Several weeks ago I went to Mountain View for a friend's birthday celebration. She went to Sloan for her MBA, and we met a couple times during the MBA Sales Competition at Sloan and other inter-mural events. The catch-up reminded me of this blog, :P because I had wanted to post the script of my final speech for a communication course at Wharton. I founded the Wharton Sales Club and envisioned it would be a great benefit for MBA students to learn how to sell (not necessarily by taking a sales job) in any career path. Since my last post was about recruiting like a salesman, I wanted to share some more thoughts about "selling". So here it is:
Hello everyone, my name is "Mate, I C Bill". I’m a Wharton MBA, Class of 2009. For those of you in Class of 2010, 11 and beyond, what kind of skills do you want to improve the most? I’m sure financial modeling, market research, etc. all deserve to be on your list. And how about the skill of selling?
By the word “selling”, I’m not talking about turning every MBA graduate into a used car sales person. The sales education for MBA should focus on developing the selling skill that can be universally applied to any business and career needs, because essentially business is all about selling.
We come to Wharton for the best business education in the world and prepare ourselves for the next step in our career. Let’s face it – the whole recruiting process is indeed a process of selling! If the career management service can’t find your dream job, you need to do lots of networking to find prospects, in other words, companies which may have hiring needs. Then you try to set up a brief meeting or phone call to introduce yourself and understand their needs more. After the first meeting, you should try to get the second, or even third, fourth meeting, before you eventually close the deal and land the job.
Again, business is all about selling.
After you land your dream job, selling will still continue to be a key element of your career success. Lots of successful Wharton alumni told me how important selling is to their career.
As partner of consulting firm, you sell.
As senior executive at investment bank, you sell.
As entrepreneur, you sell your start-up ideas to VC investors.
As VC/PE partner, you sell fund-raising proposal to the LPs.
And last but not the least, if you’re on a date and if you want to get a second date, you really have to do a damn good job to sell yourself, right? :o)
See? Not only business but also life is all about selling.
I’m sure some of you might be thinking that the skill of selling is really reserved for only a few gifted people. It seems to be true some people are born to be good at selling, but for the rest of us, I believe we can learn and improve, if we start doing it today at Wharton.
Let me tell you my story. I was a chemist before I came to Wharton. I used to think as long as your chemistry is great, you can definitely wow the audience. Soon after I made it to Wharton, such mindset failed miserably. During my first year, I participated in the MIT Sloan MBA Sales Competition, and not surprisingly, my performance sucked. Of course your product won’t sell itself, just because you think it’s good. Understand the customer need and then make a sound value proposition! With feedbacks from the judge in each round, I was able to apply the learning to the following round and instantly showed some improvement. It was an eye-opening experience for me. A year later, I was so excited about the competition that I decided to go to MIT Sloan again. This time my total score was ranked No. 5 out of 70 contestants from the 11 top business schools such as HBS, Stanford, Chicago, LBS and so on.
If a chemistry geek like me can show some improvement of the selling skill, I’m confident you can do even better.
As Founder of the Wharton Sales Club, I’d like to invite you to join this exciting club. Our mission is to promote the MBA sales education and prepare you for your career success. Since the club was launched in November 2008, we’ve brought in professional sales trainer, successful entrepreneur, and even managing director from UBS to share their perspective on selling. We’ve also had the privilege to have Prof. Stuart Diamond as our faculty advisor. As you may know, Professor Diamond teaches negotiations and is the most popular professor in the course auction. In addition to sales seminars and workshops, we will also launch our sales competition and sales conference for you to gain hands-on experience and real-world perspective.
Let’s develop a salesman spirit, because business is all about selling. Wharton will be a great place for us to learn how to sell. Let’s get started now!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Venture Job Recruiting, A Salesman’s Approach
VC is arguably one of the toughest jobs for MBAs to get.
Venture (“venture” and “VC” will be used interchangeably in my blog post) recruiting doesn’t have the luxury of structured process of campus recruiting. At most business schools, campus recruiting has been streamlined by the Career Management Office. Recruiters go to the campus, give information sessions, collect resumes, pick a bunch to interview, filter out some candidates and give the remaining pool a second-round, and finally make offers to the selected lucky few. But venture recruiting rarely works this way. In fact, I’ve never heard of somebody who found his VC job through campus recruiting.
VC is a people business. Since every venture firm is quite lean, the partners at each firm take their time to find the right fit. They want to get to know a person very well before bringing him/her on board. So networking is a critical first step for MBAs who’re interested in breaking into this industry. If there’s any tip that I can share, I suggest the candidate approach the venture job recruiting process like a salesman. Let me explain it here.
