*This blog was originally published on Poets&Quants where I served as an undergraduate columnist during the 2020-2021 academic year
Surprise, I’m back! Ross Reflections has been revived. Allow me to reintroduce myself:
my name is Alexa. I graduated from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in May 2021, where I majored in Business Administration and concentrated in Marketing.
Since graduating, I have moved to a brand new city (Indianapolis), started my first full-time job (Marketing Associate at Lilly), and have been fully “adulting” (I know, this word makes me cringe too). To say I have learned a lot during this odd post-grad time would be an understatement.
After learning so much in such a short amount of time, I wanted to share five lessons that I have learned thus far since I have graduated from business school.
1) Find a Community: Much like how I stressed the importance of finding community in business school, I’ve learned how important it is to do the same after graduation. This is especially important because I moved to a new city where I didn’t know anyone.
Community can manifest itself in many ways. For me, I have found community through work. I am fortunate to be working for a large company, where there are many opportunities to find smaller communities with shared interests.
The first community I joined is my volleyball recreational league. Everyone on the team works at Lilly. What’s great about this rec league is that I have been able to meet people who work in different functions and departments at Lilly. I’ve also been able to get to know my co-workers on a more personal level. My team members and I all graduated last May, so we are all on this post-grad journey together!
I look forward to our weekly volleyball games; every day can feel like a monotonous routine after work, so having mid-week plans really breaks the work week up. This relates back to my time in business school, too, where I would grab a coffee after class with the same friend or make Friday lunch plans after work staff meetings.
I also found community by joining a couple of ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) and organizations at Lilly. Think of these ERGs and organizations as the equivalent of extracurricular clubs in business school.
What I like about ERGs is that everyone joins on their own and we all share similar interests. For example, I joined a DE&I organization, the Chinese Culture Network, and a marketing-focused organization.
I have been able to meet people who I wouldn’t interact with on a regular basis. These groups consist of people from all levels at the company, which is another reason to join. Senior directors and vice presidents are often the sponsors and members of these ERGs and organizations, which provides you a chance to network within the company.
I was actually invited to join the DE&I organization by a director. I joined because it aligned with my interests in promoting diversity and fostering an inclusive community within the immunology business unit. I view this director as a great mentor who provides valuable advice. I trust his judgment and opinion immensely because of how honest and candid he is.
For one of my projects, I was struggling with how to handle working with an external vendor because I have never worked with a vendor before. A little bit of imposter syndrome kicked in because I didn’t feel like I had any authority as a brand new associate to be in charge of the vendor. This director helped me develop a communication plan and clearly outline my project expectations and objectives so that I could get the results I wanted in working with this vendor. He also reminded me that I am closer to the business than the vendor and that therefore I do have authority to spearhead the project. This was really encouraging and reinforced my confidence.
2) It’s Okay to Ask for and to Accept Help: Post-grad can be as daunting as it is exciting. You are fully in charge of your life or, in business terms, “You are the CEO of your life”.
Similar to being a student, where you are still learning and don’t actually know everything, starting your first full-time job is the exact same way. It’s important to give yourself grace. No one expects you to know everything. This has been something that has been reiterated to me multiple times from mentors and co-workers.
In business school, we had office hours where professors would set up blocks of time for students to visit and ask questions. In the real world, office hours do not exist.
When you have questions, or need clarification about something, you should follow up and ask your questions. Be intentional and set up time with your supervisor and team so they can walk you through what you need. If speaking with your supervisor seems too intimidating, then set up time with someone who you are comfortable with. I have peer mentors who are only a year or two older than me who I go to and ask my “dumb” questions.
However, I am fortunate to have developed a close relationship with my previous supervisor. I felt comfortable enough with her where I could be vulnerable and ask her all sorts of questions. Often, we’d have working sessions where we could give each other live feedback talk through things aloud. I’ve found that working sessions are sometimes much more efficient than emailing.
In the case that people do not have time for working sessions because their schedules are crazy busy, I have learned to always ask pointed questions when asking for help. I don’t like to waste people’s time, so I always make sure to ask specific questions and show them a draft of what I’ve been working on to get direct feedback.
Here’s an example: on my new team, I needed help writing a creative brief for a particular tactic. I had never written a creative brief before, so I reached out to several people who have. I asked them for examples of specs, along with how much background information and which claims I should include.
