Gain Experience Outside Of Your Area Of Work
Typically, a 30-something professional has a much wider range of experience than a 20-something. While there have been instances where individuals have continued their first jobs for decades at a time, you should gather as much experience as you can, in areas beyond your line of work. This will only strengthen your credibility.
Establish Productive Daily Habits
It might take some patience to reach your long-term goals, but setting a daily routine that brings you closer to them could help you stay on your intended path. Some people take a job outside their field early in their career while they look for an opportunity that’s more aligned with their goals. Making time to strengthen the skills that are most important to you could improve your chances of succeeding in your chosen field.
Many people find that setting healthy lifestyle habits has a positive impact on their career, too. Habits like waking up early, getting at least eight hours of sleep, exercising regularly and journaling could help you control your stress levels and focus better at work. Reflect on the career you want to have in ten years, and find small ways you can pursue it each day.
Related:51 Habits of Highly Successful People and Why They Work
Look For Work Opportunities
Once youve narrowed your list of potential careers down to those that really interest you, look for opportunities to work in those fields. You can take internships, work part-time or volunteer at local charities.
For example, if you want to go into IT, you might not be able to get an internship in the IT department of a large corporation. However, if you have basic coding skills or graphic design experience, you might be able to help out a local animal shelter or youth sports league.
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Get The Gratitude Bug Early
I realize I sound ancient saying this , but people remember gratitude in a way that outperforms other emotions or motivators. Take the time to thank people who interviewed you, people who made time to share what they know with you, and people whose influence helped you succeed. Be gracious in your praise of others and your kindness toward people who help you: People notice and remember this for years to come.
It used to be that signing on with a new company meant years of your life, but now that people switch jobs every few years, managing your career has become both more important and more challenging. Options seem infinite, grad school seems necessary, and far too early you start comparing your career trajectory to that of others, worried that you’re being left behind or left out. Instead of overthinking your next job, your next decision, or your next networking event, focus on being remarkable at your job, tackling your weaknesses head-on, and being someone who isn’t afraid to take on tasks that other people find terrifying. The rest of it will work itself out, I promise.
What other advice would you give to someone starting out in their career? Let us know in the comments.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2014 and has been updated to reflect even more great advice as of October 2015.
Career Advice Tips For Teens #: Use Your Network To Get You Work Experience
When you are in your teens you might think you have no network. You do! Friends of the family, Aunts/Uncles, people in sports clubs, contacts of your teachers, parents or your friends, etc.
Lets say you are 19 and want to get some work experience in a solicitors office. The chances are your parents, family, teachers will know someone who works as a solicitor and can arrange for you to come in for a week or two.
Even if its just for one or two weeks it will really open your eyes.
A friend of mine interviewed in my book, had never set foot in a solicitors office until after she qualified as a solicitor.
10 years on she hates her job and now realises how foolish she was not doing any work experience.
All the 100 interviewees in the book cannot emphasise how beneficial work experience is.
You may not want to go work in an office for a week in your teens.
However, you will get paid very well compared to stacking shelves or working in a bar/restaurant, and it will put you streets ahead of your peers.
Bonus: Want to finally start getting paid what youre worth? Download myFREE 11 Career Hacks Cheat Sheet
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Practical Intelligence Is A Much Higher Predictor Of Success Than Iqwork On It
A decent IQ is a prerequisite for any good job, but its repeatedly been shown to not be a great indicator of success. In fact, research suggests once you have a moderately high IQ , this is sufficient for pretty much most jobs in the world. A much more reliable indicator of someones success than IQ is their creative and practical intelligence. Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, describes this as, not knowledge for its own sake. Its knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want. A high IQ enables you to apply yourself very well to a given task, which is good but isnt going to set you apart. To be successful in the world you have to create tasks, and figure out which tasks you should apply yourself to in the first place.
Have you got any hot tips for young players? Have you ever been given professional advice that worked really well for you? Let us know in the comments below.
Work Abroad If You Get The Chance
Speaking from experience, I have to say employers like it a lot when they see you have spent some time abroad. After working in Scotland for a year, in every interview I had back home I would get asked TONS of questions about my experience. Working abroad benefits your CV immensely because it not only shows personal growth and your ability to appreciate a new culture, it also gives you the possibility to stand out from other candidates in interviews!
