Alumnus Offers 5 Tips for Landing a Job You Love

Meet the Expert

Patrick Mitchell, SHRM-SCP, ’05, ’09 MBA, is vice president for human resources, diversity, equity and inclusion at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. He is an enthusiastic people and culture leader with a passion for helping others become the very best version of themselves.

FIND MEANING – Don’t worry so much about climbing the ladder. Worry about whether it is leaning against the right building. You spend roughly one third of your life working. Make sure what you dedicate your time, energy and talents to matters … to you.

INVEST IN YOURSELF – Take an honest inventory of your skills, abilities and interests. You can utilize tools such as journaling, vision boarding, and personality and cognitive assessments that can help you align your natural gifts with your purpose. But don’t be fooled into thinking you must have a certain skillset for a particular job. It is more of an exercise in thoughtfully deploying the tool kit that you already have within you to produce the outcomes you desire.  Where you identify gaps, take proactive steps to build the skills and knowledge that will enable your success.

LEVERAGE YOUR NETWORK – The key to unlocking your dream job may very well be hiding amongst your network of personal and professional connections. But beware of being solely a consumer. Practice feeding your network as well. Creating connections and bringing value to others manifests goodwill that will be returned to you.  

BE PASSIONATELY CURIOUS – The best way to demonstrate your ability to learn, think critically and apply knowledge is being known as an asker of great questions. This kind of next-level thinking shows that you will be passionately curious about advancing the mission of an organization and your role in it. When I’m building a team, I look for people that are constantly thinking about how we can be better and will then pour themselves to making it so.

BE BOLD, YET THOUGHTFUL – Confidence is a wonderful trait when paired with introspection and thoughtfulness. Bring your knowledge and expertise to the table, but also leave room for the possibility that your perspective can be improved upon through interaction with others.  Step into every room as though you belong there. Exercise bold thoughtfulness so that you get invited to stay. 

 This article originally appeared in the spring 2022 issue of RU magazine