produced brilliant creative work. And now, you have more opportunity than ever to share that viewpoint, to share your expertise, to expose that creative work to an endless audience, or to contribute to a conversation and create a network with a group of people around the world with whom you share a common interest, even though you’ve never actually met in person.

Anyone can start a podcast or blog, or at least comment on one. You can send an e-mail around the world in seconds, or post a video online for thousands to discover. Anyone can gain or lose credibility or fame with nothing more than a computer, an Internet connection and a point of view.

I did my own little experiment with this when I started a podcast last November. When I was in New York City for a career conference, I interviewed people in careers in advertising and marketing and posted the interviews up on iTunes and some other directories online. Within a few days I had listeners and fans from around the world—Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South America, and all across the United States. I have fans. And who am I? I’m just a student from Michigan State with a point of view and a connection to the Internet.

But while websites, e-mail, blogging, podcasting, and social networking are all the buzz right now, there is always going to be a world beyond the Internet where you can continue to build your personal brand in a more traditional way.

I looked on Wikipedia (yet another great resource I’ve come to love) for the definition of the word “brand”. There was one particular line that stood out to me. It said: A brand serves to create associations and expectations.

The way I see it, a brand has a perceived value. Each and every one of you is walking away from Michigan State today with a great deal of value; you all have something remarkable and unique to offer. You will never just be defined by your given job title (or lack thereof for those of you still trying to figure out exactly what you want to do). The average American holds 3 to 5 different careers and between 10 and 12 jobs in a lifetime. But there’s more to you—you’re more than that.

Every time that you choose to act with kindness, whether it be toward someone who has a lot of sway in your professional life or someone who doesn’t seem to matter to you at all right now, you’re building your personal brand. You never know when you might run into that person again, or what position they may be in when you do.

Every time you step up, put in that extra bit of effort, go beyond what’s written in your job description or just what’s expected of you, you’re building your brand. With all of the resources out there these days, you have the ability to continue learning long after you leave Michigan State. And there are so many people out there who would love to help you. All you have to do is ask.