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What kind of tech was helpful for you when you were starting out your career?

I want to be an editor, so nothing too fancy, right? #career-options #tech #English #reading

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Jacob’s Answer

Hi, Devon. Good question, and while responses definitely vary based on what you are passionate about and what career path you decide to take, I will try to provide a couple of tech solutions that I think are fairly effective to help you stay organized but also expand your learning and development as you're starting off your career.

The world has changed dramatically since I started my career 20 years ago, but I find a lot of our more recent interns and new hires at my company have similar views on helpful tech when starting their careers.

- First, you are going to want to have a means to absorb information and news in an efficient way. This not only can be very applicable to your job, but also allows you to be versed and prepared for those "water cooler" conversations where there might be an opportunity to impress a "higher-up" or your fellow teammates. I would recommend Flipboard as it is one I use quite frequently. You start out by filling out the information and subject topics you're interested in, and then Flipboard sends you articles and news stories related to those items. It is a learning tool so that as you select and read different articles, it adjusts its preferences to make sure it's sending you stuff that you want to read and that you are passionate about.

- Second and from an organizational perspective, I would recommend looking at a good digital "planner" tool that allows you to keep track of your "to dos" (both personally and professionally). This will help you manage and excel at meeting deadlines, tracking steps within longer term projects, and maintain the "to dos" in an organized way via folders, subject topics, etc. I use this type of tool for everything (grocery shopping, movies I want to see, books I want to read, home improvement projects, work to-dos, etc.). There are plenty of these types of tools to choose from and some are more complicated than others, but I started using WunderList a couple of years back and with its retirement, I have been a big fan of Microsoft To Do.

- Lastly, every company uses email in some form or fashion, but a huge growing trend right now is collaboration tools. Slack is a favorite for many folks, but I am a fan of Microsoft Teams and have been utilizing it over the past year. I'm still very much learning its full potential, but it's great for information-sharing and connects well to the other Microsoft tools.

I hope this helps, and good luck on your career journey.
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Ken’s Answer

The most important "tech" was an Interest and Aptitude Test administered and interpreted by a professional. The most important steps towards starting out on your career are to get to know yourself well enough to be sure of selecting a career area that suits your personality traits and then doing person to person in person networking to further acquaint yourself with that career area and those involved in it to be sure that there is a comfortable fit.


Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Tom’s Answer

I would say the most important thing about your tech is making sure it is able to match your work style. I work in communications and I do a lot of writing and editing in my job. I also am often on the go as a hybrid worker. I need my technology to be flexible to meet my work requirements. I primarily work off of a laptop and I have a docking station available to use when I am comparing documents or working on multiple files. I also have all of my work files saved to the cloud so I am able to easily access them from my phone in case I do not have my laptop with me.

For me, understanding what works best has taken some time and iteration. I have learned you need to be flexible with yourself and reflective to see what works best. Laptops and Phones are the cornerstone!
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