How He Hustles: Matthew Randall

I've been lucky to have many cheerleaders and mentors in my life. These are people who inspire me to work harder and do better, but also believe that I can succeed on my own. When I began working at York College's Career Development Center in May 2012, my hard work and determination to do well was fortuitously noticed by the Executive Director of the Center for Professional Excellence, Matthew Randall.

Matthew with Liz Murray of Homeless to Harvard fame

After news spread around the Academic Services department that I had a sharp eye for grammatical errors, Matthew began asking me to look over documents for him and graciously accepted the cheeky comments I left in the margins. Since leaving Career Development, Matthew has continued to provide me with challenging opportunities that help me grow as a young professional and I couldn't be more thankful.

Aside from being a brilliant mentor, Matthew is famous in the world of professionalism and has been quoted in numerous articles, including The New York Times. He continues to roll out new seminars to enhance the student experience at YCP and gets to hang out with some pretty awesome celebrities like Maya Angelou, Liz Murray, and John Walsh.

Fortunately for us, Matthew was kind enough to share his tips on how to hustle and succeed professionally.

Advice from Matthew

• Avoid perfectionism: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.  Many times ‘good enough’ is actually sufficient.
• Don't stagnate: Once you become proficient in something, select a new skill/attribute/behavior to develop.  It expands your skill set and can introduce you to a whole new network of professionals.
• Seek honesty: Find a mentor/peer that will honestly communicate to you about your performance.  Many co-workers will tell you that “you’re fantastic” or “you’re great! I cannot think of anything you can improve on." Don’t buy it. We all have blind spots and need to sharpen some skill or behavior.  Find someone who will point out your strengths…as well as your blemishes.
• Realize that no job is permanent: After I finished my MBA, I was hired by a large, respected accounting and consulting firm.  I thought that being an employee in this organization was my path to a stable and rewarding career.  Some years went by and a few high-level executives within the organization made some serious errors.  Within a matter of 6-7 months, the entire organization went out of business. Thousands of employees, including myself, were suddenly out of a job.

Just Give Me A Reason

Remember when I said I was confident what I want for my future? Yeah, that lasted all of two minutes. Instead, I keep ricocheting back and forth between abject terror at having no idea what I want with no prolonged happiness in sight and being mildly numb or content with the idea of meandering onto a career path.

Source: Startup Stock Photos

My gut doesn't speak to me in truths anymore. What I'm absolutely sure of one moment can dissolve within seconds. I can't seem to listen to my heart, gut, instinct, soul, or whatever because I keep being led astray. I don't know how to buckle down and get to the root out of what I want in life.

Right now, in a moment of relative calm I feel okay with the uncertainty. A few of the jobs that I've been applying to are truly appealing and my fingers are crossed that I'll find something that feels right. Maybe I'm overthinking my future too much, trying to control every aspect. Perhaps I just need to let things happen.

The one thing I'm sure of is that I've always believed that everything happens for a reason. I can hear my grandmother echoing those words she learned from her mother. A long line of women in my family have given themselves over to the hope that the universe will serve them well. I think it's time I follow in those foot steps.

For the first time in my life, I don't have a plan. I don't have a vision for my future. I'm willing to take a peek at any open door on my path to see which is the right for me. I'm terrified and I can almost guarantee I'll be stress crying again tomorrow. But when that happens, I'll remind myself to have a little faith that everything will work out in the end.

Have you been struggling with post-grad life or just trying to change direction? Share your story in the comments!

How He Hustles: Vito Grippi

During my four years at York College, I've had numerous great teachers, but I can honestly say that Vito Grippi, adjunct writing professor at YCP, is one of the best--and not just because he's now my boss and could fire me if I said otherwise. Taking Intro to Creative Writing with Vito two years ago made me actually like creative writing despite the fact I normally feel more at home in the academic sphere. Not only did I have a great experience in Vito's class, but my younger brother was also influenced by Vito's teaching in freshman comp, going from an incomprehensible understanding of essay writing to effectively piecing together decent rhetorical analyses.

Of course,Vito's resume is much more extensive than just teaching adjunct at York. Presently, he's the digital editor of Story, a freelancer, and soon-to-be entrepreneur, but even these accolades don't do justice to his wide array of experience. His education reads like a cacophony of words that don't seem to belong together: table tennis aficionado, restaurateur, accountant, music engineer wannabe, small performance car part business owner, and finally, writer.

