As we hit the graduation season, it's time for a re-post of my advice for new graduates finding their way into the work force.
In my work, I help people find passion in their careers. Typically my clients are making a mid-career change after realizing they're not on the right path.
At a time of year when new graduates are up to their eyeballs in what-do-I-do-now, I have some advice for them to help ensure that they never need someone like me.
What is it? "Don't worry about making the 'right' choice as you launch into your career - because you probably won't."
You can imagine that raises some eyebrows. Of course there's more to it (read on for that). I just like to say that because it gets people's attention.
The reality is, most recent students entering the work force simply haven't had the real world experience to be able to accurately say, "This is the career I want for the next twenty years." I was no different. Thinking back on my days as a new graduate, I shake my head at what I thought I wanted out of my career.
I see it in my clients all the time. I find that people don't start coming to see me until their early thirties (and often older, of course). I call the first ten years out of college the incubation period.
Coming out of college they have this rose-colored, sexy view of what they think they want to do (or what they "should" do), and it takes a few years of real world work experience for them to really start to clue into the fact that "somethin' ain't right here," and, more importantly, "Something needs to change."
So, on to the rest of my advice...
It's really unlikely that your career is going to follow a straight shot trajectory based on the step you take right now. So don't stress about that step as defining your career, because it's almost guaranteed that it won't.
Rather than trying to make the "right" choice right now to launch you into a career for the next twenty or thirty years, look at the next five years as a big R&D project. Spend the time to really get to know what lights you up. Find out where you really feel energized.
Pick a direction that appeals to you, and then treat your life as a big lab experiment. Along the way, keep asking yourself, "What do I love about this? Why? What is it about that that's so fun? What drives me nuts about this? Why? What is it about that that rubs me the wrong way?"
Spend the first years of your career really figuring out what makes you tick.
The fact is, success is going to come a lot more easily for you if you are on fire about what you're doing. So spending the time to really understand what that is can be one of the best career investments you can make.
And investing in that kind of awareness (and committing to basing your decisions on what you discover) will ensure that you never have to come see somebody like me and say, "This path is SOOO wrong. I need to change, but I don't know to what, or how."
You'll be too busy loving your life.
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Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams
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by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst
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