I’m in a fairly unique situation … the “2 year old” I take care of is the ‘VP Of Operations’ for the American R&D division of a large global corporation . I’ve gotten to talk to him and a quite lot of executive staff for the company in the last few months.
According to all the high level business people I have talked to, if you want a really good high paying job, it all starts long before college. The choices you make in high-school drastically effects your entire career path.
1:
Your high school grades matter a lot. Getting very high grades and taking every elective & summer class available is vitally important. You absolutely need to be an academic super-star in order to compete for the colleges that actually matter, and later for jobs that are difficult to obtain. Taking elective classes ( if available ) in public speaking, accounting, management, and related fields is a big " + " . Take every thing possible to bulk up your college resume !!! Make sure by the time you graduate, you are fluent in another language, and you have the skills to quickly learn other languages. This will be a mandatory skill later on.
The worst thing you can do is sit around and play games, and/or prioritize your social life. Kids who do this, literally will not get anywhere in their professional life later.
2:
College names matters - a lot! With a very good academic resume from high school, you can easily get into a college with a good global reputation. If you where an academic super-star in high school, you may even have an academic scholarship or 2 or 3 . None of the executives I have talked to went to ‘no-name’ budget schools … all of them went to good name colleges .
3:
Take *masters degrees programs *in at least 3 fields of study. Business management is mandatory … the other 2 have to be tied to business management in some way. Business accounting is a dead field at this point - don’t take it despite the fact it is a preferable elective in high school. Teaching and computer science are excellent ways to open up a lot of job opportunities !!!
Bachelor degrees are worthless starting out in the world of upper management, don’t bother wasting your time. All of the executives I have talked to have multiple masters degrees from well known schools ( all of them started their careers with masters degrees ) .
4:
You need to be an academic super-star in college as well. Getting very good grades, and taking as many electives now is incredibly important. STUDY STUDY STUDY ! You need incredibly good grades to compete for entry level jobs, and work your way up the career ladder !!! During summer, get relevant business management internships and take elective classes for more things to bulk up your resume. Language study is a must-have as an elective .
You * will * be competing with a lot of others, from all around the world, for entry level jobs and it critical you stand out from the crowd.
During your last year of college, research large global companies, and send out your resume to their recruiter staff. If you are an academic super-star, and are in good masters degree programs, you should have entry level job offers available before you graduate … and even good sign-on bonuses if you are lucky. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL AFTER YOU GRADUATE TO LOOK FOR A JOB !
5:
Only seek employment from large global corporations that have opportunity for advancement. You most likely will be moving to different countries for jobs. Always research the company you are targeting. The absolute worst fields to get into are retail, leisure, and food.
Once you have your entry level job, do everything you can to stand out, and take extra college/training classes to bulk up your resume ! Your first 5 to 10 years are very important, and you must make your resume look as good as possible ! Expect your first few employment positions to be bad ones. Excel in these, and eventually better positions will open up ! Never quit a position unless you have a job offer somewhere else ( unemployment due to quitting a job is absolutely detrimental to your career path )
Do not be afraid to change jobs if it means you get a promotion to a higher tier job, and/or the new position has very good opportunity for advancement. Make sure to take as many high level training courses that you can ( especially if the company is paying ) .
6:
Aggressively climb the corporate ladder. The first few years you need to get out of the not-so-good entry level jobs, and into the higher tier jobs. You need to make your resume look the best you can, and jump at every opportunity for additional college and job training . Do not be afraid to change jobs if it means advancement !
Do not stop looking for better and better positions as you work your way up. According to all the executives I have talked to, you will not get anywhere in your career path by ‘sitting still’ and not doing anything to advance up the ladder.
The higher up the ladder you are, the longer advancement takes, but don’t give up trying. At a certain point, you will have been with a company for a long time, have a very good paying job, reasonable working hours, and opportunities for real vacations. From all the executives I have talked to, it can take 12 to 20 years to get to the point where you can relax and enjoy living life in relative luxury . The typical age where the transaction happens is around 40 - if you are aggressively climbing the corporate ladder and are doing everything you can to make your resume look good !
