96. Choosing a College Major and Finding Your Path; How to Choose a Major and Explore Career Options with Quincey Hettinger

Navigating College and Careers: Insights from Quincey Hettinger

In this episode of College and Career Ready, host Sonia Cacique interviews Quincey, a resilient individual who successfully transitioned from high school to college and then into a fulfilling career at PepsiCo. Quincey shares her journey from entering college undecided and utilizing resources such as clubs, career development classes, and real-world networking to find her career path. She discusses the importance of exploring interests, leveraging connections, and being patient with self-assessment to build a successful career. Quincey also provides advice for students facing challenges in their career journey, emphasizing resilience and proactive networking.

00:00 Introduction to College and Career Ready Podcast

00:35 Meet Quincey: From Undecided Major to Career Success

01:17 Quincey's High School Journey and College Decision

05:30 Exploring Majors and Career Development in College

06:32 Navigating College Clubs and Career Choices

13:43 Quincey's Post-College Career Path

19:39 Overcoming Career Challenges and Finding the Right Fit

26:31 Final Thoughts and Words of Encouragement

28:43 Closing Remarks and How to Connect

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"Stay well, be present, and enjoy the journey"

Transcript

Sonia Intro: 0:01

Welcome to College and Career Ready, the only podcast that helps students transition from high school to college and college to their career. My name is Sonia Cacique. I'm a former educator, certified school counselor, career coach, and founder of Discover U. Together, we will redefine what it truly means to be college and career ready. And with our community, you don't have to do this alone. So come with me and let's get started.

Microphone (ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-3: 0:35

Hi, Fran. I hope you're finding yourself well from wherever you're listening to us from, I am very excited that you're here with us today for this great interview with our guests, Quincy. Let me give you some backstory and again, share with you the power of connections. I met Quincy through a podcast connection. Quincy sister is one of the hosts of the ask your work wives podcast. If you haven't checked out that podcast. I highly recommended. And that is how I heard about how Quincy leveraged so many opportunities while in college to further define her career path. And I thought I need to have Quincy on my podcast. I love her story because like so many other college students may be like, even yourself. Quincy entered college as an undecided major. She shares her journey from high school in California to attending, Brigham young university in Utah. And guess what? She is now living her best life in a career with Pepsi co that she loves and enjoys because it has provided her the opportunity to live the lifestyle that she aspired to have with so much more career potential. Despite facing challenges, Quincy remained resilient And I hope this is inspirational for you too. She highlights the importance of exploring interests in high school, joining clubs in college and leveraging networks, such as real-world connections to navigate career opportunities effectively. She also emphasizes patients continuous self-assessment Andy strategic use of connections to build a successful career path. She also discusses the significance of career development classes and real life internship experiences. That expand your professional journey. All right, my friend. So without further ado, let's just get right into this great interview.

