Someone's Hindsight Can be Your Foresight
This post is part of a blog series on Brazen Careerist being sponsored by JobSTART101. They asked Brazen members to answer the question: What do I wish I knew before I started working? Here's my response ...
I wrote this post, "Things I Wish I Had known" in January of 2010 as one of my first posts on The Social Chameleons. I'd like to think that I've come a long way since not only writing this post, but since graduating college. Below is a portion of the original post, but I'll add a few more fresh takes at the bottom.
"There were a few of these "What I wish I had known when starting my career" posts floating around twitter, and some of them were helpful, some of them had stuff everyone always says. It got me thinking about what were things I wish I had known at any point. This is what I've come up with in general and in no particular order.
I wish I had known:
- where I wanted to live after graduating from college. No one ever says that to you while you're looking for schools and that connections will be very important.
- that entry level jobs after college probably won't pay you as much as you paid for yearly tuition at a University. For me Syracuse University at the time was costing about $35,000 a year to attend (now its up around $50,000), and I most definitely did not make that my first year out of college.
- that I can travel the world and get paid for it at an earlier age. People make it seem like the world is a really hard place to get out into, and it really isn't. With today's technology you are now more connected than ever before by using Facebook and Skype. And once you're out of America the world is actually much smaller than you'd think. Getting around is easier, people are generally friendlier, and the opportunities are endless. If you're working vs. traveling it's a great way to spend your 20s and avoiding the rat race of home.
- that I'd need a specific skill. The jobs I've held have been amazing, and I now have a wide range of useful skills, but to actually sit down and say that I know Sales, or Marketing, or teaching really well would have come in handy years ago. I've had to learn everything on the fly because I didn't focus enough on academics when I had the chance.
- how to do HTML at an earlier age. The amount of jobs out there today related to computers, computer science, software design, and more is insane. Always time to learn I suppose, but at most it could be now is a hobby. "
In the 11 months since this post was written I've come up with a few things in addition when thinking about what I wish I had known about the real world before I started working.
- That at the age of 21, I might not be taken seriously by the older workers in the company. You have to work extra hard to seem professional and shake off age stereotypes that are given to you.
- That it might take me a few industries (not just jobs) to figure out what I'm good at, and that's ok.
- That even the simplest of connections I made in college - whether it was from classes, study groups, activities, or jobs - the people you come in contact with will resurface time and time again, and your weakest connections may be your biggest opportunities. Don't burn any bridges.
What things would you add to this list? Or if you're still in college, what are some things you'll do differently?