Mr. Marcroft's background includes working for the U.S. Navy and teaching part-time at Cal Poly Pomona in the IME and ET departments.

Set your goals early - Mr. Marcroft recommends that you set goals for a career at an early stage of life. Try to set some sort of goal for 5, 10, and 15 years ahead - "decide where you want to go and go there." Evaluate your career on a yearly basis and update your resume. He emphasized that students and career professionals alike should always keep a resume up-to-date so that it may be distributed on a moment's notice. Prior work experience such as projects and any specialized training should be included in the resume. If you wait too long between updates you will forget some important things for your resume.

You are not an island - You must be able to be a valuable part of the organization. This includes being replaceable...training your replacement so you can move on.

Find a mentor - Another goal young professionals should set includes seeking mentors that have at least 15-20 years more experience in the organization. Mentors will be more able to advise with their wisdom and perspective on career changes or career opportunities. Occasionally you will be offered an assignment with an organization that may not be in your best interest in the long run. Your mentors can help you evaluate these situations. Work on developing relationships.

Specialize in your job and broaden for the next one - Mr. Marcroft also suggested that as a professional you should specialize in a particular field, learn as much as possible associated with the job, look for more training, and look for a career path. Don't forget training in writing, presentations, computing, and teaching.

Additional recommendations - Mr. Marcroft summarized his presentation and gave several examples from his own career. He then added the idea of truthfully building a career while in no way undermining others' careers in the process. Be tenacious, but not overbearing. Be ready to be tested but do not be discouraged by "no's". Take calculated risks and ask questions of people who work around areas or people you may be working with in the future.

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Phil Rosenkrantz is the IME 499 colloquium instructor. Professor Rosenkrantz presented his career as an example of being prepared for the future. Professor Rosenkrantz had previously worked with General Motors for almost fifteen years. His last position at GM was Industrial Engineering Supervisor. He has been at Cal Poly Pomona in the IME department for over fifteen years. He served as IME Department Chair from 1990-97. In addition to echoing the comments made by the previous speakers, he emphasized the following:

Set goals and always be qualified to get another job or qualify for something else - In his presentation, he mentioned that he set a goal to attend college on a scholarship when he was only a freshman in high school. His parents insisted that he had to support himself through college and was able to do just that. In college, he received a co-op with General Motors through General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan. He described how he spent four years traveling between South Gate, California and Flint, Michigan as a coop student working on a total of sixteen projects. That experience qualified him for a job as an experienced engineer upon graduation. General Motors sent him to Purdue University to earn his masters degree on a GM Fellowship. Deeper into his career, a hardship came about in 1982 when GM decided to shut down the plant he worked at in South Gate, California. He was qualified for and applied for several good jobs, including a tenure track position at Cal Poly Pomona, and was offered a job in all but one case. He chose to switch to academia because of personal goals for his family and professional career. He claims that because he picked up his Professional Engineer Registration and Community College Teaching Credential along the way, he was more qualified for the tenure-track teaching position at Cal Poly Pomona. Strong letters of recommendations also helped. Two years after he started at Cal Poly Pomona he went back to school at U.C. Riverside and eventually earned an M.S. in Statistics. The additional education has served him well ever since in both teaching and consulting.

Avoid being locked in to a company or job because of retirement or financial reasons - Save, invest, and stay out of debt for anything that cannot be sold for close to what you owe on it. Sacrifice a little bit of your lifestyle in the first ten years of your career to save, invest (including buying a house), and improve your education. By planning for your own retirement and future independent of the company's retirement plan, you can leave a company for a better position and/or avoid staying in a difficult position.

Be promotion material - Develop communication skills and personal qualities that make you a strong candidate for a more responsible position. Be trustworthy and don't be a "complainer". If you bring your boss a problem, try to offer two possible solutions along with it. Watch your health, personal hygiene, and have a good attendance and punctuality record. Work hard on developing your personal qualities such as maintaining balance, a positive mental attitude, leadership, organization, teamwork and planning skills. Read books by leaders in these fields like Covey, Paul J. Meyer, and others.

Be Trustworthy - This is the number one quality you can develop and what all employers and customers look for. Do not "flake" on people. Older generations will not put up with it.

In closing of the day's presentations, Professor Rosenkrantz reviewed the main points offered by guest speakers Abrams and Marcroft, while stressing the importance of creating and maintaining a successful career strategy.

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