Last week I was invited to speak to the APICS student chapter at Farmingdale State College. It’s always great to talk to an audience of budding supply chain professionals, and I let them know they are entering a great field. Even in these challenging economic times, they have skills that are in demand and they have bright futures ahead of them. Manufacturing and Distribution companies hire a lot of supply chain talent – even in tough times.
As I typically do with an audience like this, I described my career journey in Supply Chain Management, Inventory Management and Analytics, peppered with some real-life examples. I also shared some lessons-learned for career-management. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, but a few things to remind yourself of periodically…
- You have a long career ahead of you. Try different things. Do what you enjoy. Don’t chase money. If you do what you enjoy and are good at, the rewards will come.
- Make an impact. Apply what you learn in school and on the job. Tie ideas back to a business case – how will you make the company more profitable?
- Look out for #1. Don’t expect someone else to manage your career. Nobody cares about it more than you do. Keep developing and learning.
Nothing earth-shattering here, but it’s amazing how often people (myself included!) don’t consistently adhere to these relatively simple concepts.
I have posted the entire presentation at on the Resources page at REanalyzeinc.com - click here. It includes a bunch of project examples and some lessons-learned that are more functionally-oriented (as opposed to career-oriented).
What are your most important career-management lessons?
Until next time…
Rob
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Rob Ende is Founder and President of REanalyze Inc., a Supply Chain, Inventory Management and Analytics consultancy based on Long Island, New York. Rob can be reached at 631-807-2339 or rende@reanalyzeinc.com.
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