Submitted by hkbovik on
in
Forums
I'll be taking part in a panel discussion on what it takes to be successful in the workplace and common mistakes to avoid. The audience will be college students. While I have several ideas of what to discuss (especially on what mistakes to avoid...), I was wondering if anyone had any ideas that could really help those entering into the workplace for the first time.
Thank you.
Advice to Rocket Scientists
First, I would highly recommend Career Tools. Manager Tools has some great information they could learn from, but I'm not sure that audience would be receptive to the focus on managers. Career Tools provides the same quality of information which managers and individual contributors can relate to.
Next, I got as a Christmas gift a book called Advice to Rocket Scientists by Jim Longuski (ISBN 1-56347-655-X). The examples are taken from the authors experience as a rocket scientist, but the underlying lessons apply to all new graduates and interns. I keep a couple extra at my desk to give away to new employees. Check out the book and see if you can tailor some of the lessons (Keep an eye on the Big Picture, Make your boss look good, etc.) to your discussion.
Jack
San Diego
Thanks. To get some ideas
Thanks. To get some ideas flowing, I jotted down ome very initial (and very incomplete) thoughts. I think it would be fairly boring to hear them all in a talk though (*yawn*):