Transcription
Jim 0:09
Yeah, hi, welcome to Career Track Coaching Minute, my name is Jim Frisch. And what we do is we help young adults find meaningful careers through a coaching process. And once a month, we bring insights from successful business people by asking them a few questions. And we’re lucky today to have Merrick Singer, who happened to be an ex-client of Career Track Coaching. And to give you a little background on Merrick, he works for strategic wealth partners in the northern suburbs. And the client services team. He’s the middleman between clients advisors, helping them with their wealth management needs. And he’s been in in in the industry for five years now. And he’s been at strategic wealth partners for the last two. So Merrick welcome.
Merrick 1:00
Thank you. Thank you.
Jim 1:02
I know, you know what, I can’t believe it’s, it’s been five years since we weren’t together. And it’s awesome that you’re loving the industry. So I appreciate you taking the time.
Merrick 1:13
Definitely. Yeah, times gone so quick. And feels like yesterday, we started working together, I remember you being a great help. And you kind of started with my initial job, and then you help with the transition to strategic wealth, and just been a great kind of mentor, too. Yeah,
Jim 1:30
I appreciate the kind words. And so the first question that we have is, you know, what advice would you give to a graduate coming out of the workforce today,
Merrick 1:42
You know, I kind of have three, three, kind of bigger items, the first one, you know, start your process early, I think, you know, maybe one thing I would fix looking back was, you know, I thought when you graduate, you can kind of just, you know, kind of hit the ground running, I think, if you can start kind of later years in college, kind of starting some networking or you know, maybe work with Jim or just kind of get organized and even start applying, I think that does a lot of good. Sometimes, you don’t really learn about the industry or you know, the jobs themselves until you start actually applying and interviewing, you don’t really know what’s out there, what you’re even interested in. So starting the process early can only benefit you, you know, the later you start, you’re kind of off to, you know, not so great start, I would say start early. The second key I have is as be persistent, you know, whether you’re networking or whether you start an initial job, persistent, think persistent is really important. Just follow up, staying on top of contacts, or even, you know, internal colleagues is seemed like a really good skill to develop. The third one, I put work hard, it sounds obvious, but you know, as you kind of enter the work world, you kind of realize there’s some people just kind of, you know, just kind of show up, when their cars told to and leave when they’re told to or even, you know, show up later and leave early, but I think you can kind of go the extra mile. I think that really stands out. And it’s something I would strongly advise and kind of prioritize the work life, you know, in the beginning, stages.
Jim 3:24
Yeah, those are all great suggestions. And especially, you know, I think when you mentioned when you’re in college to try to figure out what you want to do, you know, before senior year. A lot, I know, you did a ton of users a great job networking.
Merrick 3:43
Right, definitely.
Jim 3:44
Yeah. So those were, those were great ideas. And, and then I guess, you know, from the five years that you’ve been out in the workforce, what are you know, maybe one or two habits that’s helped you with your success so far?
Merrick 3:54
Yeah, you know, I don’t know, if you might have taught me this, you know, I kind of developed it over some years to you know, I like to even have a sheet of paper to kind of start my day I you know, or we actually have an internal system that I list out my, my to-do’s and you know, things to take care of, for that day or the week or even you can go out longer, like a month, but kind of list out, you know, my to-do’s and prioritize what’s important. You know, there might be some tasks that you can take care of that day or you know, that are really important. So, maybe the end of the week, but I think having some organization is really nice, you know, for yourself, but also, I think, you know, their employers like to see some organization and you know, a process as well. So the first one would be you know, prioritize your work and list out have a list of to-do’s it’s been really helpful. I think the second kind of skill is communication has been really great. And I think it’s a big key to be successful and just over-communicating, being really detailed, and showing that you care, I think so. unclear communication and being able to kind of explain and articulate you know, what you’re doing and how you’re helping is, is a big key to success. So I think those are kind of two big, two big ones.
Jim 5:13
Yeah. And that’s, you know, it’s a hard transition from college, into the workforce if you’re not used to doing that, you know, being on top of your to-do list and commute specialty communication, I think. So, those are two great habits that you’ve picked up. And so I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. Great. You.
Merrick 5:35
Thanks for having me. Yeah.
Jim 5:36
Yeah. It was great seeing you again. It’s been a while, for sure. So, thanks again. Until next time. We’ll see you soon.
Merrick 5:47
Yeah, thank you, Jim. We’ll talk to you soon. Thanks for all the help really appreciate it.
Jim 5:50
You got it.