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Rick Goings: Be Nice To Everyone
Rick Goings, CEO of Tupperware Brands, which brought in $2.6 billion in revenue last year, for young people with Business Insider. One of them was be nice to everyone when you go on a job interview.
“I like to check with the driver, our receptionist, and my assistants on how the candidate interacted with them. How you treat others means the world!”
–This story first appeared on Business Insider.
Experience Work In Another Country
Now this can be quite challenging especially if youre living life on the ol Green Mumbo aka a South African passport. But if you look hard enough and do your due diligence you can always find a way to work abroad. When you work abroad, your mind will be opened and exposed to different work ethics, values and different cultures. It really does change your perspective on life and career.
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Get Promoted Quicker By Hustling At Your Job
Your lifetime earnings are decided in the first decade of your career. When you are a young professional you must make the first 10 years of your career count. Create a plan to double, triple or even quadruple your salary. Does that seem out of reach right now? Maybe, but you need to think big and set high goals. Youll get farther setting high goals for yourself than if you set really achievable goals.
Career Advice Tips For Teens 13 Practical Tips To Help You Figure It All Out
A lot of the career advice tips for teens on the internet revolves around values, interests, and skills.
When I was a teenager, I had no idea of what values were!
I was interested in golf and could list my skills as good at golf and not much else really!
Even when you are in your 20s and 30s, I think the above questions dont magically conjure up your ideal career.
The below are the practical career advice tips for teens that might be more beneficial than the generic stuff on the internet.
- Make a list of the companies/organisations you would like to work for
- Try to be open minded and question everything
- Dont think in terms of careers, think in terms of skills
- Use your network to get you experience
- Do as many different summer jobs as you can
- Pay for a session with a careers professional
- Do a personality test
- Dont think you know about a job/career until you have talked to someone who works in that area
- Ask people for advice, the more successful the better
- Read as much as you can
- Join a sports team/club/group
- Spend time with people a few years older than you
- Dont just do something because your friends are doing it
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Suze Orman: With Success Comes Unhelpful Criticism
In a LinkedIn article about the best advice she ever received, motivational speaker, author, and CNBC host Suze Orman wrote that success has often made her a target of nasty criticism “entirely disconnected from facts.” At first these attacks made her angry, but she eventually learned to ignore them.
“A wise teacher from India shared this insight: The elephant keeps walking as the dogs keep barking,” she wrote.
“The sad fact is that we all have to navigate our way around the dogs in our career: external critics, competitors, horrible bosses, or colleagues who undermine. Based on my experience, I would advise you to prepare for the yapping to increase along with your success.”
Learn To Accept All Types Of Feedback
When you’re early in your career, it’s essential that you can process and implement feedback from supervisors. There are many opportunities to get constructive criticism that can improve your process and product like evaluations, one-on-one meetings and project notes. A willingness to reflect on feedback and demonstrate improvement may help you earn the trust of teammates and managers.
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Don’t Be Afraid To Speak Up
Meetings are meant for employees to share their thoughts and ideas on important topics that affect the business. If you have an idea or if you have a reason to believe an idea shouldn’t be implemented, then you should mention it in a professional way with accurate data to back up your claims. You may also request a face-to-face meeting with a supervisor if you need to discuss a sensitive matter or ask for advice. When you participate and speak up, employers will notice that you care about your job and take it seriously.
Understand What Your Weaknesses Are
While its always beneficial to determine what youre efficient at, you must also try and figure out from early on about the things youre not so great at. Not only can you make yourself more marketable, but this is necessary to help you understand how you can make the best use of your skill sets. Then you can figure out who should you work with to complement the skills and brings the best results to the table.
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Ask Thoughtful Questions For Guidance
In most organizations, more experienced professionals expect junior team members to have questions. If you’re facing a new task and are unsure of the best path forward, asking for clarity or guidance can lead to a more favorable outcome. Asking targeted, thoughtful questions might show your supervisors that you’re committed to growth and want to complete your work correctly the first time.