1) A salesman starts his sales process by casting a big net to identify prospects; a candidate needs to reach out to venture firms and make contacts as broadly as possible. Cold call is okay, but if a referral can be made by a mutual contact, at least one meeting is guaranteed.
2) Next, the salesman gets the first meeting with a potential client and tries to understand the client’s needs; the candidate should do the same and understand what a venture firm is looking for. It doesn’t matter how great your product is. If it doesn’t address the customer need, it’s useless. I met some peers who tried to get the venture job by labeling them as experts in the solar or wind space. It certainly helps by showing a strong interest and commitment. But since many venture firms have already built in-house knowledge in the solar/wind space, why do they want to add another solar/wind guy? Additionally, at such “first” meetings it is also critical to build a rapport with the prospect. People tend to do business only with those whom they like.
3) It’s important to have those “first” meetings, and it’s even more important to have the second meetings. Both salesman and VC job seeker must try to get the second (even third, fourth, etc.) meeting as they continue the process. As the customer need is better understood, it’s time to reformulate the value proposition and promote it to the audience in the follow-up meetings.
4) In neither process, the decision maker is likely to be an individual person. When you sell products/services to a company, pay attention to who are influential on the decision-making process. When you recruit for a venture job, you must make everybody at a firm feel happy with you, regardless of his/her role.
5) Iteration of Step 1 through 4: a salesman manages a pipeline of potential leads in both early and late stages, whereas a VC job seeker got to keep track of his leads in the same way. When you’re convinced that a customer (venture firm) has no way to buy your product/service (hire you), just say “thank you” and then move on.
6) Close the deal. No matter how many sales leads are in the pipeline, the success is ultimately measured by whether a deal can be closed. The analogy is just so obvious for the VC job seeker.
During the winter break of 2008/2009, I spent the first half working at my apartment in Philly and tried to connect with people at venture firms with practices in the Cleantech space. I cold called many people with an e-mail including my self-introduction (who I am, what I’m interested in, whether we can meet over coffee or lunch) as well as a resume tailored for the venture job. Other than cold call, I tried to get help from all my friends and former colleagues for a referral.
I don’t know whether it’s because my profile looked so good or it’s because people were less busy during the winter holidays – the latter was probably true. Over 80% of the people I contacted got back to me. I was thrilled. I worked with their executive assistants and set up as many meetings as possible. Then between Jan 3 and Jan 17, I had my first venture recruiting trip to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Before each meeting, I did a ton of homework to understand what companies a venture firm had invested in, what was new in the industry related to their investment or portfolio companies, the background of the person I was going to meet, and so on. In case someone wants to know the dress code, business casual should be fine.
During those meetings, instead of labeling myself as solar/wind/biofuel expert, I asked what was interesting to the venture firms. Many people told me it was energy storage (batteries for portable electronics, vehicle electrification, or grid applications). So I offered to do an independent study on the energy storage space. I framed it as a school project. Since it cost $0 for the venture firms, who would turn down my proposal? Moreover, the partners at Firm A agreed to work with me and discuss my progress periodically.
I took the “independent study” seriously. Besides digging out some market research to understand the overall market growth trend, I went through the grapevine and found people who’re regarded as THE experts on batteries at their companies (such as HP, Motorola, BYD, etc.). The primary research brought me a ton of first-hand insights. I also got a ton of help from my ex-girlfriend, who is a management consultant at a top consulting firm, to turn my findings into a PowerPoint deck.
Once I built this deck, it became even easier to have more meetings with venture firms. Who doesn’t like freebies? It was certainly mutually beneficial. As I made progress, it became quite natural to get the second and third meetings with venture firms in my recruiting pipeline.
During the spring semester in 2009, I flew once a month from Philadelphia to the San Francisco Bay Area. During each trip, I spent at least a week cruising back and forth on Sand Hill Road. It could be a costly effort – airfare, rental car, food and lodging, etc. I tried every possible way to keep my recruiting low-cost. Fortunately I had a friend at Google who graciously hosted me every time and took me to Google for free and tasty dinner. I was also introduced by a venture firm to a start-up for a couple hours of consultation. Rather than getting paid and taxed, I asked the start-up to cover my trip expense at the equal value. I also remember once while I was waiting for my 6am SWA flight at the PHL airport, a volunteer was called upon to give up the seat since the flight was overbooked. A couple hours of delay wouldn’t affect my meeting schedule on Sand Hill Road later that day, so I jumped out of my chair to take the offer – a $300 voucher which was very well used for a trip later on. Last but not least, my favorite cost-saving was spending my free time at the Menlo Park Public Library either working on my school project or preparing for the meeting with the next venture firm. The public library has free wireless, so why should I pay Starbucks to get online?