2:16

Welcome, Quincy. Welcome to the College and Career Ready podcast. Thank you for being here with us today. I'm excited to be here. I would love for you to tell our guest audience, or our audience, uh, a little bit about yourself. So give us a high level overview about who you are, where you are in your career, and, just a little bit of an overview. Yeah, sounds good. So I originally grew up in California and then attended college in Utah at Brigham Young University and graduated in 2020. I studied business in college and then moved to New York city after I graduated about four years ago. And I currently work at PepsiCo on their e commerce sales team. My, the beginning of the road was a little bit bumpy for me since I graduated in COVID. So had to go through a little bit of a layoff and then ended up at another company before I finally found a really good place for me at PepsiCo about three years ago. I love this. I love that you are. You know, feel like you're in your career and you're stable, but let's go back in time because sometimes students see where, our professionals are today and they just think their life was just so perfect. Right. You graduated, in, in a very hard time because it's right before the pandemic. but let's go a little bit further back in time in high school. What were you thinking as far as college, degree plan, what was your idea then? It's a great question. In college, I definitely was really focused on getting good grades. I took a lot of AP classes and was pretty involved both in clubs on campus as well as sports. I did cross country soccer and track and I also played piano on the side as well. So I felt like I was really involved, but I never felt like I was someone that really had That's Clearly defined passions. I felt like I could do pretty good at most of the things I wanted to, but there wasn't really a kind of one subject in particular that I felt like I really shined at. And so, as I was thinking about college, It was a little bit hard. I knew that I could get, again, get good grades, do well, but I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do. But actually an interesting part of my high school experience was that I went to a magnet school that had a focus on both the arts as well as science and technology and communications, and so I really tried to take a lot of fun classes on the side. I took classes in photography and web design, virtual business, graphic design, a lot of different things to try to explore my interests a little bit more. And that was a little bit helpful in kind of narrowing things out. I feel like my mom would always say about me as a kid, I knew what I didn't like, but I didn't really know what I did like. And so having some flexibility in high school to explore classes has definitely helped. guide me in the right direction, but I still definitely, as I was entering college, I hadn't declared a major yet. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but took some time both in high school and in college to figure it out. So how did you end up deciding, so you went to college, still you apply, because mostly we tell students apply to the colleges that are offering the degree programs that you are considering. So how did you come across deciding what college to go to? Yeah, so I applied to a few different colleges. The school I ended up going to Brigham Young University in Utah. Was my parents alma mater. So that was kind of what guided that decision. It's also a pretty relatively inexpensive school. So it seemed like a safe place to start. And then as I started in college. I explored a lot. I took, I think my first semester, I took a career development class that really had a great repertoire of let's look at all the majors. Let's start talking to people. Let's explore what's out there and just learn about the different things that are available. And I also took some time to. explore kind of introductory level classes that sounded interesting. I knew I was a little bit interested in business, so I started and at BYU you have to apply to the business school, which people typically do after two years. So I started taking some of those introductory classes in my first few years of BYU as I was exploring and that's what really helped me, figure out what I wanted to do. I decided on business eventually. at BYU, you have to apply at the end of your sophomore year typically, but it's not just one business program, there's many different majors that you can do. And so what I did is I joined the club that each major had. I was in Marketing Club, Human Resources, Global Supply Chain. Strategic management, women in business. I joined a lot of different clubs, so I could start talking to people who were in the different majors and figuring out why did you choose this major? What do the careers look like? And a big part of it, I think, was trying to see where I felt like I fit in. Who are the people that I could relate to, even in just kind of the communications aspect of what was appealing to me. And so I really did that work for my first two years. And then eventually applied for the business program. I think you would apply for up to three programs. And so I did that. And the one that I got into was kind of the one I ended up choosing, which was global supply chain management. Wow. Okay. So let me ask you this, because most, there are introverts and extroverts. Where do you feel you fall in? Are you like an introvert, extrovert, or a little bit of both? I would say a little more extroverted, not 100%, but more leaning extrovert than introvert. Okay, because, and I ask this because what tips could you recommend students who might be a little bit more introverted? I'm an extrovert. For me, it's easy to put myself in a room with people who look completely different to me and start a conversation. But not a lot of students are like that. So do you have any tips on that? Yeah, I think even just being in the room, even if you're not the most Active participant I think is really helpful. I know these clubs had a lot of different interesting experiences. For example, they would do career panels with people who had graduated from that program or just various things where we could people would present about their internships and there I do think there was a really good place for if you're willing to show up to the meeting, you don't have to talk to everyone there. You can still get a lot of information just by taking it in and being a little bit passive. I don't I don't think is a bad thing in this case. Yeah, you know, that's a great point. Because again, for me being an extra extrovert, it'd be get in the room, talk to people, but you're saying just get in the room and see how it feels