There are two posts in the feed today as there were some issues with the server yesterday. If you get this via email subscription be sure to read down for yesterday’s post on self-acceptance. Today, five more career lessons learned from the trenches…real women the real deal!
1. Expose yourself to as much as you can in your twenties. Experiment with enough things in your young adulthood to know what your strengths are so you don’t get to your thirties still trying to figure it out. – 40-something, PR/promotions, Stamford, CT
2. Getting the job you want, and may not be “qualified for”, is about having balls, believing in yourself and proving it.
I got a giant job as a marketing director when I graduated college. I knew that I got it because I had the balls to go interview for it. I pushed hard to get it. And I took a pay cut from the person before me because I had no experience and I had no business getting the job but I felt good about that. I just felt like I could do it and I had to prove to them that I was qualified. It was determination. – 40-something, Marketing, Detroit, MI.
3. Don’t be afraid of being wrong. In our twenties, know that you are going to end up making mistakes, professionally, personally, romantically, sexually, everything. When it comes to being in the workplace in our twenties we forget that that’s okay to make mistakes. Taking advantage of your twenties in hindsight, even for myself looking back, would’ve been a lot easier if I felt more comfortable being wrong. That’s how you learn. – 40-something, entrepreneur, NYC
4. Don’t be intimated. Everybody is human. No matter how confident or important someone seems, they have flaws and they make mistakes. You grow up and you realize this. It’s the same as when you’re a kid and you see your parents and think they have everything figured out. Then you grow up and you get to know them and you realize no, they are human beings with flaws and insecurities. When you realize that you can cut through a lot of barriers. – 40-something, education, PhD, Los Angeles, CA
5. You don’t have to tell everybody at work everything. In my early 20s I told work everything. By age 28, 29, I said okay I say way too much. I now learned you can’t tell them everything. I’m really glad I made that decision. It can make you really vulnerable if your associates know what is going on. Keep some independence. – 40-something, sales, Cleveland, OH