Every college graduate, and every transitioning Veteran (hopefully) face a million dollar question before finding their first job after college or the military: “What kind of career do I want?”
It seems that many times instead of answering that question, time, demand, opportunity (or lack thereof), and pride result in the answering of a substitute question: “What job can I get that pays enough?”
Today, Four Block Veterans visited LinkedIn and heard from LinkedIn employees mixed of both Veterans and Non-Veterans. The first theme – no brainer: They all loved working at LinkedIn. I was happily surprised to hear two different, yet consistent and related themes.
The panel all discussed what they enjoyed about working at LinkedIn, and they all described the things they like by comparing it to the things they didn’t like at previous companies. I should point out, that half or more, worked at rather big named companies previously – companies that many of our Vets, and college grads would hope to work at. In making the comparison and exposing the contrasting company cultures – it was enlightening to see what came up.
All of the panelists described an empty feeling they had while at previous employers, that has been filled while at LinkedIn. While there may be many reasons for why they feel, well, filled – it seems all agree it’s the culture of inclusion, creative thought, and ambitious greatness all tied together with enjoying the people they spend most of their waking hours with. They all also noted – while I am confident they all make fair wages – that their initial concerns of wages upon finding their first job may have misled them to their first companies and ultimately the empty feelings they had before joining LinkedIn.
We heard a lot of great things from the panel, and are incredibly grateful for all of the panelists to take their time to share their experience with our Four Block students.
As the economy, or more importantly the labor market, begins to shift in favor of the employee, keep in mind that you should make no substitutions when answering your million-dollar career question:
What kind of career do I want and what do I need to get out of it?
Learning, Leading & Life 
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