by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

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© 2010 by Heather R. Huhman Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ Special thanks to Beth Farrar for designing this e-book. We miss you already as a member of the Come Recommended team but wish you the best of luck with your career and new husband! > Please feel free to post this on your blog or e-mail it to whomever you believe would benefit from reading it. Thank you.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

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INTRODUCTION You read that right. Over the past 10 years, I’ve had 12 jobs and three careers. This is not a statistic I’m proud of, but it’s gotten me where I am today—the founder & president of my own company—for better or worse. This e-book is a teaser of sorts, as it won’t provide you all the details of my career leading up until this point and will definitely leave you with unanswered questions. Instead, I’m going to give you a broad overview of the path I took, and the success I’ve had and mistakes I’ve made along the way. To hear my story in its entirety, click here to book me for a virtual or in-person speaking engagement.

Public Relations

Journalism

Career Coaching

Note: Some of the positions detailed in this e-book are held concurrently.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

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Assistant Director of Sales & Marketing Software Company

PROUDEST MOMENT: Getting the position in the first place. During high school, someone told me that if I didn’t have a job the second I set foot on my college campus, I would already be behind my classmates in the race toward a fulfilling career. So, I found a company that interested me and put together a proposal for a new position—and why I was the best person to fill it. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Pressuring a decision about my future with the organization. After a year there, I went back home to Chicago for summer break. Unfortunately, while I was gone, the organization “restructured” and got rid of my boss. Panicked, I e-mailed the president asking whether or not I would be staying on. When I didn’t hear back within a week, I e-mailed again. This time, I received a nasty reply that, since I was in such a hurry, the answer was “no.”

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

5

Public Relations Assistant Boutique Agency

PROUDEST MOMENT: Getting the position in the first place. Noticing a theme here? Just because a position isn’t advertised doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. This position would eventually lead me into my first entrepreneurial venture. But first…I needed a job while I was home from college for the summer, so I contacted Mizzou alumni offering to work for free. It was in this position that I learned the foundation of public relations—and read the AP Style Book cover-to-cover several times. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Showcasing my work without permission from my employer. Take it from me: Don’t ever use a sample of your work in your portfolio without getting permission from your employer first. Being served a lawsuit during class taught me this valuable lesson.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

6

Co-Founder & Public Relations Account Executive Boutique Agency

PROUDEST MOMENT: Creating my own solution to the “no PR jobs on campus” problem. When something is not available to me, I’ve been known to create it myself, which is exactly what happened here. I came back to campus with no job—having angered my two previous employers for different reasons as I already explained—and collaborated with a friend who is a Web development and graphic design genius. Together, we landed several big clients that funded books and entertainment our remaining years on campus. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Attaching my name to a disreputable product. Although we secured many “wins” (national media placements) for this client, I got caught up in the possibilities and didn’t do enough homework beforehand.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

7

Regional Public Affairs Coordinator National Nonprofit Association

PROUDEST MOMENT: Becoming the youngest person ever (at the time) to hold this position. Turns out, although the advice I was given in high school helped me tremendously, it wasn’t exactly accurate. I’m sure if I didn’t jump straight into my career at 18, I would have been just fine. I wouldn’t, however, have landed this position when I did. I had just finished my sophomore year and was home again for the summer. Quite the title at a well-known organization to hold for 20-year-old! BIGGEST MISTAKE: Assuming my youthful energy and ideas would be respected and appreciated by my colleagues. Boy, was I wrong! Not only was I not respected, but also I was openly mocked and humiliated. My “adult” co-workers were even stealing my brown bag lunches on a regular basis because they knew I was hypoglycemic and would have seizures.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

8

Media Relations & Publications Assistant Higher Education Institution

PROUDEST MOMENT: Getting the position in the first place. Knowing what happened the previous summer, I wanted to return to campus with a regular job (in addition to my boutique agency), if possible. I noticed the College of Business just hired a director of media relations and publications, so I contacted her and put forth a proposal for why she needed me as she transitioned into her new role. She never even interviewed anyone else. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Not properly managing my time. By my final semester, I was insanely busy and just couldn’t keep everything afloat. Something had to give, but before I realized this, I made a costly mistake—spelling something (I can’t remember the exact word now) wrong in an ad that had already been sent to the printer. At that point, I had a conversation with my boss about how I needed to resign in order to finish school (and not let her down in such a way again).

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

9

Communications Coordinator Regional Chapter of a National Association

PROUDEST MOMENT: Recognizing the writing on the wall. This isn’t my proudest on-the-job moment—although I do have many of those. But in terms of moving my career forward and upward, this moment was crucial. Within a two-week period, 50 percent of my colleagues quit. I had only been with the organization for four months, so I didn’t understand the reasoning behind the mass exodus. But, since one of the individuals leaving was my boss, and the new person replacing him was a “one woman show” kind of person, I knew I had to start shopping my résumé. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Forgetting everyone’s names. I was hired just two weeks before my wedding and honeymoon, and spent only a week in the workplace before jetting away. I returned hardly recognizing anyone. I wrote about this embarrassing experience in the Wall Street Journal.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