Even though he had never written a creative brief for my particular tactic, a member on my team provided suggestions that I had never thought of before. Along with specifying claims, he recommended that I consider if the tactic should be in landscape or portrait orientation and the number of pages to include. I ultimately was able to take his suggestions and write a creative brief of my own before sending it to my supervisor for his final approval (Spoiler alert – he approved!).
3) Be Adaptable: Starting a new job straight out of college is scary because there are only so many things that school can teach you. A lot of what you are doing in your day-to-day is learning on the job. There are company-specific processes to follow and always new acronyms to learn.
In a business school project, if I wasn’t comfortable presenting, I would tell my team members and someone else would present. I would do the same when I felt a certain part of an assignment played to my strengths.
However, the real world isn’t like this. You can’t really pick and choose what you want to do. You need to learn how to be adaptable. Step up to the challenge.
At first, it can be scary. At work, you are often working with a variety of people who are subject matter experts in their own respective fields. At the same time, most have been at the company for far longer and possess more experience than you. I’ve had “to learn how to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable”. Because that’s the only way you’re going to grow.
For example: in my last project, I didn’t really like to lead meetings. I felt like I didn’t have any authority in leading meetings with my external vendor. I just joined the company and was still familiarizing myself with the business and how work gets done. However, throughout the duration of the project, I became more comfortable with leading and closing the meetings. I was able to facilitate fruitful and productive discussions.
I have applied my previous experience with an external vendor to my new project, where I am now working with a creative agency. Now, I am no longer shy about voicing my opinions in meetings.
4) Maintain Your Relationships (aka Networking): Networking can sometimes be perceived as a dirty word, even though it’s hammered home over-and-over again in business school. However, I like to think of networking more as maintaining your relationships.
You should still be networking with people within your company every day. Treat every interaction as a learning experience. I’ve set up time with people who have interesting job titles because I simply want to learn more about their experience and what they do day-to-day. Nine times out of ten, someone will accept the calendar invite just to chat and share more about themselves.
After switching teams, I’ve also continued to meet with former peers. I have found it is rare to find people you can really click with sometimes. It’s nice to continue to foster meaningful relationships. For example, my previous supervisor and I meet once a month just to catch up about life and I also go to her for professional advice. I love how our relationship has developed naturally and that we are able to have both professional and personal conversations.
People I’ve met through one-on-ones have offered to set up recurring meetings to mentor me and provide advice and feedback. They wouldn’t have offered to regularly meet if they didn’t mean it! So take them up their offer.
I have recurring meetings with people who are not connected to the current projects that I am working on too. It’s important to get different perspectives on my work. When invited, I also provide my own opinion on the work that they are doing because networking is a two-way street. You never want to feel like you aren’t providing value to the other party.
5) Take Time To Reflect: Now this wouldn’t be a Ross Reflections column if I didn’t preach about how important it is to reflect.
I’ve learned that post-grad is a weird transition period. You’re no longer a student, which means you’re no longer in your little college bubble surrounded by people your age. You no longer have classes to go and assignments to complete that are due at exactly 11:59 p.m.
Instead, you’re now considered a young working professional. You work 9 – 5. You don’t know how else to fill your time outside of 9 am to 5 pm.
In short, you’re still figuring out what being a young working professional means – I know I am. I’ve learned that it’s important to take this post-grad time to really “discover” myself.
Professionally, reflect on what you value in your job, what tasks energizes you, what do you like and don’t like about your job, and how you like to be managed. I’ve learned that I enjoy independence and autonomy in my work. However, I still do enjoy collaborating with others and garnering feedback from others to help shape and inform my work.
This major takeaway made me realize how I can be a more productive worker and add value to my team. I have been able to communicate to my new supervisor about how I work best, which helps set up my success and ultimately my team’s.
Personally, reflect on what your values are. Are you living a life that aligns with your values? Are you surrounding yourself with people who lift you up?
I’ve learned that I enjoy meeting new people and I get energized from these interactions. At the end of the day, I need time alone to recharge. I’ve learned what values are important to me, such as loyalty, kindness, and honesty. These are the values that I aim to live by – both personally and professionally.
If you are a recent graduate like myself, take the time to reflect on your post-grad adventures. Savor this time in your life because it truly is a period of deep discovery.
If you are awaiting graduation, consider the tips I’ve shared and get ready for your own post-grad adventure because it is bound to be eventful!
And if you’ve graduated for a while now, I hope this column made you reminisce a little and that you could relate to some of the tips I’ve shared.