Monthly Archives: June 2022

Hitting the Pause Button



Dan Smolen is hitting the pause button on The Dan Smolen Podcast.

When the podcast returns in Fall 2022, it will provide a more impactful interactive experience for career professionals.

From the episode:

“Given the success that the podcast has enjoyed during the past four years, I recognize that there is so much more for me to do, to further these discussions and make learning from them truly actionable. 

I will strive to give career professionals—talent and hiring managers—the insight that they need to make sound decisions about their career development and workplace.”

Further:

“The remote workplace technology that we now use to connect to one another—and to the world—has been in place for ten years or longer. But it took the Covid pandemic to allow us to unleash its full potential. And as we adapted to it, and applied its numerous benefits, millions of us began to question what it means to work: for sure, what our work entails, but also when, where, and how we do the work that we do.”

The Dan Smolen Podcast debuted in 2018. During that time, Dan has dropped 159 episodes focused on future of work and workplace topics.

Hitting the pause button is necessary to return this fall with a new podcast experience that talent and hiring managers alike can use to navigate the future of work and workplace.

EPISODE DATE: June 10, 2022


Starting a First Job of Many



Dan Smolen recalls how starting a first job of many benefitted his professional career and informed a profound journey in the future of work:

As the last of the graduation ceremonies conclude, America’s latest crop of entry-level workers is stressed out about connecting with work and career.

I remember the experience well. And what I recall most was how I wanted my first assignment out of college to align me perfectly with my career goals of reaching the senior advertising agency management ranks.

It was a fool’s errand.

The Spring of 1983, my graduation season, ushered in one of the-worst job markets since the 1930s.

Unemployment was terribly high. Like me, my peers struggled to connect to entry-level work. With each passing week of no returned phone calls, I fell into a depression.

In this episode, Dan discusses:

  • The chance meeting, at a Washington Post advertisers event, that got him to starting a first job of many.
  • How that first job taught him how to succeed in a corporate setting.
  • Turning a messy, analog magazine circulation file into a money making resource.
  • Leveraging first job skill, experience, and accomplishments to find a great ad agency position in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Starting a first job of many provides young careerists the time and space they need to learn how to work, and make work part of a day doing other things.

EPISODE DATE: June 3, 2022