Between March and May, my networking effort led to interviews with four venture firms. I went through the process of meeting with every person on each of those investment teams. I was really impressed by all of them. I dreamed about becoming a member of any of those all-star teams. All that I needed was ONE job offer. And I really wished I could get it by the time of graduation.
To my disappointment, it didn’t work the way I had hoped for. It was a positive sign to see the great traction that I built with those venture firms on Sand Hill, but I just couldn’t close a deal. None of those four firms eventually hired anybody, because they all changed gear and had hiring freeze.
It wasn’t hard to understand this. Due to the economic meltdown in 2008/09, most venture firms couldn’t raise the next fund. Consequently, hiring another associate dropped to the bottom of every firm’s list, if not falling off completely. I told everyone whom I met that I appreciated his/her time and career advice and I also wanted to develop a long-term relationship no matter how my recruiting effort pans out.
And of course I needed to change my plan accordingly. When a customer can’t buy 100% of your stuff, can you sell a smaller piece that costs less but still meets some need? I called those venture firms which seemed to have liked me, “I understand what the economy looks like and I also understand you can’t commit to hiring a full-time associate. But if you have a small budget for a short-term gig, I’ll still be happy to take it.” Most people said they still couldn’t do it, but two partners at Firm A said they would think about it.
It was May. Summer already arrived in Philadelphia. It was time to wrap up business school. Along with 800 classmates, I graduated with my MBA. To be honest, the excitement was discounted, as I still couldn’t see light at the end of the tunnel. But I had already decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area anyway.
The choice was a no-brainer to me. The Bay Area has the highest concentration of Cleantech venture firms as well as an awesome start-up ecosystem. It’s also closely connected with businesses in China. Although it’s less relevant to me in the short term, I’ve always wanted to make more use of my Chinese background in my career. If I must bet the farm on only one location, it is the Bay Area.
I sold all my furniture, donated 15 bags of clothes and stuff, and shipped 18 boxes of books and other belongings. On May 29, I left Philly and started a cross-country road trip. California was the destination.
The road trip was lots of fun - a total of 33 days covering 6700 miles. When I arrived at Billings, Montana, I got on the phone with a partner at Firm A. She said her firm would like to have me for a 3- to 4-month gig and asked me when I would be available.
“How about July 7?” I suggested.
She agreed.
Deal.
[To be continued]
Venture (“venture” and “VC” will be used interchangeably in my blog post) recruiting doesn’t have the luxury of structured process of campus recruiting. At most business schools, campus recruiting has been streamlined by the Career Management Office. Recruiters go to the campus, give information sessions, collect resumes, pick a bunch to interview, filter out some candidates and give the remaining pool a second-round, and finally make offers to the selected lucky few. But venture recruiting rarely works this way. In fact, I’ve never heard of somebody who found his VC job through campus recruiting.
VC is a people business. Since every venture firm is quite lean, the partners at each firm take their time to find the right fit. They want to get to know a person very well before bringing him/her on board. So networking is a critical first step for MBAs who’re interested in breaking into this industry. If there’s any tip that I can share, I suggest the candidate approach the venture job recruiting process like a salesman. Let me explain it here.
1) A salesman starts his sales process by casting a big net to identify prospects; a candidate needs to reach out to venture firms and make contacts as broadly as possible. Cold call is okay, but if a referral can be made by a mutual contact, at least one meeting is guaranteed.
2) Next, the salesman gets the first meeting with a potential client and tries to understand the client’s needs; the candidate should do the same and understand what a venture firm is looking for. It doesn’t matter how great your product is. If it doesn’t address the customer need, it’s useless. I met some peers who tried to get the venture job by labeling them as experts in the solar or wind space. It certainly helps by showing a strong interest and commitment. But since many venture firms have already built in-house knowledge in the solar/wind space, why do they want to add another solar/wind guy? Additionally, at such “first” meetings it is also critical to build a rapport with the prospect. People tend to do business only with those whom they like.
3) It’s important to have those “first” meetings, and it’s even more important to have the second meetings. Both salesman and VC job seeker must try to get the second (even third, fourth, etc.) meeting as they continue the process. As the customer need is better understood, it’s time to reformulate the value proposition and promote it to the audience in the follow-up meetings.
4) In neither process, the decision maker is likely to be an individual person. When you sell products/services to a company, pay attention to who are influential on the decision-making process. When you recruit for a venture job, you must make everybody at a firm feel happy with you, regardless of his/her role.
5) Iteration of Step 1 through 4: a salesman manages a pipeline of potential leads in both early and late stages, whereas a VC job seeker got to keep track of his leads in the same way. When you’re convinced that a customer (venture firm) has no way to buy your product/service (hire you), just say “thank you” and then move on.
