Is there any benefit to jumping around in your career?

I spent years answering this question to discover 3 big takeaways.  Let’s talk through the chronology first…

Chronology:

Once upon a time, way before I entered college, I began my fledgling career working summers at a small retail store as a stockboy.  I’d also sometimes volunteer at a small property management company.  I was fortunate… these jobs/volunteering experiences taught me a lot about being an entrepreneur. 

After college, I graduated as an engineer from a top school and got a job at a large manufacturer.

There, I worked in many supply chain, manufacturing, and engineering roles.  I kept learning, and my career kept moving.  I got promotions and switched companies, managing teams of various sizes. 

But I couldn’t shake the fact that I had always wanted to go into business…

So – I applied and got into a top 7 MBA school (commonly known as the M7) in the US.  Because entrepreneurship was still calling me, I interned in marketing at an online retail company between my first and second year.

Immediately afterward, I joined a top management consulting firm and worked with C-Suite execs, VPs, and Directors in a bunch of industries and functions (auto, aerospace, consumer goods, healthcare, etc…).

I spent years there, getting promoted, and eventually led large teams where we sold multi-million dollar projects to Fortune 100 companies. 

When I felt my consulting career had run its course, I left the consulting world to join a $22M small business as the COO where I set our operations strategy, managed a large team of hundreds of people across the country, and was responsible for pretty much everything, including hiring and firing.  So what did I learn after ALL of this?

Takeaways:

1.  Your experiences are an on-ramp for your long-term goals

Now at this point, I had worked in many different industries and business types (small and large) throughout the country.  If there was an experiential course in understanding business, I had taken it.  And what I realized much later was that these roles were my on-ramp to take off and start my own ventures.  I had learned from the best.  Looking at each job in your career in this way helps you understand how to make the most of your time, what to learn, and what experience to chase.  After all, each job sets you up for the next one.

2.  Your experiences are more valuable when there is a plan

If you notice, my experiences weren’t completely RANDOM.  They of course meandered a bit, but there were themes….

FIRST - Going from a technical background (engineering undergrad) to business roles (via the MBA). 

SECOND - Rotating throughout parts of a business to gain experience to run my own company. 

Whatever your path is… make sure you have a plan.  And make sure the plan highlights certain themes of how you are GROWING in your career. 

3.  The more ambitious the goal, the longer it takes to earn the experience

It took me many years to amass the above experience.  But that’s because my end goal was to run companies.  If I was fine with just being a senior manager at a large company, I wouldn’t have spent all this time preparing by taking on different, challenging roles.  I could have exited the career highway at any point and just focused on slower career growth afterward.  And in fact, we all have to decide when we take the exit.  There isn’t a universal right answer. 

But remember, the more ambitious you are, the more time you’ll have to sacrifice to make yourself ready to take the exit.  Don’t assume you’ll be the exception to the rule… properly preparing will increase your odds of success.

Conclusion:

If I had to sum all of this up, it's that you need an overarching plan.  It needs to be flexible, but you need a goal and a rough path to get there.  If you have questions about your career, set up time and let's discuss!