In 2012, Amy Feind Reeves was unhappy as Chief Operating Officer for a financial non-profit. Her husband asked her what she really wanted to do if she could do whatever she wanted. She didn’t even have to think about it. She had known the answer for almost 30 years, and she had been doing it as a hobby almost as long. She wanted to help people find careers they loved.
“It was a weird hobby,” Amy laughs, “but I knew it was going to make a great career because I could make a difference in people’s lives.” She explained to us why she chose to become the resource she wishes she had after two critical career junctures in her life.
“First, I had an awful time finding my way after college,” says Feind Reeves, “As a hiring manager for decades afterwards, I knew there were still few good resources for people like New Grad Me because I was getting candidates who were woefully underprepared, and my heart broke for these kids.
Later, I unexpectedly became a single mother with a two-year old. My whole career had been in travel intensive jobs. I couldn’t afford to take a salary cut, but I needed a cut in travel. I changed industries and roles but did it all on my own.”
Amy now serves as a career coach and is the author of the Number 1 Release on Amazon, College to Career, Explained: Tools, Tips & Confidence for Your Job Search.
What are the largest mistakes these audiences make when it comes to their careers?
“In job searching, the biggest mistake is focusing on their skills and experience. That is not what makes you stand out. To stand out, focus on what you can do for a company by using your skills and your experience. Show you understand the company’s business model, its competition, and its customers. Then describe how the skills and experience you will draw on every day will contribute to the company’s goals.
The bar has been raised on these generations, and they know it. They grew up hearing their parents’ say “I could never get into my alma mater today! The kids they let in now are way smarter than me,” so they understand that competition for them has become more intense. While it was okay for their parents to focus on presenting their skills and experience, these generations need to do a little more to be competitive.
In their careers, the mistake I see most often in Gen Y and Gen Z professionals is not advocating enough for themselves. In most cases, they deserve more from their employers than they are getting in terms of career management. For example:
- when (or if) you are on track for a raise and promotion,
- what exactly it is you need to do to meet the bar for it,
- what external factors may be involved, and
- how your responsibility and salary will increase.
Pretty basic stuff. In today’s understaffed and overscheduled world, however, internal career planning processes and documentation often becomes a low management priority. So, Gen Z and Gen Y employees need to know they can and should ask for those things if they don’t know them.
Again, this is new to these generations. As the expectation that an employee will stay with an organization for 10 or more years to build a career with them, the specific organizational tracks with which an employee can build that long term career have eroded or disappeared altogether. But employees still need to accomplish something in every role, and hopefully grow their responsibilities through promotion during their time at an organization. Current generations need to take accountability for that into their own hands.
How did you decide you wanted to serve the Gen Y and Gen Z markets?
They are watching the world of work change quickly, and it’s baffling. But not much more baffling than when everything went digital or when it will be when everything goes to AI. Businesses are and will still be run by people, using their best judgment in the context of growing their business profitably, with the best information they have available. That is what I want to share with younger generations. It is endlessly fascinating but shouldn’t be frustrating.
How did you come up with your unique career framework?
Some people choose unique career frameworks, and some people have unique career frameworks thrust upon them. I’m grateful for the opportunities I have had such as, financing a geothermal plant, redesigning the logistics of a chemical manufacturer, building processes to improve the ROI of everything from delivering roofing supplies to selling textbooks – and a lot of weird things in between. I’ve been promoted quickly, and I’ve been fired. I’ve been the only woman at a metals conference and walked past a line of over a hundred men waiting to use the bathroom and straight into an empty women’s room! I’ve been mistaken for a prostitute as a young woman alone at a nice business hotel. I had no idea that every single experience would make me a better coach, from building empathy to building my business knowledge. But it has.