6) Close the deal. No matter how many sales leads are in the pipeline, the success is ultimately measured by whether a deal can be closed. The analogy is just so obvious for the VC job seeker.
During the winter break of 2008/2009, I spent the first half working at my apartment in Philly and tried to connect with people at venture firms with practices in the Cleantech space. I cold called many people with an e-mail including my self-introduction (who I am, what I’m interested in, whether we can meet over coffee or lunch) as well as a resume tailored for the venture job. Other than cold call, I tried to get help from all my friends and former colleagues for a referral.
I don’t know whether it’s because my profile looked so good or it’s because people were less busy during the winter holidays – the latter was probably true. Over 80% of the people I contacted got back to me. I was thrilled. I worked with their executive assistants and set up as many meetings as possible. Then between Jan 3 and Jan 17, I had my first venture recruiting trip to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Before each meeting, I did a ton of homework to understand what companies a venture firm had invested in, what was new in the industry related to their investment or portfolio companies, the background of the person I was going to meet, and so on. In case someone wants to know the dress code, business casual should be fine.
During those meetings, instead of labeling myself as solar/wind/biofuel expert, I asked what was interesting to the venture firms. Many people told me it was energy storage (batteries for portable electronics, vehicle electrification, or grid applications). So I offered to do an independent study on the energy storage space. I framed it as a school project. Since it cost $0 for the venture firms, who would turn down my proposal? Moreover, the partners at Firm A agreed to work with me and discuss my progress periodically.
I took the “independent study” seriously. Besides digging out some market research to understand the overall market growth trend, I went through the grapevine and found people who’re regarded as THE experts on batteries at their companies (such as HP, Motorola, BYD, etc.). The primary research brought me a ton of first-hand insights. I also got a ton of help from my ex-girlfriend, who is a management consultant at a top consulting firm, to turn my findings into a PowerPoint deck.
Once I built this deck, it became even easier to have more meetings with venture firms. Who doesn’t like freebies? It was certainly mutually beneficial. As I made progress, it became quite natural to get the second and third meetings with venture firms in my recruiting pipeline.
During the spring semester in 2009, I flew once a month from Philadelphia to the San Francisco Bay Area. During each trip, I spent at least a week cruising back and forth on Sand Hill Road. It could be a costly effort – airfare, rental car, food and lodging, etc. I tried every possible way to keep my recruiting low-cost. Fortunately I had a friend at Google who graciously hosted me every time and took me to Google for free and tasty dinner. I was also introduced by a venture firm to a start-up for a couple hours of consultation. Rather than getting paid and taxed, I asked the start-up to cover my trip expense at the equal value. I also remember once while I was waiting for my 6am SWA flight at the PHL airport, a volunteer was called upon to give up the seat since the flight was overbooked. A couple hours of delay wouldn’t affect my meeting schedule on Sand Hill Road later that day, so I jumped out of my chair to take the offer – a $300 voucher which was very well used for a trip later on. Last but not least, my favorite cost-saving was spending my free time at the Menlo Park Public Library either working on my school project or preparing for the meeting with the next venture firm. The public library has free wireless, so why should I pay Starbucks to get online?
Between March and May, my networking effort led to interviews with four venture firms. I went through the process of meeting with every person on each of those investment teams. I was really impressed by all of them. I dreamed about becoming a member of any of those all-star teams. All that I needed was ONE job offer. And I really wished I could get it by the time of graduation.
To my disappointment, it didn’t work the way I had hoped for. It was a positive sign to see the great traction that I built with those venture firms on Sand Hill, but I just couldn’t close a deal. None of those four firms eventually hired anybody, because they all changed gear and had hiring freeze.
It wasn’t hard to understand this. Due to the economic meltdown in 2008/09, most venture firms couldn’t raise the next fund. Consequently, hiring another associate dropped to the bottom of every firm’s list, if not falling off completely. I told everyone whom I met that I appreciated his/her time and career advice and I also wanted to develop a long-term relationship no matter how my recruiting effort pans out.
And of course I needed to change my plan accordingly. When a customer can’t buy 100% of your stuff, can you sell a smaller piece that costs less but still meets some need? I called those venture firms which seemed to have liked me, “I understand what the economy looks like and I also understand you can’t commit to hiring a full-time associate. But if you have a small budget for a short-term gig, I’ll still be happy to take it.” Most people said they still couldn’t do it, but two partners at Firm A said they would think about it.
It was May. Summer already arrived in Philadelphia. It was time to wrap up business school. Along with 800 classmates, I graduated with my MBA. To be honest, the excitement was discounted, as I still couldn’t see light at the end of the tunnel. But I had already decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area anyway.
