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BY Joel Junker

Starting a New Career. You Never Know Who is Watching.

Starting a new career requires dedication to extra hours of work and study in order to learn specific company and industry products, services, competitors, customers and terminology.  Cameron-Brooks Alumni JMOs who have successfully launched their business career will echo this.  I often get e-mails or phone calls from alumni who tell me about classes they took outside of work to learn about Six Sigma, Finance, Accounting, Project Management or Anatomy (for medical device sales).  They tell me about extra phone calls they made to peers in the company to learn best practices or about going to a plant or warehouse when it is not their shift to see how other operations run.  Those in medical device sales tell me about medical journals they have read and the additional surgical cases they observed in early mornings or late evenings.  This work ethic and dedication to self-study and development are keys to successfully starting a new business career and building a solid foundation for one’s future.

A Regional Sales Manager for one of our medical device clients told me a funny story at our January Career Conference that reminded me of the learning and self-development required in a new career.  This manager hired a Cameron-Brooks JMO from our November 2009 Conference and assigned him to a training location in San Diego, CA.  Because this candidate’s spouse is finishing up her career in Dallas, he occasionally has been flying from San Diego to Dallas to spend the weekend with her.  This particular Regional Manager also happens to live in Dallas.  Recently, late on a Friday evening, the manager who had been conducting business in Southern California during the preceeding week, boarded an American Airlines flight back to his home office in Dallas.  As he walked down the aisle of the plane, he noticed the candidate (now employee of the company) whom he had recently hired.  Remember, it is late on a Friday afternoon and this Cameron-Brooks Alumnus likely just completed a long week of work with a lot of early mornings.  He could have been sleeping, sipping on a cocktail, or reading a good novel.  Instead, he had his laptop open playing a DVD demonstration of a new surgical procedure and an anatomy textbook open at his side.  The manager calmly walked by without drawing the employee’s attention.  After the flight departed and leveled off, the manager walked forward to the alumnus’ seat, to find him still studying his textbook.  The manager put his hand on the new employee’s shoulder, surprised him and said, “Nice job.” 

I am sure that when this Cameron-Brooks Alumnus started studying, the last thing he thought of was impressing his Regional Manager who MIGHT be on the flight.  He studied because he wanted to master the business, science, and sales aspects of his position, successfully launch his career and build a foundation for his future.

Joel Junker