5 HARD TRUTHS

Before anything, I'm typing out the items below based on my personal experiences as well as conversations with my peers. I'm speaking in generalities - of course everything is not applicable to every career path on the planet.

The point of below is to explain "5 Hard Truths" that I've learned having been a business professional for over 10 years in NYC. What may seem like negative points on the surface can actually be turned in to positives based on your approach.

YOU CAN PROBABLY BE REPLACED. Unless you're working at a company that you own or you helped build from the ground up, the harsh truth is you can probably be replaced - despite how good you are at your job. At the end of the day, corporate America and all of its operations have to make fiscal sense. You have to be cognizant that you may not fit in to their equation. Knowing the info above, I don't recommend adopting a "Me vs. Them" mentality in the workplace, which can turn toxic quickly. However, I do always encourage people to stay two steps ahead, professionally.

Positive Spin: Take this mentality and use it as motivation to work harder, go above & beyond and find new ways to develop your role. Do not stay stagnant. Do not be complacent. Find ways to make a company need you more than you need them.

NETWORKING IS STILL KING. It may be cliche to say, but networking and putting yourself out there matters and absolutely can - and does - lead to jobs, partnerships, gigs, opportunities. I'm confident enough to say that I do have a strong resume, but I owe a lot of my success to being "in the mix" IRL.

Positive Spin: If you're a social butterfly who has a positive aura, you're already ahead of half the people out there. If you're not particularly social or if you don't have access to a major networking hub in the physical world, there are many digital avenues to stay engaged in conversation online. There are digital clubs, networks, forums, classes, and destinations for almost anything you can think of - music, photography, stock trading, etc - where you can build your name on the web in a positive manner.

COLLEGE GPA DOESN'T [REALLY] MATTER. You should always strive for greatness in college in respect to your classes. However, at least in media and entertainment industries in New York City, not one HR person, potential employer, recruiter, etc ever asked for my GPA post-graduation. I was judged by my internship experience as well as digital expertise that was self-taught at the time. I wouldn't put this here if I didn't inquire to a number of my successful peers - for better or for worse, this point rings true.

Positive Spin: GPA may mean more nowadays for entry level employees who don't necessarily have a packed resume upon graduation. A strong college GPA may mean the difference between you getting a call for an intv vs. someone else. Also, if you plan attending post-graduate school at any point, you'll want to make sure you're looking good on this side of things. Work hard.

PERSONALITY & CULTURE FIT IS IMPORTANT. I've personally seen and/or have known incredibly smart people who cannot get it together, professionally, because their personalities weren't conducive to certain work environments. People generally get interviews based on the merit of their resume's, but you snag the job by also being the right cultural & personality fit. I have a few anecdotes about this I'll share in the future.

Positive Spin: Different ways you can look at this, but there are likely many, many jobs out there that just want you to come in, do your work, and go home - and there's nothing wrong with that at all. If you have an infectiously positive personality, great. If not, there are still plenty of opportunities out there.

YOUR SOCIAL PRESENCE MATTERS. Per my own inquiries, good recruiters, HR folks and company staff are, in fact, investigating your social media presence looking for the good and the bad. Your public social media presence is what you make it, so be weary that people are looking and judging. I would strongly suggest taking a look at your own public accounts to make sure they align with how you want to be viewed - taking in to account that there's a chance that you may be unfairly judged without having the ability to provide context.

Positive Spin: You can use social media as a space where you can display your own social prowess + expertise. Networking, brand-building, socializing - so much positive can come out of social, but it can also be incredibly negative if you feed in to some of the foolishness that goes on.

Do you feel like the points above are valid? Why or why not? What would you add if you were to add some "hard truths" to this list?