Our internal blog recently asked employees for the best career advice they would offer to others.  Below is my response which I wanted to share. My hope is you will in turn offer your best advice.

Set a plan for what you are looking to do with your career. Many people don’t have a plan for where they are looking to go, and their career path often demonstrates that. Have short, medium, and long term goals. Make sure and consider family choices/decisions, as those need to be factored into career planning as well. Once you have your plan, be ready for the opportunity when it comes because when someone answers the door you’ve been knocking on, be ready to articulate/show you have what it takes! Also, you have to knock on some doors many times for the opportunity to present itself. Don’t give up.

Don’t let anyone tell you can’t be successful at something. There are going to be times in your career when you may not succeed. When you don’t succeed, some may stop believing in you, but never stop believing in yourself.

What is your career advice?

Dear Honda,

We don’t know each other, but I love my car.  My 2006 Civic has been great to me, and I suppose I’ve been pretty good to it too.  I’ve changed the breaks, oil, transmission fluid, steering fluid, a couple of sets of tires, and that is about it.  Our car has given me 100,000 glorious miles together.  On our way down to San Diego last week, we hit the milestone.  I’ve had a few cars before my Honda Civic, but each of them was plagued with problems and were complete money pits.  I’ve gone through some rough financial times over the last few years, so having a dependable car has been awesome. Here’s to the next 100,000 miles and learning from my mistakes!