I made a career pivot that I’m still pinching myself that I actually get to do. After working for over 20 years in Learning & Development (always in a support role). I was given the opportunity to manage training for Amazon Studio’s! I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Amazon brand, especially if you’ve purchased off their website, shopped in a Whole Foods Market, or have a subscription to Amazon Prime. Well, in my role I get to work on the Prime Video/Amazon Studio’s side of the business. If you watch shows like The Boys, or The Marvelous Mrs. Mazel the studio that creates that original content and hundreds of others is Prime video/ Amazon Studio’s and I get to manage training for a team that makes that content accessible around the world.
For awhile before landing the position with Amazon, I had felt stuck in my previous role. I knew I wanted to advance in my career, I’d made that clear to my former employer, but there didn’t seem to be an opportunity at that time to do so. I began to do what I always do when I feel stuck at any place in my life. I began to manifest the opportunity that I wanted. That meant creating vision boards, journaling, and applying to roles that I felt qualified (and some that I didn’t) for. What’s interesting is that although I’d applied to many companies, Amazon wasn’t one that I’d submitted a resume for. It was a total cold call by a recruiter and the rest is history!
I’m still pinching myself that I get to manage training for Amazon Studio’s. This first few weeks has been a testament to life happening for me and not to me but also my resilience in continuing to show up and do the work even when I didn’t feel qualified.
I was given valuable career advice at the start of my career that has wrung true no matter where I’ve worked. I’m sharing it because as a Learning and Development professional I’m always looking for ways to share learning’s that have been helpful to my growth professionally.
The following has always been relevant and is quite simple to follow:
At any time in your career if you do two of these three things well, you will find that you’ll always be employable. When you hone all three you will thrive!
1. Be Likeable – This means that people find you approachable and trustworthy. You build and sustain relationships, avoid office politics and are solutions focused.
2. Be Dependable – You get assignments in on time, show up on time and are transparent and up front. When you are responsible for something your team and management can depend on you to get it done.
3. Be Knowledgeable – You are intelligent and well informed. You are able to drive results that make a significant impact on the business.
Any time I’ve felt I lacked knowledge or a particular skill set, I’ve leaned on my ability to build great relationships and get the work done on time. My lack of knowledge was forgivable because the connections I’d built and my willingness to show up were enough. If I worked in a space where I didn’t jive with my team, I leaned on my dependability and my ability to be an effective resource. The fact that I wasn’t “liked” made no difference because I was moving the work forward in an effective and impactful way.
Do you agree with the above career advice? Why or why not?