Photo Credit: Vito Grippi

Vito's became serious about writing when a professor encouraged him to pursue writing as a career as opposed to accounting, which was the original reason Vito came to get his undergrad degree at YCP. "I jumped ship almost immediately. I changed my major to writing and finally felt like I had joined my people. I started out thinking I would be a music journalist. So within weeks I had started contacting small, local entertainment magazines. Nightlife Monthly, which is no longer in business, was the first to give me a writing gig.  That led to others," said Vito.

After making connections in the writing world and pursuing a MFA, Vito and fellow writer, Wayne Cresser, started Shaking Like A Mountain while Vito worked as features editor for an entertainment weekly. Despite loving his work, Vito searched for a job that would lead to more financial stability. "I figured I could actually work part time while earning the MFA. That’s sort of how I stumbled into teaching. I had tutored as an undergrad and I came back to see if I could tutor while in grad school. I set up a meeting with the writing program director and I think I actually caught him while he was trying to fill an intro composition course because he almost immediately offered me the course," said Vito.

Despite all of these accomplishments, Vito is hesitant to describe himself as successful, "Success implies you’ve reached something and that would probably make me stop reaching. Maybe I’ll know when I get there."

Advice from Vito

• Don’t be afraid to try stuff. A lot of what I’ve learned has happened because I told people I could do it before actually knowing how. Someone needed a website and I offered to do it. Then I spent the next few weeks figuring out. A big-time logo designer asked me if I did copywriting on a freelance basis and I immediately said yes, no hesitation. I’m not even sure I knew what a freelance copywriter was. He asked me how much I charged and I said “whatever you think is fair.” He said, “I’d feel terrible giving you anything less than $50 an hour.” So that became my starting fee. I think you should try to learn everything. My dad wouldn’t let me run the family restaurant until I learned how to prep, clean, work as a line cook. I try to apply this to everything I do. 
• You have to put in the time. My father came to the United States and has become really successful because he put in the time. He had no idea how to run a restaurant, or how to cook even. So I take that approach, just try to jump into new things. I also don’t say no to much work that comes my way, which is great for building up a client base and paying the bills, but can really wear you down. I’m trying to get better at turning things down. The downside of all of this is that if you’re constantly busy doing work for others, your projects, the ones you really care about, always get put on the backburner. At the same time, I’m at my best when I’m busy. If I have multiple projects going at once, and if I feel anxious about it, that’s a good thing. 
• Take education seriously. I had an English teacher in 7th grade who would make us memorize and recite poetry. We would have to stand at the front of the class and recite the poems. This caused me so much dread. I hated that guy. One time I forgot to bring my textbook to class and he taped a book to my right hand and made me stand at the front of the room for the entire class. He was the worst, and yet, now looking back I wish I had paid closer attention to him. I think I would have learned a lot from him. I wish someone had told me to take my classes in high school more seriously too. I really limited my opportunities early on because I just assumed I would eventually work in the restaurant business. Education didn’t really play into that. It took me a long time to really appreciate learning and books. But part of me also wishes I would have tried to make a go of it on the table tennis circuit. I could have been something. 

Senioritis Hacks

During 99% of my academic career, I've been extremely studious, but lately the academic setting has had little appeal for me. I'm ready to join the work world and I'm desperate to get a head start. A lot of my free time is spent looking at online job postings and stalking out people on LinkedIn whose careers I admire. With this one-foot-out-the-door mentality, I've struggled trying to focus on my schoolwork.

Photo Credit: Liz Sauerbrunn's "College Graduation

Fortunately, I packed a lot of work into my first three years of college and now have a fairly relaxed senior year. My culminating project for my major was completed during my junior year so now I'm merely racking up the credits I need to graduate. The only downside to this is that I don't really feel as compelled to give my all to the assignments because I don't perceive them as having as much value as my past classes.

In order to make the best out of this final semester, I've decided to come up with some "hacks" to make getting through the end of my college career a little simpler and hopefully more fun. But coming up with these hacks means nothing if I don't hold myself accountable so at the end of the week I'll be posting updates on how successful I've been at overcoming my senioritis. Here are the hacks I'll be using this week:

