Will you read this? Probably not.
Nobody will read this. Bravo to you. You’ve made it to the third sentence! I was comfortably watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms when I chose to write this. You see, it’s the first episode. I love Game of Thrones and all things medieval and fantasy. The pull to write this was too great.
So what is this about? It’s my advice to James. Who is James? James is my old student. I started teaching him English when he was 14. He’s 21 now. He is halfway through university in Australia. I’m 48 and I think the advice I gave him was pretty good.
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Spend your time at university wisely — Talk with your professors often. Have long conversations with them. Talk with them about what you should be doing now to prepare for your life after university. Get advice from your classmates too. Use the time that you have with the title of “university student” to your advantage. Once you’re not a student, real life will roundhouse kick you in the face so don’t squander it.
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Don’t rely only on your career counselors — They are just barely doing enough work to keep their jobs. Do they truly care about you? Maybe. But probably not. Who cares about you? You. You care about yourself. Care about yourself enough to invest in yourself. Wake up each day with a goal. Push yourself to learn new things and increase your current skills. Go to bed at night knowing that you’re a little bit better than the day before.
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Go to A LOT OF networking events — Ask questions when you meet people and be a good listener. People love talking about themselves. Make a personal calling card with a QR that has your LinkedIn. Make a goal of getting cards from 10 people when you go to an event (and 20 at the next event). Make an elevator pitch for yourself. You should be able to describe who you are and what you’re looking for in a couple of sentences. Anything longer and people will lose interest. You’ll be talking to someone and they’ll be looking at you. But they’re actually thinking about what they’re going to eat for dinner and not you (or how to help you). If someone has your calling card, you never know what door it could open for you. You want to find the “pay it forward” people. The people in the industry you want to get in to who want to help someone who is just starting out.
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Give companies what they want — Employers want people who are intelligent and good communicators. Someone who can solve problems quickly and can work on a team. You also need to be a good learner. Someone who is trainable and can pick up new tools and use them effectively. I know these sound boring and they are. But they’re the facts. These soft-skills will help you no matter what industry you’re in.
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Build your portfolio — Make a one-page website for yourself. Make it stand out. Put your blood, sweat and tears in your portfolio. After someone sees it, their mouth should be on the floor. They should be calling you ASAP. You should show potential employers what you can do. Find someone who can teach you a lot of useful things (AKA a mentor) now.
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Find your happy place — If you have the ability to work from anywhere, then do it. When you’re young and don’t have anyone relying on you, the world is your oyster. Your laptop and you can be in Dubai or Berlin or wherever. If you can, you should spend your young years in another country that’s not your home country. You have the flexibility and the energy to do it now. I wish I did more when I was in my 20s and 30s. When you’re older with a family and real adult responsibilities, you won’t have the chance to be young and carefree.
Finally, be insanely curious about your craft and your industry. Learn as much as you can about it. Who are the major players, who are the up and coming superstars, where is the industry going. Talk with people who are in the industry now. Get their REAL LIFE advice. Ask them to have a 15 minute video chat. Prepare high quality questions. Learn as much as you can about the person (and the company they work for) you’re going to meet with.
As Mae West said, “you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough”.
Ok, now I’m going back to watching my show.