Tag: job

creativity

In the pause: My new approach to the job search

Christa Avampato

Whenever we start a job search, we often dive in looking at titles, areas of expertise, or industry. If like me you have worked in multiple industries with a wide variety of roles and responsibilities, then this method can take you in circles. Titles and job responsibilities are so different across companies. In my case, product management, product development, product marketing, operations, and communications don’t have clear and consistent definitions in the world of work and often roles have some responsibilities in a few of these categories.

So I’m trying something new. Because culture and mission are so important to me, I’ve decided to seek out companies that are interesting to me first and then dive into the different roles at those companies. My ideal is to find a place where I can learn and grow, meaning I would hold a number of different roles at the same company or organization over time. In this case, what really matters is the culture and environment. Roles and responsibilities can change on a dime; culture and mission are ideally consistent.

The job search can be a long and winding road. I’m hopeful that this new approach will make the destination a perfect fit.

creativity

In the pause: The point of life and work

Christa Avampato

“Isn’t that the point? To apply what we know and what we’ve done in new ways?”

This is what I said to a friend of mine over the weekend. She’s interviewing for a new job that leverages a lot of her skills and interests. It’s a brand new industry for her, and she was feeling nervous for the interview as a result. Look, friends, if we aren’t taking risks, trying new things, and learning, then what is the point? Adaptation is the cornerstone of life, literally and figuratively. The world is changing so fast—in 5-10 years we’ll likely be working in industries and roles that don’t even exist yet. The best we can do is work hard, learn, and be good to other people as we go. Truly. Don’t be afraid of applying your talents in new ways; just do it. It’s what we’re all going to have to do.

creativity

In the pause: You need to get comfortable with rejection

Christa Avampato

Exactly two months ago, I decided to try to make ACanofCoke.com, my online college- and career-readiness service, a reality. This week I scheduled meetings with 3 NYC public high school principals to talk about doing a pilot with their students this summer and fall. It took emailing 398 principals to get this response. Hey if it’s a numbers game, then I’m ready to play.

The mission of this idea matters so much to me that I’m not bothered by the rejection. I could look at this as ~1% of the schools I emailed are interested or I could see it as ~99% aren’t. I’m going with the former.

Rejection is a part of business, art, and life. We will be rejected far more often than we are accepted – at least that’s been my experience and the experience of just about everyone I know. It’s not the amount of failure we endure, but the persistence and passion that matter most. As Babe Ruth once said, “It’s tough to beat someone who never gives up.” Keep going.

creativity

In the pause: The secret of life is knowing that your time is now

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I turned down an opportunity for a new job. A great job. A job with a wonderful mission that matches my skill sets and would be the next step on the technology-based product development path I’ve been on for almost a decade. I’ve now done this several times in the past month.

“Why?” you might be asking. The opportunities were great, but not great for me. Sometimes the culture wasn’t right. Other times the team wasn’t right. Often the communication wasn’t right, or non-existent. And most importantly, that path isn’t the one I want to be on anymore. It’s been a great decade. I’ve learned a ton, so much more than I ever thought I’d learn when I started down this road. I’m glad I took this journey, and I’m glad it’s over. Like a good long hike, my body’s tired but my mind is clear and my heart is full. The view is spectacular, and now I’m ready to take another road on another adventure.

That adventure has to be heavily focused on writing, communication, and relationship-building. It has to take full advantage of the business skills I’ve spent a considerable amount of time and money to hone. It has to be brimming with creativity and the mission of the work has to be to build a better world. I think that these kinds of opportunities will be with a socially driven for-profit company or a nonprofit. And as far as location, I’m looking at New York, Philadelphia, and D.C. I’ve spent my life in this Northeast Amtrak corridor. I’ve gone to school here. The majority of my close friends and contacts are in and around those cities. Nearly all of my past employers are based here. I am by all accounts an east coaster, and proud of it. I’m a New Yorker at heart, and I always will be. Once you know exactly who you, you can’t be anyone else. Authenticity and integrity are everything.

I talked to my friend, Chris, yesterday. We talked about how important it is to align who we are with what we do as the key criteria to a happy career. You can only play a role for so long. Eventually, you walk off the stage, you take off the costume and the makeup, and all you’re left with is the person in the mirror. Bare-faced—scars, imperfections, and all. Now that’s the person I listen to. The heart and the gut I follow belong to her. And her time is now. So is yours.

creativity

In the pause: Choosing how to spend our time is our most important job

Christa Avampato

“Although you may have had a tragic past, it does not need to define your future. Unless you choose it. From this moment on, your life need not be tragic. From this moment on, your life is yours to make. To heal and to love are choices.” ~Max Strom

Max Strom is one of my favorite yoga teachers and writers. His book, A Life Worth Breathing, is a book I return to over and over again because of all the wisdom and grace be packs into his words. When I think about starting this project of virtual guidance counseling for kids, Max’s words speak to what I want to do for kids. To show them that though they may feel like their choices are limited now, life won’t always be that way. Eventually, and not to long from now, all of the choices will be theirs. It can be an overwhelming step change to go from being a child to being an adult. Kids have to know that someone is cheering them on, that someone is there to support them and help them wrestle through growing up.