1. Find your passion project: I think what is holding me back the most with my school work is that I don't really feel passionate about the work I'm doing. Constantly reading things that I don't care about or resonate with gets me down, and I don't feel obliged to struggle on. However, if I take time out of my busy schedule to do something that sparks ideas and promotes creativity, I find it a lot easier to get back into the boring doldrums of regular work because my mind has be stimulated again. 
2. Start a countdown: As a visual learner, I've found that the best way to remind myself that graduation is close is to put up a calendar, mark the day of graduation, and cross out the days that have passed. This way I can actually see myself getting closer to graduation and not get stuck on how much work is left to do. I can see that in the scheme of my lifetime, I'm so close to starting the next chapter that I feel the immediate weight of readings, papers, and tests lifted off my shoulders. I recommend using a printable calendar, posting it on a bulletin board, and marking each day off with a neon pink sharpie
3. Network: Whenever I find myself feeling bored by academia, I look for opportunities to network. Talking to people who have finished their degree and are living their dreams is an ideal way to gain inspiration and potential contacts. I would recommend going to any networking events that your alumni relations office holds because you get to see people who survived graduated from your school and have most likely been prosperous. Bonus: These events usually have free food, which is perfect considering your student loans will start looming soon enough. 

On Sunday, I'll update you with how I'm using my hacks and hopefully show some progress on defeating my senioritis. If you have any tips of your own, please share them in the comments and maybe I'll implement them in my strategy!

#SpartaNation 2015

After ending the fall 2014 semester on a high note (yay for a GPA boost!), I enjoyed a lovely holiday and spent some quality time with my family and friends. Of course, my hustle mentality prevented me from having down time for too long.

 January 7th marked the beginning of the SpartaNation 2015 tour through NYC, Long Island, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Towson, and back to York. This was my second time acting as one of the #YCPRoadCrew members and couldn't wait for this journey to kick off. Last year's #YCPRoadCrew became a family, and I count many of the former Road Crew members as dear friends. Not only did we bond as a mini YCP Family, but the opportunity to meet with various York College alumni and prospective YCPers was a treat itself. I had made great connections last year and knew that this year would be no different.

Our journey started in Long Island and NYC. The highlight of this part of the trip was standing out on plaza of The Today Show in frigid 8 degree weather. Although at the time the windchill made the experience torturous, I can honestly say that it is a memory I will never forget and wouldn't change a thing about it.

The journey continued to Philadelphia, New Jersey, and DC, but around this time, I unfortunately came down with the flu and had to miss New Jersey and DC. However, in Philadelphia, we toured the Phillies and Eagles stadium--during which I practiced my acting skills and pretended that I have a substantial interest in baseball and football! Although the experience wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, I was surprised when we went in the locker rooms and found out that one of the Eagles players wears Crocs!!

For Towson, I was still under the weather from the flu so I missed out on the tour of Under Armour, but I did make an effort to come to the networking reception that evening and spoke with many alumni that I hadn't seen in a few months and reestablished connections with them.

Sadly, last night marked the last SpartaNation event. We ended on a high note back on home territory at the Strand in York. The attendance rates were stellar and the Road Crew was able to have one last hurrah together. I was also fortunate enough to be named a Home Town Hero during the director of Alumni Relation's speech and received a generous award that I will treasure immensely.

Although I'm sad that the tour is over, I can honestly say I made wonderful new friends and numerous connections. Networking is one of my favorite past times and was what I enjoyed most during SpartaNation. I cannot thank the YCP Alumni Relations Department enough for this opportunity. I hope I can repay them this semester by doing an excellent job as their intern!

If you're interested in seeing more of our adventures, our tagboard is available on the YCP Alumni page.

The End is Near

Representative Schreiber & some of Team 95

The beginning of the 2014-2015 marked numerous big changes for me. I resigned from my job at Career Development and instead accepted an offer to go work for the York College sponsored literary magazine, Story. The routine that I had established over the past couple of years was suddenly
disrupted and I had uncharted territory to figure out. This job change was 100% the right choice for me and I'm so happy to working with Story's amazing team. I'm getting back to my writing roots and it's a wonderful feeling!

At the same time, I also began interning with Representative Schreiber. I had a feeling that going into this internship that government work was going to be a whole new world and that assumption was right on the money. I've enjoyed every minute of working in the political arena, but most importantly, I've learned that my passion is bettering the world rather than getting caught up in bipartisan battles. I wouldn't change this experience for the world. Plus, it helps that entire staff is amazing and truly dedicated to their positions.

As the semester begins to wrap up, I'm craving graduation and getting started in the "real world." My college experience has never really been a typical one. Like I've always said, I'm an old soul so the traditional college scene doesn't appeal to me. But going out into society and making palpable change? Sign me up!

Of course, by no means am I wishing away my senior year. I know that I'm going to miss being here more than I can imagine in the present moment. This final semester is essentially going to be a celebration of all things Spartan green. Plus as soon as I graduate, I plan on getting involved with the young alumni committee (which I'm already kind of involved in...)!

Going back to visit at Career Development