like see what they're talking about. Tell me more about the career class. You recall any any specifics about that particular class? One of the main exercises that I remember is near the beginning of the class, we basically had to print out these pieces of paper that had every single major that they offered at the school. And you kind of had to put it into a few different buckets, things that really sounded interesting. Things that maybe you didn't know what they were yet, but you wanted to learn, and things that you definitely didn't want to learn about. And that, I think, was a really good place to start. There were definitely things I wasn't that interested in. Sciences weren't ever really my strong point, so I kind of immediately put those off to the side. And then, for example, what I ended up going with, Global Supply Chain Management. I don't think I'd ever heard of that before, but it was in the bucket of this seems interesting and you, you knew what, kind of college it was associated with. So was it in the sciences? Was it in humanities? Was it in business? And so they kind of use that as a way to start you down the path. of learning about different majors and so we also had to go in and write or not write, but research what these different majors were. And then there also was a big focus in that class on figuring out what your strengths and what your interests are. Are you, are you more kind of mechanically minded? Do you like to. Write things out. Do you like to listen? What is your like, figuring out your learning style as well as the things that excite you from the experiences of being on team sports in high school? That was something that I drew to. I want to be able to work with people and collaborate and feel like we can be successful together. And so there was a lot of time spent reflecting on the experiences we had had up to that point. And using that as a baseline for how, what can we do with that in a career that maybe I wouldn't have recognized on my own from just taking a science class in an English class in high school, but thinking about the underlying skills that are necessary to succeed in various paths. Oh my gosh. Okay. I love that class already because that's actually what I include in my career connections courses. It's really identifying and yet, and I love how you're bringing it up, bringing it full circle. Who you are as an individual and where do you fit in the landscape of careers? Now, the interesting part might be a little different for you, even for years is It's, it's a long time compared to what it is today, where there are new careers being created as we speak. And so it's important for students to dive into who they are as an individual, what drives you, and then look into the careers of today, because they can be completely different than even the ones from yesterday. Yeah. I love that. Was it a required course? No, it wasn't a required class. It was an elective that I just somehow found and knew would be really good for me. That's awesome. That's, that's really awesome. Now, once you started finding career paths in that class, did you do anything else aside from just online research? Is there anything else that could have got you a better picture as far as, you know, what a career in that would be like? One thing I remember from the class also is having to talk to people that you knew Whose jobs you thought sounded interesting. So I remember calling up my parents and just brainstorming with them a little bit and saying, okay, maybe we could talk to Mike or maybe we could talk to Eric. And so we had a few of these required just kind of informational interviews to do. as part of the class, maybe 3 to 5 interviews, we had to ask a certain set of questions, right? Do a little paper write up. And that was also really helpful to, because I think when on a surface level, it's hard to tell always. Right if you want to dedicate your life to this, but actually getting to talk to people and really. experience that through their live personal experiences through people who you know and trust that's not, Hey, just reach out to a stranger on LinkedIn, but people in your circle, that was really helpful as well. Yeah, absolutely. so you decided on your career journey, right? Tell us a little bit more about the degree program. I'm sure there's a lot of students listening, thinking, what is a career in that look like? Yeah, so I got into the program and started it my junior year and similar to that career exploration class. There was a required class you had to take your 1st semester that was called career development. And in that class, there were not a ton of assignments, but the assignments were very specific. It was your resume, cover letter, elevator pitch, coming up with a list of companies that you'd like to work for, interview prep, role plays, things like that, that were really, really important. Tangible things that you were going to need to do to get that 1st internship and get that 1st job. And that was really, really helpful and doing that with all of my peers to be able to immediately as soon as we're in there. How do we present ourselves? Good on paper. Even before, you know, at that point, I didn't have any supply chain experience. I was interested in it, but, the learning was going to come later, but we needed to be able to show up. In in that interview in the room, and that was really, I think, a very pivotal experience that a lot of different majors and schools, I think, don't focus on so much is how do we actually get you to be successful after you leave here? And the business school at BYU. Really prides itself on having really strong, rates of people within 3 months, almost every single person will have an internship or they will have that full time job secured. And so it was really successful in being able to help students succeed. And so that that class, I think, was 1 of the 1st things and then getting into the, the meat of the major. I think there was a few main things that I learned in this major global supply chain management as a major. I think is a really good cross section in between being pretty data heavy and spending a lot of time in Excel with numbers as well as being really cross functional. So we would have a lot of projects. Where we were in teams and we'd have different positions that we'd have to work together to solve these business problems. And so that was what I really liked is there was numbers. And there was that analytical side, which I feel like I relate to as well as on the other side, communication and people skills and PowerPoint presentations. And we had a really good balance of both of those things immediately and in the major. And one of the things I really enjoyed