In Lesson 2: All Employment Opportunities Are Not Equal we’ll be spending a lot of time discussing the difference between chosing a career vocation and chosing where you’ll work, and who your employer will be. It’s actually quite complicated and may have a huge impact on your career satification. Here’s an article from Forbes that does a great job of introducing these concepts.
Dave
Business Basics
Big Fish Seek Small Ponds
05.01.07, 3:00 PM ET
Minneapolis is known for its lakes, lush greenery and cold winters–not necessarily its social scene.
That’s why 28-year-old Elizabeth Mahler’s decision to head there in September to work as a brand manager for General Mills was “a little scary.” It recently hit her hard when she was visiting friends in New York. “I was sitting in Central Park along with hundreds of other young singles and realized I’ll never have a moment like that in Minneapolis,” says Mahler, who will receive her M.B.A. from Northwestern University in June.
It’s not that she and other soon-to-be grads are forced to go to smaller cities. With a national unemployment rate of 4.4%, this year’s graduates have options–in fact, many grads have multiple offers to choose between. One recruiter said this year’s job market is so good, it’s reminiscent of the dot-com era.
Rather, many companies in smaller cities are offering such great professional opportunities, some grads have a hard time turning them down. Young employees say they get more face time with higher-ups, excellent professional development, a great cost of living and more responsibility.
But with those perks come drawbacks. Singles worry that there are less dating opportunities, hip restaurants and cultural events to keep them entertained. In spite of all that, though, Mahler–and about 25 of her colleagues in graduate school–decided to move to Minneapolis. She was impressed by General Mills’ reputation and the career trajectory she’d take by working there. She had a similar opportunity in Chicago (her hometown) but couldn’t resist General Mills.
She doesn’t plan on making it a hit-and-run, either. “I made the investment in my degree, and I want to make it in my next employer,” she says. “I hopped around in the past. I foresee putting in more time there and not less.”
Once grads are intrigued by the professional opportunity, companies need to hook them on the lifestyle. General Mills knows Minneapolis is a challenging sell. That’s why it brings prospective hires for visits several times. Select first-year M.B.A. students are flown to Minneapolis on the corporate jet to get them acquainted with the company. Next comes the “sell weekends,” when students who are invited for an interview are brought to town to see the city, visit its famous lakes and meet other candidates. “We don’t want to go into the dating business, but if there are others from their school, we try to make connections,” says Kenneth Charles, director of U.S. recruiting at General Mills.
Mahler has visited four times so far, courtesy of her new employer. Once was during a snowstorm, and she was impressed with how many people were playing ice hockey and cross-country skiing. In Chicago, people tend to hibernate when it snows, she says. “I already have favorite restaurants,” she says. “And I foresee myself having a boat on Lake Minnetonka in five years.”
That she might be able to afford a boat in five years says a lot about the cost of living there. “Once students see there are cool neighborhoods and that they can buy a house there one year after working–which they can’t do in New York City or San Francisco–they become very attracted to Minneapolis,” says Roxanne Hori, assistant dean for the career management center at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
When Gallo Wines was wooing 29-year-old Johanna Abbinante to join its Modesto, Calif., headquarters, it addressed the social aspect. Higher-ups emphasized that she’d be more likely to afford a home there than in San Francisco, which is a little more than two hours away. “It’s a plus, but being young and single, it’s not that important,” says Abbinante, who will also receive her M.B.A. from Northwestern in June.
She was in talks with other companies, but she cut off discussions after spending time with Gallo’s leadership. “Ideally, I’d like to live in a big city, but in terms of priority, I want to learn and grow at work,” she says. “I was really impressed with the people I met there. It’s a privately owned entrepreneurial firm, and I felt could get a lot of exposure there.”
California’s climate speaks for itself, but Gallo managers were sure to bring it up a lot. For Abbinante, who has lived in New York City and Chicago, that was a definite plus.
In contrast, weather isn’t Cleveland’s best draw. For Seth Engler, the people are.
Engler, who will graduate from the University of Pennsylvania next month, will start at McKinsey & Co.’s Cleveland office after graduation. The 22-year-old was deciding between that offer and one with another firm in Boston. Both were comparable, but Engler was so impressed by the staff in the Cleveland office that he decided to go there.
“It got to the point where every time I advanced in Cleveland, I had eight people calling me, coaching me, helping me through interviews,” he says. “It was literally the people that helped me decide.”
That and the opportunity to work in a smaller office, where he’ll get to know the higher-ups better and have one-on-one time with his bosses. He visited the firm for a “sell weekend,” and by the end of the two days, he knew the managing directors. That’s not the case for his friends going to work in New York City.
Still, his University of Pennsylvania friends look at him like an alien when they find out where he’s going. “It must be an East Coast thing,” he says. “When people ask what I’m doing next year and I tell them I’m going to Cleveland, people are like, ‘Why?’ Here, it’s like, ‘New York City or bust.'”
Who Stole My Career? 