The choice was a no-brainer to me. The Bay Area has the highest concentration of Cleantech venture firms as well as an awesome start-up ecosystem. It’s also closely connected with businesses in China. Although it’s less relevant to me in the short term, I’ve always wanted to make more use of my Chinese background in my career. If I must bet the farm on only one location, it is the Bay Area.
I sold all my furniture, donated 15 bags of clothes and stuff, and shipped 18 boxes of books and other belongings. On May 29, I left Philly and started a cross-country road trip. California was the destination.
The road trip was lots of fun - a total of 33 days covering 6700 miles. When I arrived at Billings, Montana, I got on the phone with a partner at Firm A. She said her firm would like to have me for a 3- to 4-month gig and asked me when I would be available.
“How about July 7?” I suggested.
She agreed.
Deal.
[To be continued]
Busy.
I’ve been busy since the start of my new job, especially over the last couple weeks. An investment deal has taken most of my time both at work and after work…. But I’m very glad about the learning curve in this process. Even better - the deal is expected to close soon.
Last Wednesday evening when I got out of my office building, I suddenly had a sense of déjà vu. What was it? I realized it was the same cool and crisp air that I had felt in the evening when I arrived in the Bay Area on June 30, 2009. Outside my car I had to pause for a minute to feel it more, and no doubt it really was the same. But besides the air, where did the rest of my memory go?
Lots of things have happened since a year ago. I have wanted to reflect on my experience. Now it is the afternoon of July 4. Before I head to a BBQ party tonight, let me continue the recollection of my journey since December 2008.
I’ve been busy since the start of my new job, especially over the last couple weeks. An investment deal has taken most of my time both at work and after work…. But I’m very glad about the learning curve in this process. Even better - the deal is expected to close soon.
Last Wednesday evening when I got out of my office building, I suddenly had a sense of déjà vu. What was it? I realized it was the same cool and crisp air that I had felt in the evening when I arrived in the Bay Area on June 30, 2009. Outside my car I had to pause for a minute to feel it more, and no doubt it really was the same. But besides the air, where did the rest of my memory go?
Lots of things have happened since a year ago. I have wanted to reflect on my experience. Now it is the afternoon of July 4. Before I head to a BBQ party tonight, let me continue the recollection of my journey since December 2008.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Why Cleantech Venture Capital (VC)
VC recruiting for MBAs takes lots of work. Job offer isn’t guaranteed prior to graduation. So students need to clearly understand why they want to pursue a career in VC, before committing to this energy-draining process.
When I thought about my post-MBA career, I told myself I wanted to combine my technology foundation (Ph.D. in chemistry followed by R&D with four patents, management experiences, business strategy in emerging technologies, etc. at a Fortune 500 company) with business skills acquired through MBA. I believed this would be a good way to maximize the value-add to both a firm and my own career.
The Cleantech space has been growing so fast. The space became particularly exciting to me when I was doing my MBA. I believed VC investment in Cleantech would get the most synergy out of my background and skills. The job won’t only require deep knowledge of a given market but also solid understanding of technology innovation. I was confident I’m equipped with the skills to do it. Plus, whether it’s renewable energy generation or energy efficiency improvement, the opportunity in Cleantech VC will allow me to potentially make a positive social impact. That’s 100% in line with the value of my life.
But let me also make it clear - the VC career path has its own risk. Only some people start as Associate and eventually manage to become partner at a venture firm. For me, whether I’ll be able to turn a near-term Cleantech VC job into a long-term career path, I want this near-term experience to become a stepping stone to the next phase of my career, whatever and wherever it will be.
In the next couple posts, I’ll talk about my Cleantech VC recruiting experience.
When I thought about my post-MBA career, I told myself I wanted to combine my technology foundation (Ph.D. in chemistry followed by R&D with four patents, management experiences, business strategy in emerging technologies, etc. at a Fortune 500 company) with business skills acquired through MBA. I believed this would be a good way to maximize the value-add to both a firm and my own career.
The Cleantech space has been growing so fast. The space became particularly exciting to me when I was doing my MBA. I believed VC investment in Cleantech would get the most synergy out of my background and skills. The job won’t only require deep knowledge of a given market but also solid understanding of technology innovation. I was confident I’m equipped with the skills to do it. Plus, whether it’s renewable energy generation or energy efficiency improvement, the opportunity in Cleantech VC will allow me to potentially make a positive social impact. That’s 100% in line with the value of my life.
But let me also make it clear - the VC career path has its own risk. Only some people start as Associate and eventually manage to become partner at a venture firm. For me, whether I’ll be able to turn a near-term Cleantech VC job into a long-term career path, I want this near-term experience to become a stepping stone to the next phase of my career, whatever and wherever it will be.
