Pursuing Perfection…
Since taking a leap of faith and leaving behind my four-year career in hospitality, I have opened myself up to a journey of self-discovery and fun. I graduated from a university known for hospitality and thought that working in a hotel was going to be my life long career. Four years in though and I realized I could not have been more wrong.
No one told me that I was going to have to pay my dues for 3 years before I would become a manager. I graduated with an expectation that by having this four-year degree, I would immediately step out into the ranks of the masses as a trusted leader and manager. Instead I stepped out into a crowd of people struggling to make ends meet after dishing out their life savings and their future earnings to a program that gave a minimal boost. My degree taught me the basics but it didn’t teach me how to navigate through Marriott’s MARSHA, CI/TY or PMS systems, it didn’t teach me how to calm down irate customers who wanted nothing more than a $10,000 discount on their event, it didn’t teach me how to build a relationship with my team so that I knew I could trust them to use the right linen on the tables. If you haven’t guessed by now, I was an event manager. It took me 3 long years to get to that position, but it is the tangible and intangible skills I picked up along the way that made that journey so incredibly worth it. Sadly, it took me leaving the hotel life (hopefully forever) to realize the strengths I gained from working in such a underappreciated industry.
I was burnt out from hotel life at the tender age of 26, an all too common occurrence in that industry. I could not handle the hours or the pressure matched up to the little pay. My only problem was that I had no other skills (or so I thought). I spent 4 years focusing solely on hospitality in school and then another 4 years focusing on hospitality in my career. I was at a loss on how to transition to a new job but I knew I had to get out, my mental health was starting to deteriorate and I could see it spilling over into my personal life and relationships. So I did what any professional seeking a new career does: I looked at colleges to try and find a program where I could build up a skill set on top of my current one with little money or effort…and then I cried because #tuitionprices. After realizing that taking on a loan for tuition would completely destroy any hopes I ever had of retiring, or surviving for that matter, I went to plan b. I updated my resume to the best of my abilities (thanks Purdue OWL) and then sat down and applied to every single job I thought could potentially get me out of hotels. I had a feeling that event management was similar to a project management role, so I found as many assistant project manager positions as I could, and sent my resume in. Of the estimated 40-50 jobs I applied for, I received 5 emails saying I didn’t match, and only 3 companies that actually requested to interview. Two of the positions were commission based sales and the last company was my saving grace, Learnovation®, LLC. I saw a notice on my phone that someone looked at my resume at around 11am and then around 11:30am Dr. Anna Graf Williams called me. I hurriedly looked everything up on my phone to try to remember which position I applied for, not my most shining moment. Then Dr. Anna explained that she wanted to meet me in person, that she was intrigued by my hospitality background and was interested in why I applied to be an Assistant Project Manager for Learnovation.
Flash forward to just after the first interview and I walked out with a hunger for something that I had never felt before. It was not just a matter of me wanting this job, I needed it. Dr. Anna gave me a copy of her Creating Your Career Portfolio for Students 4th ed. book and I sat down and read it as soon as I got home. every other page felt like a new “ah-ha!” moment. This book, this company, was exactly what I needed to transition, I knew I had to do everything in my power to get the job because everything they stood for resonated so deeply with how I felt. As you can tell I got the job and I really do still love it!
Through reading Dr. Anna’s book and now having the privilege to share an office with her, I have been taught a fundamental truth: Your worth as an employee is not based on your job title or your years of service, it is based solely on your SKILLS. Your skills are the building blocks of your personal and professional life. Every day you stack up more and more skills and you can use them in any job, in any career, and at any level. And the best part is that if you are willing to listen and learn, there is a lot of advice and guidance on Careers w/ Promise that will teach you how to use those skills to pursue perfection, whatever your idea of perfection may be.
Cheers!
Abby
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence”
~Vince Lombardi~