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Zimmerman says she also has
found the decisions on her career
journey difficult.
“Every time I have made a move, I
have been running to something and not
away from something,” she says. “The
fact that I have had excellent coworkers
and really cool jobs that allow me to do
really cool things has made it always a
hard decision to leave.”
Since graduating from The Ohio State
in 2014, Ellen has worked as a marketing
manager for RFD-TV, a project manager
for Ohio Corn & Wheat, in member
communications for the American Postal
Workers Union, and she now serves as
the director of internal communications
and member engagement for the
American Seed Trade Association. She
says most of these transitions were made
harder because she didn’t stay as long as
she wanted to.
Ben says he certainly didn’t expect
to make so many changes so quickly
either, but they’ve been important to his
development.
“Your happiness and your worth go a
long way, and making moves is part of
having a career,” he says.
TAKING STOCK OF YOUR INTERESTS
Whitney says it’s common for career
transitions to be brought about by life
changes that cause us to stop and
reflect. As Ben has reflected on his
career transitions, he says the main
unifying factor in all of his roles was a
focus on helping farmers. As his career
progressed, that has intensified.
Ellen says she had a similar
experience. After a couple of roles,
she realized she loved working with
associations and in member engagement
specifically. As her career has progressed,
she also has more clarity about what
is important to her when choosing an
organization.
“As I go along in my career, I am
discovering more and more how
important it is that I feel strongly about
the mission of the organization,” Ellen
says.
If you’re struggling to combine your
skills and interests into a meaningful
career, Whitney suggests writing every
skill, interest, and idea on a Post-It note
or document where you can see and
sort them until you start to see patterns
emerge. She also recommends keeping
notes of each experience you have and
noting in detail what you liked, what you
didn’t, and what you learned.
While all of this self-reflection will
be valuable, don’t stop there. There are
many opportunities, especially for
students, to explore different career
paths and grow your industry network.
One example of these opportunities is
the AFA Leader Institute series which
takes an in-depth look at five different
industries—food, policy, crop science,
animal science and technology.
REFLECTING WITH OTHERS
As you have different realizations
about yourself and desired career path,
discussing those insights with a trusted
friend or family member can bring
additional clarity.
“I have probably five to eight people
that I can talk to candidly and have those
conversations – to weigh out pros and
cons,” Ben says. “That’s really important
because without those probing
questions from somebody else you may
not see the whole picture.”
Whitney says she always starts
talking through things with family but
admits that they are going to be biased
because of the ways they will be
impacted by decisions.
“Any time that you feel like you can’t
get an unbiased opinion from somebody
who’s close to you, hiring a coach can be
really helpful, not to give you the
decision, but to help you wade through
some of the factors,” she says.
If you’re a college student, you
probably have access to a career coach
right on campus through your career
services center. Whitney says you’re
probably already paying for their services
through your semester fees and you
should definitely take advantage of that.
KEEPING THE FUTURE IN MIND
One of the things that a career coach can
help you think through is the impact the
choices you make now will have in the
future as well as what makes sense right
now.
Whitney says, “Students are either
prone to making decisions about their
career based on where they want to be
in five to ten years; or they don’t
consider five to ten years from now.”
She says the first way of thinking
leads some students to limit themselves
because they make assumptions about
their personal life in 5 to 10 years. The
second way of thinking means students
might not gain the transferable skills
they need to make their desired career
transitions.
In the end, she says it’s okay not to
know exactly what you want to do, but
it is important to make your decisions
based on both your current stage of life
and where you think you might want
to be.
While their career paths might not
have looked quite like they expected
along the way, Whitney, Ellen and Ben
all agreed that each part of their career
journeys has been important.
“I don’t necessarily look back and say
there’s something that I would do
differently,” Ben says. “I think they’re
all great experiences, and I think they
all prepared me to be where I’m at
today.”
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