Just as you graduate and think that life will get easier, you realize that it’s time for you to start making decisions! The first and most important choice to make is that for your professional life. What industry do I want to go into? What role? And where do I see myself five years from now?
Being someone who worked in robotics, taught at a school, and also held a sales job for a few months; I got to a point in which I knew exactly what and where I wanted to be next. Here are a few personal lessons that helped me get there, and stay.
Set clear goals, lets call them personal OKRs!
You have to know where you’re going to be able to get there. I made sure to set clear, attainable, and measurable OKRs (objectives and key results) for a few quarters in advance. I didn’t just set them, I also worked to get myself to achieve them. I knew I wanted to work for a company that values open source technology and promotes personal growth. Finding a workplace that establishes personal, departmental, and company OKR’s was definitely high on the list.
Leverage everything!
Stalk industry leaders, companies on Linkedin and social media platforms. Publish educational and valuable content to SlideShare, YouTube, blogs, and other content sharing platforms. Call your friends, family members, and acquaintances (don’t be shy) who work in the industry and ask for recommendations. Create CVs on job directories, perfect your interview skills and do absolutely what is needed to get that job that you want.
Focus and avoid distractions
Tunnel vision is not so bad; if you’re looking in the right direction. As you’re perusing your goal, you’ll come across distractions in the form of freelance work, jobs that pay better but have no future, or life related hurdles. Avoid all of those and keep your eyes on the prize. Don’t take a job to just get by unless you absolutely have to. You might get stuck doing something you don’t enjoy.
Learn, and keep learning!
Never stop learning. The minute you do so is the minute you stop moving ahead in your career path. Be grateful for co-workers who drop workloads on you; smile, thank them, and leave them in the dust as you work harder and move forward. Just make sure you’re learning skills that will benefit you in achieving your OKRs and don’t underestimate how much you can work from small tasks.
Listen and admit when you’re wrong
Listen more than you talk, understand what your colleagues are telling you, take the advice of people who know better, and observe what your peers are doing and why! Then look back at your strategy and apply the necessary changes you need to do to move faster. Another invaluable tip is to not let the choices of the past dictate your future choices. Learn to admit the faulty decision you took in the past and fix them to move ahead.
I have a few other lessons on mind, but those I’ll reserve for a future blog post. Do let us know what career path are you on? And whether you want to be there, if not, maybe you’d find something of more interest to you over at our careers page.