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Learn From People You Admire
Consider finding someone who has a career you’d enjoy and learn how they reached their current status. Learning what opportunities successful people pursued early in their careers can help you set short-term goals. You could identify someone in your network and ask to meet with them informally to ask questions. Alternately, you might research a public figure who’s discussed their career in interviews, on podcasts or on social media to learn what advice they can offer.
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Stewart Butterfield: Have An ‘experimental Attitude’
Stewart Butterfield, the cofounder of Flickr and chief executive of Slack, one of the fastest-growing business apps of all time, recently shared his best advice for young people with Adam Bryant of The New York Times:
“Some people will know exactly what they want to do at a very young age, but the odds are low,” he said. “I feel like people in their early- to mid-20s are very earnest. They’re very serious, and they want to feel like they’ve accomplished a lot at a very young age rather than just trying to figure stuff out. So I try to push them toward a more experimental attitude.”
Dont Wait To Be Motivated Motivate Yourself
This is probably one of the most valuable tips for young professionals I can give you. Have you heard of the quote If you start when youre ready, you will be waiting for the rest of your life? This quote is basically saying that you shouldnt wait to be motivated to start, but rather seek motivation because it only comes within oneself. Our goal should be to be driven by intrinsic motivation and take opportunities to learn and to feel good with ourselves rather than to gain external rewards like money, prices or praises from your boss.
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Lean In To Your Weaknesses
At any part of your career, you need to learn new things — and for that to be relatively painless later in your career, you need to build that habit now.
So instead of running away from things youre not good at, lean into them.
Great writer but not very technical? Learning even a little bit of code or the ins-and-outs of Photoshop will help you significantly.
Fantastic at detail but have trouble seeing the big picture? Ask one of your peers who is great at project management how she juggles priorities.
Its very easy to fall back on your natural talents or training, but youll be well served if you invest the time and effort to push yourself on your greatest areas of weakness early and often in your career.
Choose The Right A Levels And Degree
At 13 or 14 you are still a little too young to be thinking about careers advice. Just enjoy your time at school and figure out your strongest areas of interest and what you are good at. But at 15 you have to start thinking about A level choices with a view to what degree to do after that and what career is right for you in the future. We use in-depth psychometric tests to help you align your A-Levels, degree and career path, so that every education decision you make, leads you to discover the right career for you.
After you complete your psychometric tests online, your personal careers advisor will talk you through which career suits you and which academic choices will help you get there.
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Maya Angelou: Make Your Own Path
In her book The Best Advice I Ever Got, Katie Couric quotes author, poet, dancer, actress, and singer Maya Angelou:
“My paternal grandmother, Mrs. Annie Henderson, gave me advice that I have used for 65 years. She said, ‘If the world puts you on a road you do not like, if you look ahead and do not want that destination which is being offered and you look behind and you do not want to return to you place of departure, step off the road. Build yourself a new path.'”
Volunteer To Head Or Supervise A Project
While this isnt essential and not necessarily applicable in every instance, it would be helpful for you to have an opportunity to supervise a campaign or a project by the time youre on the verge of stepping into the 30s, as it will propel your professional and personal growth in the correct direction. This is smart career advice for young professionals, as this is building management and leadership experience which will allow you to achieve a greater position in the near future.
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Career Advice For Young Adults
by Duane Gafoor | Mar 9, 2020 | Uncategorized
When children are in their early stages of life they may have no real ideas about what they want to do. As they get older they may gravitate more towards the career choices of their parents and other family members.
Sense Of Direction
It is good to have a sense ofdirection when it comes to a career path. Teenagers often find themselves searching for this, and a career fair may be one of the best ways that they can get familiar with different types of jobs. This is something that can provide a child with a road map to what people do in different types of job settings.
The great thing about going to a career dayevent is that there are professionals that are already doing the job. This means that they have the advice about what it takes to become successful in a certain industry.
Start Early
Some teenagers assume that they have a lot of time to consider what they want to do for their career. Those that are planning career paths that require college or graduate-level degrees should start early. If they know the path they want to take it becomes easier to find out about the course load. They can start taking theclasses that will prep them for the career they want to have.
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