Jane Pinckney ‘14 is a Sales Enablement Program Manager at Hewlett-Packard, where her job entails training sales teams on how to sell HP’s products, as well as plan company events. Jane took a rather untraditional path to the position, as she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Human Biology Health and Society (HBHS) in the College of Human Ecology. Jane came by the CEC this past week to share her experiences and tips and tricks about navigating Cornell and the workforce, even when your degree and your career path don’t quite match up perfectly.
Jane entered Cornell planning to major in HBHS on the Pre-Med track. Despite having had plans to be a doctor since her early teenage years, during her junior year she decided that might be the path for her anymore. She began taking classes outside her field, and ultimately decided that she would take a gap year before attending medical school. That one gap year turned into three, and she has never looked back.
Here is some of Jane’s most insightful advice:
You can do anything for a year. In order to solidify her decision not to continue to medical school, Jane decided to venture into experiences outside of her comfort zone. Trying new things was the most impactful on helping Jane figure out what she wanted to do because it helped her realize that there were other paths available to her. When she committed to her current position at HP, she was not at all sure that it was the job she wanted to be in. She decided to commit for at least one year, and she would make a decision from there. Jane also noted that one full year is enough time to be able to justify the experience on your resume. It is much easier to get a job once you have a job; you can use the year in that experience to boost your application for another opportunity.
Give yourself enough time to fail. Building on the topic of being able to do anything for a year, Jane believes it’s very important to spend enough time in an experience before making up your mind about it. Taking the time to stay open minded and giving yourself time to learn and adjust will help you to leave the experience with a valuable lesson about yourself and what you do want to do, if come time you decide that that position is not for you.
Extracurriculars are just as important as coursework. Jane was able to obtain her current position by networking with people she met in her leadership positions in her extracurriculars. Especially for someone who is considering pursuing a career not directly related to their major, making connections with those outside of your field is an integral way to find opportunities to explore other career options. “People hire people, not a resume,” Jane noted.
Jane has absolutely no regrets about her major or time at Cornell, even though she did not end up in the field of medicine, because she believes her experience here gave her an skill set that is unmatched and transferable in any field of work. While she might not be giving detailed presentation about molecular genetics, she is excellent at presenting a concept that most people have limited knowledge of and breaking it down into understandable terms.
Thank you Jane for sharing your wonderful advice with us!