Happy Spring Semester!
This blog post is written with high school seniors in mind, but is a nice refresher for us to remember to stay youthful in mindset, and excited in what lies ahead of us.
Seniors:
Now that you are done with college applications, virtually ready to make some major choices on schools, or working on other personal goals after high school, this is prime time to work on your professional development, which will benefit you the rest of your life.
You are entering adulthood, so it is crucial to work on your personal brand. Your professional skills are fundamental for future connections, opportunities, and strategic steps to fulfilling your career goals.
Time and time again, I notice college graduates wishing they invested more time in their professional development, wondering why they can’t find a job quicker or realizing what they studied was not entirely something they want to continue pursuing. Of course, there are reasons as to why some subjects or majors don’t seem like the cookie cutter way into a job, but as someone who built her own major (out of about 4 departments), it is possible to reach your goals in diverse ways.
Below are some hacks into your early stages of professionalism:
Hack #1 : Enjoy the ride, although it may be scary at times.
Have you ever ridden a big roller coaster, where you go up up up up, and the car stops: you are facing the downhill and twirls around you. You. Are. Ready. But you’re also scared.
You drop.
Screams and shouts and laughter in between, you are loving the roller coaster!
You get off, high five your friends, and go back do it all over again!
The thrill that comes with the roller coaster may not be something you want to feel every second, but you enjoy it nonetheless.
Many future stages in your life will be that way, you will experience many things and feel many emotions things, some you’ll want to live again and others you won’t. Yet, what matters is embracing every stage of the ride.
Hack #2 : Have intent in everything you do.
Don’t wait until you need a job to start working on experience. The easiest way to grow your work experience is by volunteering for a cause you believe in. If you don’t like it, be mindful of what you would like to learn more about instead. Curiosity is key!
Disclaimer: not everything you do out of love may be something to put in as work experience, but it can lead you to learn skills that you can use in other work experience.
Hack #3 In order to love what you do, you must first discover it or let it discover you.
You have one life, you might as well explore and be your best self, in your terms!
How do successful people make doing what they love look so easy?
Ask your mentors and role models what keeps them going. Maybe some of your role models are not alive, or live nearby, or are probably famous and hard to contact. Therefore, in order to get into their thoughts, listen to interviews and read their books. When do their eyes sparkle when they talk about what they do?
Then ask yourself every day, when do your eyes sparkle when talking about something you do or did?
Life lesson bonus: Look for everything that causes a sparkle in your eye.
Hack #4: Be humble. Be open to learning.
Many of you just finished personal statements and know your bragging rights like the back of your hand. We don’t blame you, you just spent months working on how to sell yourself to open some of the biggest opportunities of your lifetime!
Alongside being aware of how talented, smart, and kind you are, be humble enough to know you are very early in your professional journey. Be humble, and always be open to learning, for there is always something to learn from everyone, no matter their status.
Learning does not require a notebook and pen at all times, but challenge yourself to connect what you learn to real-life situations to retain more information.
Life lesson bonus: When you listen and connect to existing knowledge, you develop a connection to the person, and understanding of the world around you increases. This results in compassion, tolerance, and kindness.
Hack #5: Create and maintain a resume.
No matter the structure, no matter the connection, a resume is a hack into knowing your story.
You are developing your story as you go, but as you move up, opportunities arise where you will need a resume to showcase your work in as little time as possible.
Start with a simple template, the simpler the better, and write what you accomplished, not what was expected of you in each job position. As you join more endeavors and achieve more feats, be sure to update them.
Hack #6 Network: be someone people want to meet.
This will take some time, as you are starting your journey. This hack ties in with being humble and being open to learn, as you never know how you can help others as well.
You cannot add networking in a resume, but it what will get you the furthest in your life. Time and time again statistics show that knowing people will help you understand what is out there for you to explore, apply to, or accomplish. Be mindful of not being an opportunist, give back, and give to people who may not be able to offer.
All in all, the hacks demonstrate self-awareness, humility, and overall, kindness. No matter the career path you take, these 6 hacks are crucial to anything you accomplish. When more people in the world practice kindness in their journey, the more we influence the rest of the world to follow their truest selves.
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