Career Tips For Young People / Millenials
Some useful bits of career tips for people just starting out, fresh college grads and others.
These tips are also meant for people in their 20s, when many, including this writer, have gone through an uncertain phase, not knowing what you are supposed to do. Most of time, things and goals take shape much after this 'quarter life crisis'.
1. Manage your online reputation
- Employers search the internet for background information about candidates. In a survey, 43% said they eliminated candidates based on this information.
- Employers check Facebook and Twitter as well.
- Do an 'Internet audit' of yourself: Search your name, and see what turns up. Search engines tend to rank your social media links higher up, if you don't have your own website, or link, which many have linked to.
- Do this 'internet audit' of your name on a regular basis.
- If you find any material that you think employers would disapprove of, On Facebook, email friends and family and ask them to remove photos, un-tag yourself. Teach your circle about privacy settings. People have more problems on Facebook when they are tagged in photos they weren't aware of/approve of.
- Even if you have no objectionable online content to push down search pages, build your personal brand (read the guide) by being a valuable online resource in your chosen area of interest.
- Try to have online links with your full name in them - For example, Twitter.com/mathewhart, mathewhart.com, etc.
2. Discover yourself first, before you discover a career.
- Please see the 'career planning' guide for useful ideas on how to find yourself and a career, in that order.
Two ways to do what you enjoy:
Choose something you already know you like.
Or, Choose something and learn to like it.
3. The best way to find yourself is to get moving.
Life after college is as good as you think it will be.
Life after college, is life after college. It is a new world but if you go in with your mind open (new opportunities, solutions) and heart insulated (setbacks), you will survive.
4. Don't look down on your older colleagues
'Observe the older people working there. They are the future you. Do not think that you will be substantially different.
Look carefully at how they spend their time at work and outside of work, because this is also almost certainly how your life will look.'
- Anonymous
The saying goes, the best answer to 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' is: older and wiser.
5. 'Having a degree' is not a guarantee of a 'good job'.
6. Few people get to make living doing something they love.
Try to find a low-stress job that doesn't consume your life, and do stuff you love on the side. The more exciting a career sounds, the more people want it and the more they can treat you like shit.
7. Keep your eyes open for lucky opportunities, don't sabotage yourself, and eventually things will fall into place.
8. Also, the more 'exciting' and glamorous the career is, the more time you're going to have to devote to working.
Those jobs don't end at 5 or 6pm.
9. The most difficult part is releasing yourself from the expectations of others.
As for your family, they shall have to deal with it.
10. #1 problem with youth: Choices.
Pick something, anything, and start doing it. Maybe you will like it and be good at it, may you won't. Move on. Keep trying new things.
Remember that life is LONG. You do not have to decide everything right now.
There will always be jobs.
Thing is: Can you adapt? Can you hold your pride and do anything? Can you skill up and kiss up to get into your favorite job?
11. Everyone is still winging it, however old they might be.
Just remember: people are only pretending to know what they're doing.
12. Ignore this motto from the movies, 'Live life! Have fun! Travel! Find yourself! Be carefree, you're still young!'
Just start living, doing things, and you can do all that in due course of time.
13. Get a spine. There will be setbacks. Don't take nothing personally. Learn and keep moving. Get a spine.
14. Look for careers that are not going away any time soon - healthcare, trades (plumbing, electrician, etc).
As long as you can 'make and mend' a lot of important stuff, you will do okay.
15. Ditch most of your high school and/or college friends. You won't even notice how involved you will become in your life in the coming years. Keep the interesting and close ones only.
16. The extreme inequality isn't going to end anytime soon. Try to help the unfortunates as much as you can.
17. Get out of the 'I'm special syndrome' asap: This makes you feel entitled and hugely misjudge your level of skills. Everyone that was ever born was special, boss. This attitude won't make you many fans in your new workplace, where they will find you to be a whiny upstart.
Only lazy, entitled, narcissist millenials are unprepared for the work environment, not everyone.
If you worked hard, worked on some skills, made some connections, and can communicate well, you will do well.
18. Get those “soft skills: You sort of know the hard skills (your major etc) in college. But also got to learn to work alongside people for the rest of your working life - communicating, influencing, writing, negotiating, etc.
19. Don't worry too much about making the 'right' decision. Just do your best, that's all you would think about this when you are older anyway, that you did your best.
20. Your twenties are not 'practice' years, they're your development years. (Meg Jay, 'The Defining Decade')
21. Network, but Network Wisely: No need to seem an ass-kisser. No need to be over eager to meet people, even willing to pay money to meet people. Start small- start with your peers, colleagues, graduation parties, even man on the street...and be friendly to the receptionists.
22. Living at home is not that bad: Perspective, people. You are not paying rent.
Get over it. Use the time to save some money, build some skills, some connection...
Thank you for reading.
This guide is from The Success Manual, which contains 200+ guides to succeeding in business, career and personal life. Get the pdf ebook for $12 only.