Myles Ward (MSOM, 2018; MBA, 2018) has a message for MBA students: Approach the job market with humility. Though MBA students are rightly proud of their degree, many of them, because Manderson admits high-achieving talent straight out of undergrad, have little to no work experience as they enter the job market. “And so I tell students all the time to approach the job market with humility,” Ward said. “Because the job hunt has a way of humbling a lot of people who are searching with misplaced expectations.”
When Ward returns to Culverhouse to speak to students, he urges them to say “yes” to things others are saying “no” to, to look for ways to stand out. And he tells them that many companies are starting to on return to office policies. In other words, the realities of the job market show that many entry-level employees are expected to be physically available in the office for at least a portion of their work.
Reflecting on his own entry into the job market, “My approach was to play the volume game when it came to the application process,” Ward explained. “And so, I had a spreadsheet that had probably 80 different roles on it. And I probably applied to 40 or 50 of them. Anything that caught my interest in a job description, I took note of it, applied for it, and ended up with about five or six different interview processes with a few different offers on the table.” Though Ward is quick to point out that approach does not work for everyone, it was the right one for him.
He ultimately chose AT&T, entering through a technology development program and moving to Texas. After working in an entry level position, he spent about a year supporting a company officer who had responsibility for frontline operations on her chief of staff team, a role that Ward admittedly did not relish, but undertook as a strategic career move. The value, for Ward, was “really getting to understand the business end to end. From our frontline workforce all the way through our executives, how and why decisions are made and the impact that those decisions have on the business.”
“So getting like that accordion style view of the business for a year was an absolute value-add to my career,” he went on. “And the visibility that I received allowed me to kind of pick and choose what I wanted to do next.” For Ward, what came next was product management, so he began networking in that part of the business, and soon landed a role as a product marketing manager for AT&T’s consumer fiber business, where he was able to help launch customer-facing products. Most recently, as associate director of technology, Ward leads a team that has responsibilities for artificial intelligence realization and implementation, using AI to improve operational efficiencies in large cost centers of the business.
Ward’s career is governed, not just by himself, but by what he calls a personal board of directors composed of a combination of peers, mentors, and sponsors he respects. “I use this board of directors as a sounding board, or kind of like bumpers in a bowling lane,” he said. “They help guide me whether they know it or not, to make sure that I’m being rational and very thoughtful and intentional about the things I’m thinking through in decision making for my career.”
“I think that ultimately the essence of being humble about decision making [is] realizing that rarely do you do things by yourself in this world, right?” he reflected. “You do need help from someone. And that help is better when it comes from someone that you trust and respect. And so for me, I feel like I’ve always taken an approach to decision making as being more of a village decision.”
“Approaching things with humility allows me to approach them without clouded judgment,” Ward went on. “It allows me to approach things with a clear mind and it allows me to keep things in perspective. If someone urges caution in a potential opportunity, or or challenges you to view things through a different lens, you have to approach your stance and your viewpoint humbly. Whether you are receiving feedback, especially constructive criticism, from mentors or from leadership, to learn and grow from these experiences, you have to receive that feedback with humility. And even more broadly, as you interact and approach people in your career, a humble perspective provides you the best opportunity to make genuine connections with any and every person that you will meet along your path.”
Myles Ward is a member of the Culverhouse Associate Board of Visitors.