In the next couple posts, I’ll talk about my Cleantech VC recruiting experience.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Gotta Stop Procrastination
I've been on my new job for nearly a month. I must say I really like it. The team is excellent, and I'm learning a lot.
But I haven't had a chance to post my VC job search story. I'll try to do it soon....
But I haven't had a chance to post my VC job search story. I'll try to do it soon....
Thursday, April 22, 2010
My job search in the post 9/11 period
(This post is dedicated to my mother on her birthday, April 22.)
When I started my industrial job search in spring 2002, I knew the odds weren’t on my side.
Like other industries, the chemical space was hit really hard in the post 9/11 period. There were very few job openings. If there was any, it wanted folks in organic or analytical chemistry. My Ph.D. thesis research was in the field of organometallic chemistry, which was never considered “hot”. Whenever a job was posted online, I could imagine hundreds of applications, if not more, would flood in from highly qualified candidates with multiple years of post-doctoral research experiences and numerous publications. But I was merely a fourth-year Ph.D. student with nothing published yet. “Manuscript in preparation” repeated itself for each projected publication on my resume.
I was under the impression that it wouldn’t be cost-effective to surf job boards, submit application and wait for any luck to be picked for an interview. I got to do more to find my way out. To me, the only way was through networking.
During my Ph.D. years, I attended a few conferences. Each time I tried to meet with as many people as possible and talked about all kinds of topics such as weather, food, culture, school life, and of course chemistry. I always made sure to get their contact information and followed up with a “nice meeting you” kind of e-mail. By the time I started my job search, I had already built a small rolodex.
In spring 2002, I went through my contact list and e-mailed each individual asking for an informational interview on the phone. Almost everybody replied and graciously agreed to spend some time with me. Not surprisingly, none of them had any job lead. But I thanked them for whatever advice and information they could share. Then I continued to contact the next person.
Dr. G was one of those industrial contacts whom I wanted to talk to. As a world-class industrial technologist, his early-career innovation in the 1970s made a huge impact on our daily life today. Today he’s the CEO at a profitable renewable energy company in Southern California. When we first met at a conference in Ohio in fall 2000, he was a Senior Research Fellow at a large chemical company in the South. At that time I had no idea how our initial hand-shake evolved into something that transformed career and life.
May 13. I e-mailed Dr. G with a typical can-we-catch-up-over-the-phone sort of request. The message was instantly bounced back, “Dr. G was no longer employed at Company XYZ.” What?! I was quite puzzled, because I would never expect someone like Dr. G to be laid off. So I spent the following days talking to other people and soon found he joined a company called RMFS.
May 30. Nobody had Dr.G’s new contact information. It was probably a dead lead anyway. But I felt I wanted to give it a try. I looked up the website of RMFS and went through its list of global locations. Given his technical role, Dr. G was unlikely to work at a production plant or sales office. And my best guess was he would still be in the US. Voila! There was a RMFS Technical Center outside Philadelphia with a main number listed on its web page. I called the number and asked to speak with Dr. G. Guess what? He was at this RMFS site. 15 seconds later, Dr. G answered my call with the familiar British accent. I was delighted to hear he remembered meeting me! When he learned about my career interest, he told me he just joined RMFS as Chief Scientist and, yes, he was building a team for a multi-million dollar project. In other words, HE WAS HIRING. Because of his busy schedule, we didn’t talk too long, but he said he would get back to me soon.
June7. My Ph.D. advisor came to my lab and told me he got a phone call from Dr. G for reference. I’m positive my advisor must’ve given some glowing words, because only 10 minutes later, Dr. G called to invite me for an on-site interview. I couldn’t believe I would soon have first on-site job interview ever!
June 23. I flew to Philadelphia and checked in at a Double Tree Hotel. By now, I knew I had fully prepared myself for the interview. I had a couple mock interviews. I did a ton of research on the company. I Googled all my interviewers and found many common interests to talk about, whether technical or not. Now that I had a chance for on-site interview, I wanted the job to be mine.
June 24. I have to admit I still felt nervous for my first and only on-site interview. Although I set alarm clock and requested wake-up call, I woke up by myself at 5:30am. It was a long day. My interview went from 7:30am through 5:30pm, which included a one-hour presentation, one-on-one interviews with seven people, lunch and more discussion with Dr. G. I didn’t feel being grilled by anybody. When I flew back to Chicago in the evening, I had a very positive feeling about this career opportunity.
June 25. I sent every interviewer a personalized thank-you note by mail. Then Dr. G called me in the lab, “7 out of 7 people gave thumbs-up!” Yes! Yes! Yes! I was really thrilled.