when I first started getting into the major was. The whole entire first semester, you were in all of your classes with the same 40 students and within those 40 students, you had a group of 5 people and all of your assignments. Almost all your assignments were done with these five people. And so you really had to learn how to work in a team. These people are going to have different strengths. Some people are going to be more functional. Some aren't. Some are going to just have different things. And we had to learn through that entire semester, how do we work together on writing papers, on giving presentations, on analyzing data. On learning different things throughout all of all four or five classes that we had together. And so that was, I think, really pivotal as well. Just the way that the program was set up to make it really feel like this is the team you work on. This is your job. We had these big overarching projects. Sometimes we had projects that were across multiple classes and the professors work together to coordinate really large scale. It felt like an internship almost with here's your team. Here's your project. It's going to be a month or two before we get to the end of this, but you're going to learn a lot along the way. I love what you're sharing with our audience because something that a lot of students and parents overlook is all of the specifics about the college. They look at the name of the college. And it's like, that's where I want to go. That is because it is a top, name for this degree program, but they forget to ask or find out. You can mention a couple of things is, placement rate, which is huge. I think throughout our education, K through 12, and even in college. We're so involved in academic, academic, academic, but what are we getting this academic for ultimately to find a career and find a job after college, right? That's, that's the goal of all of these years. And we're so focused on academic. So I like that. You, you pointed that out for all our audience to, to look into that, ask the college, like how many students for, right? And not even as a college as a whole, but for that degree program, how many students get placed? What jobs are they in right now? And then you also mentioned about the team environment, right? For this specific degree program. And I think it's important because there are some people that would not be me that. prefers working alone by themselves. They prefer working, you know, isolated. There are others that love teamwork. And so this is important for them to also look into the college. Is it, or the degree program, is it mainly a teamwork? Is it solo? Is it more research? And you brought a lot of factors into, what this degree program entails. So I appreciate you bringing that. And then the last thing I wanted to share. What's the cohort model again? This is a very unique way of learning that can benefit certain students. I mean, kudos to you and BYU. You're making it stand out really cool because I it's everything I talk about. It's bringing the resources to the students. So now let's transition a little bit. Post college graduation. So what was it for you, after graduating, finding a job? And I know you went through some, roadblocks. So tell us about that. Yeah, so I had my, the internship I did during college was at Walmart headquarters in Arkansas and that was a really amazing experience being at the largest retailer in the world and I got that internship through on campus recruiting, so BYU also has a really big program for companies that will come usually in the fall of that junior year and come to recruit and I honestly credit getting that. 1st, roll on on my internship, just to. Being able to relate to the recruiters that came, there was 1 in particular who we had a lot in common. And so throughout the week, as they were putting on these different activities. They did service projects and, you know, booths in the, in the business building of just being able to, to talk and chat and just like really works to, to build that relationship. So I do think in that case, it does help to be an extrovert and just be willing to chat and smile. And, but so I made that connection that helped me to get the interview. And then obviously the, the degree and the program had helped me do well and show up in that interview. So I interned in Arkansas. And while I was in Arkansas is when I started to really learn that there are a lot of different factors to consider when choosing a career. Part of it is the company and the industry. Part of it is the specific role you're in. Part of it is the work life balance and the lifestyle that you're able to have, whether that be from the hours you have to work or the time you have to travel or the money you make. Or in my case, I felt a little bit particular about where I was going to live. Growing up in San Diego, I wasn't used to being in kind of a small town like, like Bentonville, Arkansas is. And so as I was there, I realized that I wasn't willing to move to Arkansas long term. And I was pretty open about that with, My intern manager, and I knew that Walmart had an office in New Jersey, and I had sort of this inkling that I wanted to move to New York after I graduated. And so I started talking to people within Walmart about if there was a way for me to transfer to the New Jersey office. And I got a little bit of hesitation, but also a lot of support in being able to be connected to people who worked in that office. How to make that transition. And this is when I really started using the BYU network as well. I mentioned to one of my fellow interns who also came from BYU that I was thinking about New York and, and this Walmart e commerce office in New Jersey. And she said, Oh, I grew up with someone who also studied supply chain at BYU. Who's been there now for a couple of years, so I connected with him and he ended up being the person who really was pivotal in helping me actually landing a full time offer after I graduated at the Walmart e commerce office. So that was really awesome, so I got the job and started it in the summer of 2020, right after I graduated. World was shut down a little bit, so I started remotely. I was still living in Utah. At the time and at that time, unrelated to COVID, they had a lot of restructuring, reorganizing, and they decided that they wanted to have everyone in Arkansas and they didn't want to have the e commerce team separated out. And so they laid off almost everyone in that office and told everyone to reapply for a job in Arkansas, which I was not interested in. So that was a bummer. But I kind of stuck to my instincts. I didn't reapply for a job and I just gave myself a little bit of time to find another way to get to New