The following is an excerpt from MBA Insider: How to Make the Most of Your MBA Experience. For more details on MBA Insider, and to hear more stories like Nate’s, buy the book today on Amazon.
Nathan Tanner (Marriott, ‘15) started his career in Investment Banking and used his time in business school to pivot to a career in HR. After graduating from BYU, he started in an HR role at a large tech company and has since transitioned to a hypergrowth tech startup. Nate’s ability to adapt has enabled him to learn quickly and take advantage of career opportunities that are aligned to his interests and aspirations.
Post MBA Graduation Goals
Coming out of business school, I had two primary goals The first was to find a job and career path where I could leverage my strengths. I thought that would be HR but wasn’t totally sure. The second goal was to achieve the first one without sacrificing what’s most important in my life, specifically, my family and my faith. I definitely achieved my first goal as I feel really confident that I’m on the right career path. I definitely had some doubts during my first year after school but things have really solidified in the years since. As for the second goal, I’ve done an adequate job. Some times I’ve been better at focusing on family and faith than at other times, but for the most part I’ve been able to keep things in perspective. Overall I feel good about my progress toward both goals.
Overcoming unexpected challenges
I worked for LinkedIn part-time during my second year of b-school. When I joined full-time, I quickly learned that the skills needed to be successful in my new role were drastically different than anticipated. I took this pretty hard. I was in a funk for a month or so as I felt more confused about the future of my career than when I had started grad school.
My initial urge was to go find another job. I confided in a trusted colleague and he helped me see things from a different perspective. He helped me understand that even if I didn’t want to stay in that role long term, I had a unique opportunity to develop skills that would help me in future positions. I had open conversations with my manager about my long-term plans which influenced the types of projects I worked on. Speaking up allowed me to identify projects that were more interesting and leveraged my strengths.
Several months later I transferred internally to a role that was a better fit, but there were two big lessons that came from that experience. First, I learned that you can change your job without actually leaving it, and second, I learned that we all have more power than we think we do.
A Mindset Shift That Leads to Personal Success
I felt some angst during and right after business school. Far too often I used my classmates as a benchmark when I should have focused on how I was progressing. As time passed and I’ve found a career path that I’m happy with, I’m less focused on comparisons and I’m not constantly trying to figure out what to do next. I enjoy what I do on a daily basis.
Business school gave me the tools I needed to make a pretty drastic career change. The relationships I made, both with professors and with peers, have been invaluable. I acquired several mentors along the way who have helped me see the world from a different perspective. I certainly learned a lot from my courses, but I believe I learned even more from the people I met along the way.
With this in mind, a few years ago an opportunity came up in my career to try something new and different, which involved transitioning from a large company (10,000+ employees) to a hypergrowth startup. Leaving LinkedIn to join DoorDash was a tough decision and the first few months were incredibly challenging. DoorDash was 250 employees and I was initially tasked with leading our HR team. Our headcount has grown almost 8x since then and my role has changed several times. We’ve grown really quickly and I’ve had to learn a lot on the fly. There’s been a lot of growing pains along the way but I’m proud that I’ve been able to keep going.
Final Advice
Embrace uncertainty with agility – In the conclusion of Not Your Parents’ Workplace, I shared that those who will be most successful in their careers will be those best able to adapt. It’s fairly easy to put that on paper. It’s a lot harder going through the challenges that come from adaptation.
For more details on MBA Insider, and to hear more stories like Nate’s, buy the book today on Amazon