July 3. If I could get a job offer so easily, it would be too good to be true. Dr. G called me with an update that a management change just took place. The job offer wouldn’t be approved till the new director was appointed. So I restated my appreciation of the potential opportunity and stressed how interested I still was to join the team. Over the following three months, I exchanged e-mails and phone calls with Dr. G once a while. Meanwhile I did more networking calls and found another job lead with GE. (Of course I also had much fun during the summer time including participating in the Cherry Pit Spitting Competition.)
October 7. An e-mail came from Dr. G, "I just signed the offer letter. It is going FedEx and so you should receive it tomorrow morning by 10 or thereabouts." Finally it happened. Within an hour, I had called my parents and friends to share the news. I can’t remember exactly how my friends and I celebrated, but lots of beer was certainly consumed at the student pub that evening.
December 18. My Ph.D. advisor was pleased by my research work and had no problem with my graduation plan. I wrapped up everything and left for Philadelphia to join RMFS. It was my first job. A new chapter of my life started.
In retrospect, I’m so glad for what I did in the job search process. If I got sucked into the job board process, I’m still convinced I wouldn’t have hit any luck. If I gave up at any point during my outreach, I wouldn’t have reconnected with Dr. G for a very exciting opportunity. At some point, Dr. G admitted he was very impressed by the way I reached out to him. He said he never met someone else like me who landed a job with such self-motivation. Later on my drive and value-add certainly proved he made the right decision. :o)
Over the time, Dr. G has become a friend and mentor of mine. We have stayed in touch since we both left RMFS. He has always been supportive of my career pursuit. As of this very moment, we’re chatting on the G-Talk.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
You never know until you try
Starting from this post, I’ll talk about my job search related experience. I’d also like to share with you what I have learned so far. Let me begin with my resume.
Over the last couple years, my resume has been updated often. Sometimes I had to make a tough call which bullet should be replaced with a new one. But one bullet has remained untouched, which says “Dignitary Champion at the 29th International Cherry Pit Spitting Competition”. In fact, this has been my killer ice-breaker. Almost during every single interview, my interviewer would ask me what it was about.
So here’s the story.
It was summer 2002. My friends dragged me from Chicago to Eau Claire, MI for cherry picking. I was sort of reluctant to go, because I’d rather go to grocery store for cherries. But a driver was needed and I wanted to be nice, so I ended up cherry-picking for the first time (and only time so far) in my life. When we arrived at this farm outside Eau Claire, we saw a huge banner saying “29th International Cheery Pit Spitting Competition”. Anybody was welcome to sign up and each participant was provided free lunch. Did I say “free lunch”?! With my graduate student mentality for free food, I wrote down my name and thought I already made my day.
Don’t laugh. This competition isn’t a joke but serious annual event that dated back to the 1970s. It has hosted “athletes” from foreign countries – not only Canada but also Germany (and of course China in 2002). Each participant picks a cherry, eats the pulp and saves the pit. When it’s your turn, just spit the pit as far as you can.
My high-school physics teacher would definitely be proud of me, as I remembered very well that in theory a 45-degree angle is the best way to achieve a trajectory with the furthest distance. So I did.
41’8”!
No one else in the dignitary group beat this distance. The closest still came a few inches shorter.
I won!
The whole cherry-picking trip suddenly became really interesting. The crowd cheered for me. I was awarded a medal, a plaque, a $25 gift certificate and a box of produce. (It was more than free lunch!) A teenage boy asked me for autograph. I was even interviewed by some news paper. Wow, I felt like celebrity for the rest of my tour at the farm.
When I told the reporter why I signed up and how little I expected to win, a lady who listened to the conversation made a comment, “you never know until you try.”
Almost eight years has gone, I’m not sure I can replicate my success in cherry pit spitting, but I still recall this scene and one single line “you never know until you try”. I always made it clear to my interviewers that this is the key take-way from such a fun experience, despite my unchanged reluctance to go cherry picking.
You never know until you try.
When I reflected on my experiences, I know this is 100% right.
If I didn’t try, I would never have earned my Ph.D. from a top university in the US.
If I didn’t try, I would never have found a job during the post-9/11 crisis in 2002.
If I didn’t try, I would never have made it to Wharton for my MBA.
If I didn’t try, I would never have had a chance to land my dream job at a top-tier venture firm.
In our life and career, there’s nothing wrong to have a little ambition and set the goal high. Our endeavor doesn’t always guarantee a successful outcome. But without even trying, we will simply go nowhere.
Getting this job offer is exciting, and I feel proud of myself. But this is just another step along the way. I know I won’t stop trying.
So what do you think? Time to get a bag of cherries and start the pit spitting practice? :o)
Note: According to the Guinness Book of Records, the record distance of cherry pit spitting is 95 feet and 6.5 inches (29.12 m).