10

Account Executive Boutique Agency

PROUDEST MOMENT: Walking away to stand up for myself. Again, I had many, many great on-the-job moments—and I’m friends with my former boss to this day. But even she now recognizes what went wrong, and we both learned from it. To make a long story short, I left for two reasons: (1) I was taken off an account I’d successfully led for more than a year for “being too young” and (2) my title and salary didn’t reflect my number-two status in the organization. I had to move on in order to send a message—which was successfully received and the organization continues to blossom. I couldn’t be happier for them! BIGGEST MISTAKE: Leaving instead of trying to negotiate. I hate confrontations, and it’s not like I never discussed the issues above with my boss. But I purposefully accepted another job before quitting so I couldn’t change my mind. I didn’t really want to leave—I loved my clients and my boss. Looking back, I could have definitely handled this better.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

11

Associate International Agency

PROUDEST MOMENT: Learning which corporate culture wasn’t a fit for me. Honestly, I don’t know how I managed to stay for 10 whole months. Even though my goal was to last at least a year, I just couldn’t do it. Large agency culture just wasn’t for me, and learning that about myself was incredibly important. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Going to human resources when problems arose. This actually might be the biggest mistake of my entire career thus far. I learned the hard way that human resources is always on the company’s side, not yours. After approaching human resources with several issues I was having (at the suggestion of someone higher up than me), I was blacklisted within the organization and wasn’t being assigned any more work—in an industry where billable hours are everything.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

12

Senior Account Executive Boutique Agency

PROUDEST MOMENT: Recognizing “it’s not me, it’s you.” Unfortunately, as opposed to taking place while I was in the position, this moment didn’t come until just recently. As I wrote on my blog, I worked for a Diminisher who desired nothing more than to make me feel inadequate—so much so that I considered (and eventually did) switching careers. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Not seeing the writing on the wall. I just didn’t see the layoff coming. Sure, all the signs were there. We’d just lost a big client, I was the newest member of the team, and I had just received a bad performance review. Regardless of the reason, I didn’t realize I’d been helping make my own layoff easier on the organization while I prepped all my accounts for my pending week-long vacation. (Oh yeah, and I didn’t take the layoff nicely, either. How do you react to, “By the way, you won’t be coming back after vacation after all,” other than having a partial meltdown?)

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

13

Media Relations Manager National Nonprofit Professional Association

PROUDEST MOMENT: Becoming a true player in the organization. Throughout my time there, I kept thinking to myself, “This is it. This is where I belong.” I loved the nonprofit side of public relations, and I finally had a title worthy of respect (and an office!). I became part of the elite “management team” that made decisions for the organization, despite being the only person on it in my twenties. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Undervaluing myself. This is probably a tie for the biggest mistake of my career thus far. I needed a job after being laid off, and so there was no salary negotiation whatsoever—and no raises to speak of the entire time I was there. In the end, I had to leave because I just couldn’t afford to work for so little money. (New grads I was coaching were getting bigger offers than what I made!) Never undervalue yourself, ever.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

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Entry-Level Careers Columnist Examiner.com

PROUDEST MOMENT: Realizing I needed a “back-up career.” I actually went to college for journalism, but ended up switching majors after two years because I didn’t like the program. So, “journalist” was a natural fallback for me once I got settled into my new position as media relations manager. The recession was still raging, and I didn’t want to be stuck in the “I’ve been laid off, now what?” position ever, ever again. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Not realizing I needed a “back-up career” sooner. I had been a hiring manager (always of interns and entry-level professionals) in my various positions for years. Why didn’t I start to brand myself sooner? This is definitely a “do as I say, not as I do” moment. Every Plan A needs a Plan B.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

15

Founder & President Come Recommended, LLC

PROUDEST MOMENT: Making the leap. As of this writing, I would have to say that making the leap from “employee” to “entrepreneur” is my proudest career moment. Over the years, I’ve learned so much about the business world, and more importantly, about myself. I am an entrepreneur to the core. BIGGEST MISTAKE: Outsourcing a core competency. If something is extremely important to your business or your job (a “core competency”), do it in-house (or yourself, if you’re an employee)—don’t outsource it. Unfortunately, it took me a year of going through developer after developer to learn this costly mistake. Although Come Recommended has since changed and most likely will continue to do so, technology was vital to our business model in the beginning. I should have understood that and brought on a partner sooner.

by HEATHER R. HUHMAN

Lessons Learned from Taking My Career from Classroom to Cubicle to Penthouse

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Heather R. Huhman, founder & president of Come Recommended, is passionate about helping students and recent college graduates pursue their dream careers. As the oldest child in her family – even among her extended family – she did not have anyone to guide her through the trials and tribulations of developing her career. Now, as an experienced hiring manager and someone who has been in nearly every employment-related situation imaginable, she is serving as that much-needed guide for others. Heather knows and understands the needs of today’s employers and internship and entry-level job seekers. Her expertise in this area led to her selection as Examiner.com’s entry-level careers columnist in mid-2008. The daily, national column educates high school students through recent college graduates about how to find, land and succeed at internships and entry-level jobs. Additionally, Heather is a career expert and regular contributor for

numerous blogs and publications and author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010) and the e-books Relocating for an Entry-Level Job: Why You Probably Have to & How to Do It (2010), Graduated, Unemployed & Un(der)insured: Why You Need to Stop What You’re Doing Right Now to Purchase Health Insurance and How to Pick the Provider & Plan Best for You (2010), and Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty (2008). Heather resides in the Washington, DC area with her husband, dog and two cats. She is available to speak at your next event.