Shari Gunn, Vice President of Advertising and Business Development at the social shopping community Kaboodle, advises us to be ready for the unexpected career opportunity. Shari, whose job is to develop media programs and partnerships connecting advertisers with the Kaboodle community and before Kaboodle was the Director of Marketing for Hearst Digital Media in New York, thinks we should all be ready to connect when the chance appears. Here's what she has to say about getting ahead:
"A lot of professionals have mapped out their five, ten and even fifteen year career goals and objectives, but for better or for worse, I have always maintained a much more fluid approach to my career. When it comes to everyday planning and organization at work, I’m a stickler for details, timelines, deliverables and results. But as far as the big picture goes, I can’t say that I always apply the same philosophy. Other than a very purposeful decision to pursue my MBA (and at a very specific time), my career track has been extremely eventful and unpredictable. And, as a result, incredibly rewarding.
If you asked me a year ago I never would have foreseen that I would be living in the San Francisco Bay Area helping shape the future of Kaboodle, a leading Web 2.0 company. My life was great living in Manhattan having been recruited by one of the country’s largest and most respected media organizations, but I made the change and packed my bags for the left coast. And even before that, I didn’t really plan on being the co-founder of a dot-com (round one, pre-bubble), move to Los Angeles, and join another large media company during some of its more transformational years. Nope, I didn’t strategize about these specific career and geographic changes, nor did I plan them.
Instead, I’ve often managed to position myself to take advantage of good opportunities as they have arisen. Or I’ve been able to massage situations in order to create the opportunity that I was really looking for. This is not to say that I claim some sort of infallible and divine inspiration in every decision involving my career nor that every single decision has been perfect, but I can say that the balance is in favor of having many more positive experiences than not.
I have had a number of rewarding, challenging and exhilarating professional experiences and now I’ve also lived in three of this country’s most diverse and fascinating urban areas. (My family has long since resigned themselves to “penciling in” my details in their address books.) As I think about the progression of my career and the path I’ve been on, there are a few key lessons that I’ve picked up (and am finally able to articulate!) along the way:
- Trust your instincts. It’s easy to let your instincts and judgment get clouded by those who claim to know more and to know it better. It’s valuable to seek advice from those whose opinions you value, but ultimately, the decision is yours. I feel like I know in my gut what’s right for me.
- Don’t be afraid to deviate from The Plan. Some of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had (both professionally and personally) have come about when I least expected them and when I deviated from the path that I “should” have been on.
- Find a niche and fill it. Is there a void in your department, division or firm? Work that’s not currently being done for whatever reason? Finding a way to fill that void can create a learning experience for you and value for your company or clients. And who knows, maybe the unmet need you have identified is a whole business on its own!
- Be open to opportunities. If something interesting comes up that was NOT on The Plan, don’t necessarily dismiss it immediately. Give it some thought. I thought “I’m not moving to Manhattan NOW, it’s too late!” And then 3 months later I was snug in an apartment on the Upper West Side.
It’s not just about being in the right place at the right time; more importantly, it’s about recognizing and giving consideration to situations as they arise. Stop and listen to your gut, take a chance, you never know where it might lead you."
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