Over the last couple years, my resume has been updated often. Sometimes I had to make a tough call which bullet should be replaced with a new one. But one bullet has remained untouched, which says “Dignitary Champion at the 29th International Cherry Pit Spitting Competition”. In fact, this has been my killer ice-breaker. Almost during every single interview, my interviewer would ask me what it was about.
So here’s the story.
It was summer 2002. My friends dragged me from Chicago to Eau Claire, MI for cherry picking. I was sort of reluctant to go, because I’d rather go to grocery store for cherries. But a driver was needed and I wanted to be nice, so I ended up cherry-picking for the first time (and only time so far) in my life. When we arrived at this farm outside Eau Claire, we saw a huge banner saying “29th International Cheery Pit Spitting Competition”. Anybody was welcome to sign up and each participant was provided free lunch. Did I say “free lunch”?! With my graduate student mentality for free food, I wrote down my name and thought I already made my day.
Don’t laugh. This competition isn’t a joke but serious annual event that dated back to the 1970s. It has hosted “athletes” from foreign countries – not only Canada but also Germany (and of course China in 2002). Each participant picks a cherry, eats the pulp and saves the pit. When it’s your turn, just spit the pit as far as you can.
My high-school physics teacher would definitely be proud of me, as I remembered very well that in theory a 45-degree angle is the best way to achieve a trajectory with the furthest distance. So I did.
41’8”!
No one else in the dignitary group beat this distance. The closest still came a few inches shorter.
I won!
The whole cherry-picking trip suddenly became really interesting. The crowd cheered for me. I was awarded a medal, a plaque, a $25 gift certificate and a box of produce. (It was more than free lunch!) A teenage boy asked me for autograph. I was even interviewed by some news paper. Wow, I felt like celebrity for the rest of my tour at the farm.
When I told the reporter why I signed up and how little I expected to win, a lady who listened to the conversation made a comment, “you never know until you try.”
Almost eight years has gone, I’m not sure I can replicate my success in cherry pit spitting, but I still recall this scene and one single line “you never know until you try”. I always made it clear to my interviewers that this is the key take-way from such a fun experience, despite my unchanged reluctance to go cherry picking.
You never know until you try.
When I reflected on my experiences, I know this is 100% right.
If I didn’t try, I would never have earned my Ph.D. from a top university in the US.
If I didn’t try, I would never have found a job during the post-9/11 crisis in 2002.
If I didn’t try, I would never have made it to Wharton for my MBA.
If I didn’t try, I would never have had a chance to land my dream job at a top-tier venture firm.
In our life and career, there’s nothing wrong to have a little ambition and set the goal high. Our endeavor doesn’t always guarantee a successful outcome. But without even trying, we will simply go nowhere.
Getting this job offer is exciting, and I feel proud of myself. But this is just another step along the way. I know I won’t stop trying.
So what do you think? Time to get a bag of cherries and start the pit spitting practice? :o)
Note: According to the Guinness Book of Records, the record distance of cherry pit spitting is 95 feet and 6.5 inches (29.12 m).
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Finally I got my dream job
In December 2008 when I made up my mind to pursue a post-MBA career in Cleantech venture investment, I turned down a job offer from a Fortune 100 company’s global leadership program. Instead I hoped that I would secure a venture job by graduation in May 2009. But due to the economic condition (duh....), venture recruiting was much tougher than it was in the previous year. No venture firm in the Cleantech space was hiring any post-MBA associate. The entire experience ended up taking 16 months, during which I had:
• 200+ networking meetings and phone calls (I really lost count after a while),
• Connection with 100+ venture capitalists,
• 4 trips from the east coast to the San Francisco Bay Area in Spring 2009 before I moved here anyway,
• Full interviews with partners at 4 venture firms which all seemed to like me but eventually didn’t hire me or anybody else due to hiring freeze,
• 2 consecutive paid gigs with top-tier venture firms, and
• 1 job offer at last for a longer-term (whatever it means) position from my dream venture firm in the Cleantech space.
I must admit it was a lot of work.... I'm soooooo ready for a break before the start of my new job.
• 200+ networking meetings and phone calls (I really lost count after a while),
• Connection with 100+ venture capitalists,
• 4 trips from the east coast to the San Francisco Bay Area in Spring 2009 before I moved here anyway,
• Full interviews with partners at 4 venture firms which all seemed to like me but eventually didn’t hire me or anybody else due to hiring freeze,
• 2 consecutive paid gigs with top-tier venture firms, and
• 1 job offer at last for a longer-term (whatever it means) position from my dream venture firm in the Cleantech space.
I must admit it was a lot of work.... I'm soooooo ready for a break before the start of my new job.
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