 
Guest Blog by Scott Johnson, Regional Bank President for Wells Fargo Bank for Iowa and Illinois, and Tony Dickinson, Vice President and Marketing Manager for Wells Fargo Bank for Iowa and Illinois.
“Leadership without the title -- becoming a leader before your title reflects it.”
Often young professionals approach us and ask a similar question, “I want to be a leader, I want to lead people, but I can’t seem to get that manager position without any prior management experience, what can I do?”
Well, you don’t have to have the title of manager to be a leader and here are a few tips to get you started:
- If you’re still attending school, lead a project, club or organization on campus or in the classroom. It’s important to have as many tangible experiences as possible to articulate during an interview. Quantify the results and help the interviewer picture your success. For example, lead a computer literacy class for senior citizens. Demonstrate that you organized a team of 10 students and together developed and taught a computer literacy curriculum for 50 senior citizens at various senior centers throughout the city. Pre and post test showed an increase in education by 40%!
- Volunteer at a non-profit and serve as the chair of a committee. For example, serve as the volunteer chair for the annual fundraiser. Show that you coordinated 50 volunteers for an event that had 500 attendees and raised $10,000.
- Be a mentor. Volunteer as a Big Brother or Big Sister, mentor local students in need at a nearby school or teach religious education at your church. Demonstrate that you’re active outside of work or the classroom and that you understand the power of coaching, teaching and giving back.
These are a few thoughts to get you going. We welcome your thoughts, questions and comments and we’re looking forward to hearing from you soon!
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