Working on certain Assets...
Warning - this is a serious blog entry. I was unable to provide pictures, but I hope you enjoy reading anyway. From my point of view it is worth reading for a variaty of reasons, so find out yours and tell me afterwards ;).
I will introduce today's blog by referring to a newsletter I receive since I'm interested in applying for consulting more than 2 years ago. It's written by Victor Cheng, a Top-Consultant and creator of the site www.caseinterviews.com. His topics cover a wide range of business and career related topics. However, the one that inspires me to this article is "Do You Work for Income or Assets?".
When taking a job, one might consider various factors. The most obvious one is often the income, while assets are often forgotten (but in long term much more important, once you earn enough money to afford your living). For further details please read the article.
I want to focus on my way to make the best out of my Fulbright-Experience. The "Income" is getting the degree, but I can certainly get much more from it. I will use the notation provided by Victor Cheng for consistency.
1) Relationship “assets”
a) Stay in Touch with People You Know
At the various events of Fulbright, the University, One-to-world (international student organization in New York) and so on, I meet an immense amount of people. It's not possible to get to know properly all of them, it's even harder to stay in touch with a few. So i concentrate on deciding which people I wanna stay in touch with (mainly because we are getting along personally). To do this I write proactive in groups (mainly facebook is used in the US), send them cool pictures directly and ask them what's up at their place.
b) Help others who need help.
To paraphrase JFK (Inaugrual Address(1961)) (who gratuated from Fordham):
"Don't ask what others can do for you, ask yourself what you can do for them!"
or another quote (found on an article of Victor Cheng):
"Imagine you go to a party. The host will be much happier if you arrive with a sixpack than if you just serve yourself at the fridge."
And what does this have to do with me or you? Well, be aware that you might help others with little efforts. For example while arriving in a new country, a new information may save someone else hours. Or 2 days ago I was cooking at the residence (see my dinner) and just next to me has been someone, not really sure how to cook chicken. So while I waited for my rice, I gave a little cooking lesson (and thanks Andi, to put soup cubes into rice is just awesome :D!). There are so many little things you can do to help others a lot.. just keep your eyes open!
Little help which others won't forget... this morning he thanked me again for helping him making a good dinner :).
2) SIGNALING assets
Finally I'm coming to the initial idea of this article. The signaling assets, are links which proove your good standing. And they need to exist. In my case, this means I'm available for interviews, accept being put on Twitter (see Reno Article) and similar things. My name can also be found on the new blog of Fordham University thanks to an interview at the "Graduate Students Orientation".
I will continue working on this assets, as it is not only good in the long-term, it also helps to meet the people, establish a good standing and much more.
3) SKILL assets
The most obvious way to improve my skill assets is studying. But while I'm thinking about that, there are numerous way I have improved my skills during my 3-weeks in the US:
- writing this blog
- working on Articles
- Networking the people I meet and to organize the contacts
- Stay in Touch with them (see 1.Relationship Assets)
- Arrive in a new environment
- Improve your physical skills - biking & football so far :)
- Playing chessmail with me dear brother & father :).
- Applying for a conference in Boston
- applying for the UN-YPP exam
Why have I written all this? To make me feel great? On the hand certainly, but on the other hand to provide some thoughts on what can be done in daily life. And the latter reason is far more important.
For me it was also a help to structure the things I have done and do think about what I will do in the coming year. Maybe you also want to think about your assets? ;)