And it’s a good reminder for us, too. The options of what we can do with our time and talents are endless. The most important work we will ever do is to decide how to use them.

creativity

In the pause: Holding myself accountable

Christa Avampato

I’m a voracious list maker, mostly because it helps me to remain accountable for moving my ideas forward. Since the weekend, I’ve been making a list of things I need to do to test out my new business ideas for on-demand and virtual guidance counseling for students. So far, I have a few to-dos on the books and they are:

  • Writing to my high school guidance counselor who inspired this idea to give him a long overdue thank you and to let him know his efforts were not in vain. I actually made it to adulthood in mostly one piece and am now giving back.
  • Making a list of people I’d like to contact to do research on the roles of guidance counselors and school administrators so I can understand their pain points and how this company can be of greatest use to the kids in their schools and to their staff.
  • Developing a light-weight version of a pitch deck that lays out the purpose, the impact, the methods to achieve that purpose, and my many questions.
  • Setting up time to meet with a couple of friends who are going to give me advice on the aforementioned pitch deck.
  • Setting up time to meet with a technology development shop that I love and want to work with.
  • Making a list of influential people who I want to contact about the idea to ask for their help, guidance,  and ideas.
  • Set up a meeting with a designer who I hope will help me with branding, a logo, etc. She reached out to me through Instagram and I love her work!
  • Reading, reading, reading. Researching, researching, researching. Learning, learning, learning.

I will say that I’m loving every moment of this. I’m loving it so much in fact that it doesn’t even seem like work. And that, my friends, is the point. We should find something that we love to do so much that the time flies and it makes us feel alive and free.

creativity

In the pause: Thinking of Lady Liberty

Christa Avampato

When I worked at Amex from 2008-2012, I would sneak away from my desk for a few minutes, go up to the 50th floor, and look out the big bay windows at New York Harbor, one of the busiest harbors in the world that has very strong currents and tides.For me, New York Harbor was then and is now a powerful allegory to our nation’s circumstances. A few minutes with that view kept me sane and calm in times that were anything but. Seeing the Statue of Liberty and Governors Island reminded me that no matter how troubled the waters of our nation are, we would be okay if we could all hang together and support one another.

I’ve been thinking about that view a lot lately as we face times that seem just as uncertain and frightening with the executive orders regarding immigration and the battle now being waged around financial regulation. How can we disagree so vehemently and remain united? How do we move forward when there is such fundamental disagreement on a human level? These are questions I will continue to consider in the coming months and years. I’ll let you know what I find.

creativity

Wonder: Go someplace where you can glow

Christa Avampato

About a dozen years ago, I interviewed for a job that was boring but paid well. I interviewed and really thought I made a great impression. Then the hiring manager told me, right in the interview, that she wasn’t going to hire me. I was devastated, until she explained why she wasn’t going to hire me. She said, “Christa, you’re a bright, shiny candle. Taking this job would be like taking a candle and putting it under the table. And that’s not where candles belong. Go somewhere where your light is needed and appreciated. Go do something really good with your life.” I’ve never forgotten that advice, and every day I try to live up to it. Sometimes I fail, but the daily pursuit to do something good with my life has always been worth it. I tried to find that hiring manager’s contact information so I could thank her, but it’s been lost in the shuffle over all these years since my interview. So this post is my attempt to thank her, and to encourage us all to find the place where our light is needed and appreciated in the coming year. Go where you can glow.

creativity

Wonder: It’s always a good time to pursue your dream

Christa Avampato

“Hold fast to dreams for it dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams for if dreams go, life is a barren field frozen with snow.” ~Langston Hughes

The guy I’m meant to be with believes in dreams as much as I do. On Sunday I went on a date with a new guy. He talked so passionately about food policy and public policy, the field that he studied for his PhD so I was surprised when he said he was an examiner at the patent office. I asked him why he wasn’t pursuing his passion around food in some way, even through hobbies and in his free time, and his response bummed me out: “At this point in my life, I’ve accepted that the best I can do is have a job I don’t hate.” Ouch! This person will never possibly understand me or appreciate my belief in dreams.

I’m a firm believer in the idea that we come across the people we do, when we do, for a very important reason. Though this guy and I are roughly the same age, we are miles apart in terms of how we think about life, our dreams, and our purpose. His response made me believe in my path more than ever, and strengthened my resolve to find someone who see dreams and life the way that I do. I can’t imagine ever giving up on my dreams. Even if I don’t achieve all of them, the pursuit is more than worth it. And so is yours. Please don’t give up. We can all do better than just having a job we don’t hate.

creativity

Wonder: Use your time to build a better world – a lesson on the D.C. metro

Christa Avampato

Yesterday as I was riding the metro home, these three reminders were directly in front of me: a woman reading the health and science section of The Washington Post, a man seated next to her was reading the book Getting Better, and then the advertisement from Virginia Hospital Center right next to me read “It’s all about getting better”. The synchronicity wasn’t lost on me. Building a better world is a mission we can all be a part of in some way, from our corner of the planet. Every day is a good day, even on a too-crowded metro train, if we can go home assured that what we did that day made the world a better place. No matter where are or what we’re doing, we can always get better.