As told by Dani Kellner & Hannah McGough

Working at a tech company is your dream – you’re thinking you could be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. The only thing is you’re not quite sure how to get on that level. Hannah McGough ’14 is here to help! She’s AT&T’s newest all-star employee, and she’s sharing her Top 5 insights on how you can take over the tech world.

 

1. Love the customer

Transactional selling is dead, and most technology companies are restructuring the traditional sales force to resemble well-groomed consultants, complete with rigorous training in personality psychology and business acumen (at least that’s the kind of experience I’ve been given). Identifying opportunities to support clients is no longer about pitching; it’s about playing catch – and those who can learn to shut up, listen well, and understand the needs of the buyer are those who will be laughing all the way to the bank with a 6-figure salary.

 

2. Start in sales

Anyone who hopes to climb the corporate ladder of a technology company might want to set his or her sights on a sales-related position. Selling is arguably the most sought-out skill by employers, with the most measurable track record to show for success (you can literally show an employer what value you’ve have added to a company in concrete dollars). Whether you’re looking to grow within your company, enter another company, or transition into other corporate functions like marketing, the most applicable credibility boost is to be able to say, “I know what your customer/audience wants – because they sat across from me and told me.”

 

3. Love change

The technology industry is constantly in flux, with usage trends redefining the initiatives of long-pigeonholed corporations, and the competitive landscape rapidly changing shape. For illustrative purposes, AT&T’s 2020 vision involves building the nation’s best network for video streaming and bringing fiber to 1 million businesses – the former a response to the demand for data, the latter a response to companies like Google coming out of the woodwork and offering fiber. Just as technology companies must adapt or fall behind, so must their employees and leaders. Today, selling cell phones could be your company’s bread and butter; tomorrow it could be designing systems to support the fast-expanding Internet of Things.

 

4. Do you

I don’t mean ignore rules and express yourself obnoxiously. I mean embrace your unique ways of doing things and leverage them to offer something different to your title. So take some time to look inward and identify your personal differentiator. There is no excuse for being unable to “stand out” in the workplace, since we all possess qualities that others simply cannot replicate. In my case, it’s delivery. I’ve had coworkers say they wish they could make a presentation the way I do, or talk to a client with the same enthusiasm and effective pauses (direct quote). But when they try, it comes off awkward and contrived – just as it does when I channel my more reserved, conscientious colleagues to deliver a proposal to a highly analytical client. Bottom line: what works for one person might not work for others, and striving to imitate another’s strong suit is a detraction from the most effective business strategy: offering you. To quote Oscar Wilde, “be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

 

5. Live outside the bubble

In every stage of life (high school, college, yuppie years), it’s easy to become consumed by your immediate environment: the company you’re working for, the co-workers you’re spending happy hour with, the Tinder match you’re dating (we’ve all been there). So it seems like keeping up with your company is “enough.” Wrong. Are you getting alerts about your major competitors sent to your inbox? Are you lightly following the stock prices of companies doing similar things as yours? Are you regularly skimming ESPN headlines even though sports interest you as much as calculus? Well, you should be! I’ve made lasting impressions just knowing what is going on outside my office. It takes no more than a commitment to reading 30 minutes of news online before bed. You never know what executive will be riding in the elevator with you, and it might be important to know that your company shelled out 18 billion to outbid Verizon and all the others in the FCC spectrum auction last night.

 

Hannah McGough is a Corporate Consultant at AT&T Business Solutions.  She graduated from Cornell in December 2014, majoring in Communication and serving as Slope Media Group’s Vice President of Marketing from January 2013 – December 2014.