Diary of a Job Hunter, Day Two

Diary of a Job Hunter, Day Two

A Stanford B-school student on his 21st-century job search. The second of a five-part series. A Web exclusive

By Greg Yap NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE


April 24 — Day Two: About four years ago, my girlfriend told me with equal parts anger and love that all of my best energies were used up at work, leaving only leftovers for the rest of my life. The reality is that many, if not most, working people today spend more conscious time with work colleagues than with friends and loved ones. Think about it: 168 hours a week minus seven hours of sleep per day leaves 119 hours. If I work 60 hours a week, that’s more work than not, even without counting the commute.

Stanford business student Greg Yap

I’M A LITTLE WISER NOW. I know I’ll never find a perfect balance between the professional and the personal, but I’m committed to trying. I know that much of my time will be devoted to my career, but I need the work to give me something back in return. I want to be surrounded by people I can learn something from, and I want to make a difference.

Mentoring is often given lip-service in business, but it’s not always experienced in reality. Still, I’m looking for people from whom I can soak up character, judgment, approaches. They don’t have to be bosses—in fact, I’ve learned just as much or more from peers or even subordinates. How people act in tough situations has taught me a lot. I remember how one particularly strong mentor handled a period of turmoil. At the time, some meetings had become shouting matches and the emotional investment required to hold them together was so intense that, holed up in the office, this person would occasionally break down and cry. I learned a lot from seeing my manager pull it together to continue to manage effectively, despite the emotional stress.
As new Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel said the other day, “Why am I here? [It’s] the whole idea of being a part of something conceived to change the world.” It is the same for me. The potential to make a difference—more than coffee or anything else—gets me going each morning. I first really got excited about genomics during an interview in a Palo Alto restaurant. As we talked, we scribbled on paper napkins possible ways to use the company’s new “DNA chips,” tiny squares of glass coded with DNA that help determine which genes cause diseases like cancer.

		Diary of a Job Hunter

		A Stanford B-school student on his 21st-century job search
		•	Day 1: The Current State of Affairs

		•	Day 2: What Matters Most

		•	Day 3: Where the Grads Are

		•	Day 4: Decisions, Decisions

		•	Day 5: Biotech Bound

At the time DNA chips were brand new, and the company only had two real customers. Today, hundreds of customers are using these chips to improve drug development and health care. Building up the business was hard work: some days, it left me overwhelmed and exhausted. But the technology’s potential kept me coming back.
So what are the best criteria for picking my next job? Issues like what I’ll be paid, where I’ll live, and chances for promotion are certainly important. But if I can figure out what really matters to me, everything else will fall into place. I’ll let you know.

Greg Yap is a native of Silicon Valley who was briefly but happily exiled to the east coast at Princeton University, where he graduated with an A.B. in molecular biology. Since then, he has held positions in business development at Affymetrix, a Silicon Valley genomics company; in venture capital at Bay City Capital, a San Francisco health care merchant bank; and in management consulting at McKinsey & Co. He will receive his M.B.A. degree at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in June.

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