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Presh is a recent graduate from Stanford University where he studied Mathematics and Economics. He now works on two main projects: educating personal finance 
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New here? Employee Evolution is a blog written by Ryan Healy. Ryan is a Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist, the webs #1 social network for young professionals. Ryan speaks with organizations on best practices for recruiting and retaining Generation Y and how to effectively use social media to reach your target market. To contact Ryan, please visit our contact page.
I used to fear calling random people on the phone. It was so bad that I didn’t like calling for delivery pizza. It did not affect too much of my daily life until my first summer job where I had to call vendors about shipping problems. I cringed at the task. For a whole week, I hated going to work.
It was a change in attitude that improved my situation. I realized that as much as I hated my job, I was learning a valuable skill. More importantly, someone was actually paying me to do it. I began to view the task as an opportunity to improve communication skills. Not only did I do my current job better, but I carried that skill into my next job.
Since then, I’ve always sought to learn while being paid, even if that meant doing something I was really scared of. Since most of us change jobs every few years, learning general skills along the way help recruiters look past the job hopping.
Here are five methods I’ve used to gather general skills while earning a paycheck:
1. Take a reimbursable class, or find free seminars
This is the most obvious way to learn on the job: take classes your company will pay for. In some jobs, it’s a stated benefit. Make sure you take advantage of it.
If tuition is not a stated benefit, ask if people have taken seminars or had classes paid for by the company. Companies may help out if you can demonstrate how it applies to your current role.
If your company won’t pay for classes, consider looking to vendors for free seminars. Some data providers (like Bloomberg) give free seminars regularly as part of their marketing campaign. You can even get a free lunch out of some of these talks.
2. Write about a specific task in a self-review
It’s a natural tendency for companies to staff people in their most suitable roles. For instance, since I have a technical background, I tend to get staffed in quantitative analysis. While I enjoy this role, it doesn’t expand my overall skill.
To keep learning more, I specifically mentioned in my self-review that I wanted to work on qualitative skills. I outlined a specific task about working with presentation slides. My advisors took note and mentioned an opportunity when it arose.
3. Keep an eye out for unusual activities
There were times when I was both too busy to take a class and could not be staffed to learn what I wanted. One time, I wanted to improve my presentation skills. Nothing was coming, but I kept a vigil eye out for opportunities.
Soon enough, I found an opening with on-campus recruiting. “Well,” I thought, “it’s not a presentation to a prestigious client, but it does involve similar skills.”
And it was a lot of fun. Not only did I get to work on presenting skills, but it was a chance to introduce myself to people in the recruiting department of my company.
4. Take initiative and create a task
Sometimes there really are no opportunities. In this case, be creative and take initiative.
When I have free time, I’m very tempted to read blogs and check sports. But with all my company’s resources at my disposal, I’m determined to get creative.
I spent a couple of days developing a slide presentation about the kind of cases I was involved in, then got approval to present it to other employees. I was able to improve my skills and get other people trained in my line of work.
5. Learn to like the task you hate
This is my least favorite way to learn, but yes, you can view those boring tasks as learning opportunities. No matter how much you hate something, there is probably a way you can learn from it. And just keep in mind, you are getting paid all the same.
All great advice, Presh. I particularly appreciate how it speaks to the stereotypically GenY work philosophy of, “Don’t count on me to take a position or to stay more than 24 months at a position unless it suits me 100%, mind, body, and soul.” Sometimes you can start at a “close enough” position and actually turn it into something you love by educating yourself (or, better, by letting the employer pay to educate you) and developing your skills. You may uncover hidden interests or talents that you never realized you had … and when you’re 20-something, trust me, you may not know yourself as well as you think you do.
I had the same problem. When I was younger, if my mom didn’t order the pizza, I would often choose to just not eat dinner instead of calling myself. Work helped me get over that, although for slightly different reasons. I worked for my Dad when I was in 7th grade calling vendors and after I got the first few calls over it was easy. At work, I felt that I was being held responsible by someone else, so I HAD to make the call. It wasn’t my choice. I still hate talking on the phone, but when I was at work, I just had to do it. I’d dread it, but I’d do it.
Now that I’m starting my own business, I’m only responsible to myself, which makes it a little harder to do something I don’t want to. The other day I visited a career fair to talk with recruiters about my product. Earlier in the morning, I was nervous as heck about the day I had in front of me. The first few “pitches” I made were pretty rough, but by the end of the day I was firing on all cylinders. I was having great conversations and getting great responses from the people I was talking to.
A job is a great incentive to do something that would typically make you nervous. You can’t say no, and if you make a fool out of yourself (you won’t, but you still fear you will), you can say you only did it because you were getting paid.
@Sean: Good point that you can discover hidden talents by trying new things. Many people I know are too set on having that perfect job which may or may not exist. Since there are so many jobs unrelated to specific college majors, it’s pretty much necessary to do things that are unfamiliar and you might not like.
@Willy: I’m glad to see some one else was shy like me; most people I tell the story to don’t understand and give me a glazed look. I like your point that a job can force you to do some thing you wouldn’t and you can blame it on the job if you sucked. It’s like the excuse we used when our parents made us try some thing: “But I did it because my mom told me to.”
Great advice, Presh. I try to learn from every situation I’m in, regardless of pay. Because my goal is to run a business, I try to get as much sales experience as possible. I can get this experiene at work by delivering a great presentation or convincing people they want to work with me by my actions at the office. But, I also do stupid things like convince all of my friends why we should go to a particular bar on any given night.
Everything can be a learning experience. Figure out what you need to work on and use your life as practice.
@Ryan: Interesting perspective that even a simple decision with friends is a sales opportunity; it makes a lot of sense.