York. So I continued talking to people, networking, using my BYU Connections, and Someone I had met through that first, mentor who worked at the Walmart e commerce office, he introduced me to someone else who then ended up referring me to a job that she had been reached out to about, but she had already gotten another job. So she suggested me instead. And that ended up being the next job that I got, which was at a fashion company here in the city. And so I finally got to move to New York city. I started this fashion job and it was working at a company that worked on fashion, the, the account I was on was specifically on Walmart fashion. And so we would sell women's clothing to Walmart. And so even though I'd only worked briefly at Walmart, that experience Helped me get my next job as well as networking into the job. And so I worked there for about a year and it wasn't, I think a perfect fit for me. It was completely in person, which I didn't really want. All my friends at the time were. A little more remote and fashion wasn't necessarily a passion of mine. And so I thought there might be a better industry for me to go in. And so then I, but I still wanted to stay in New York. So I continued networking and another BYU connection that I'd met here in the city, worked at PepsiCo and he was the one who referred me into a job, at PepsiCo where I'm still working. I've since been promoted from that job, but plan to stay at PepsiCo. Definitely for, a lot longer. I love that. It's it's New York City based. I love the industry that it's in. I'm a big foodie. And so being in the food and beverage industry has been really fun for me. I work with a really great team with my coworkers and managers. I've had a really great experience and I feel like there's a really strong. career trajectory of things that I can do within this company and just great overall work life balance and pay. So I found a place that I'm happy and looking forward to staying. I love that. I love that for you now. And I also like that you didn't say This career path is not for me, right? Because that's what most people think. They think this career path, I'm in the wrong career path, not realizing that it might just need a little tweaking. You mentioned very clearly that you were not interested in a fashion industry. There are people who would die to be in the fashion industry and that's okay. But you, you're more of a foodie. So you're like, this is like a perfect fit for me. And I love that. And, and it seems like it as well. So I like that you share that because again, it might just be, you're in the wrong job, not necessarily in the wrong field. And people will pivot completely their careers sometimes not realizing that there's might be something just on the other side. during any time where you laid off? Yes, uh, when I was at the Walmart e commerce office, I only worked there for about a month before being laid off. Oh, man, can you give us a little bit of just inside? just encouragement because we have students who might currently have just graduated and can't find, that jobs, any words of encouragement and how to deal with that timeframe? Yeah, I think I really just had to focus on the fact that it wasn't personal. My manager got laid off. My manager's manager got laid off. I think his manager got laid off. It just was the entire organization that I was on. Basically got laid off. And so I had to not take it personally. And luckily Walmart treated us pretty well financially, where I was able to take a little bit of time to figure out what the next step was, but it definitely stuck with me a little bit. As I went into my next job, when I had been a month in the job, I was really paranoid that the same thing was going to happen again and that I was going to get laid off. And I talked to my manager about it. And just knowing that I was a little bit nervous and she said, you know, you're good. You don't have anything to worry about. We're not doing layoffs. You're fine. You're doing great. And so it is hard and it's discouraging. And especially during kind of that 2020 COVID It was really hard to tell what was going to be happening. There was so much change with the whole virtual move, but I just tried to keep my head up and do the same things I had done before to get that job. Let's talk to who I know. Someone will be able to help me get my foot in the door somewhere. Yeah, I love that. I love that. I think a lot of students need to hear that because, you know, some graduate thinking that a degree will give them the job opportunity and that's not the case. And this is why I was very excited to bring you on so you can share the importance of connections and using, maximizing your time at the college, because that's where you're going to get your skills, your soft skills, and build your, your, um, Your resume as you're there. So I really appreciate that. Well, Quincy, I appreciate everything you have shared. any closing remarks that you have or where can people connect with you if they want to, connect with you any further? Yeah, I, I think the parting words are, I think just being able to be patient with yourself and not think that you from day one of being in college, you have to have planned out 20 and 30 years down the road, but rather being able to just. Take it kind of day by day, year by year and take the time to really just learn about yourself and use that information to continually pivot, I think patience, as well as just being proactive, making sure that you're always aware of how you feel about your current where you're currently at. And be able, being able to constantly gather in information to using the people around you and building those relationships that can continue to help you throughout your career. All my jobs have come directly from people that I've networked with. It's so important to just be able to take that little leap of faith and be able to just talk to people around you and be able to learn from them. I love that. I love that. And where can, our audience connect with you? I'm on LinkedIn. That would be the best way, to reach out to me. Okay. I love it. Thank you so much, Quincy, for being here on the College of Career Ready podcast. Thanks so much. Thank you for listening in. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much to me if you share it with a friend, a colleague, or your own community. If you share it on social media and tag me, I'll make sure to personally thank you. My two favorite places to hang out are Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out our show notes for a direct link. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. And as always stay well, be present and enjoy the journey. I'll talk to you next week. Adios.