7 pieces of career advice for millennials

Smart career choices early in your career, are tremendously significant because you can then set yourself up for success later on.

Even though you might end up in a completely different vocation, the skills you acquire and the people you meet are what will open the doors for you. As compiled from Forbes magazine and New York Times bestselling book, Promote Yourself, the following are mandates that all millennials should follow to carve a bright future.

Be a life-long learner

The most optimistic and brainy way to picture your career isn’t how long you stay with one employer or how much you focus on what you specialised in at college. You need to assemble experiences throughout your careers, whether that be with five employers or ten, with one establishment or five or in one country or three. “The idea is that you need to be a lifelong learner if you want to make an impact, succeed and feel accomplished,” says Dan Schawbel, Partner and Research Director at Future Workplace, an executive development firm. The experiences give you innovative perspectives and make you a more intriguing person.



Enjoy your work

A lot of people — be it family members, relatives and friends tend to push fresh college graduates to just get a job and take on responsibility to pay the bills — honestly, that isn’t the greatest advice. Research indicates that you won’t last long at a place that’s nothing more to you than a source of income. Additionally, no great company is going to keep someone who is only there to reap financial benefits because there’s always someone else who wants it more. “When you’re passionate about your job, you’re excited, you work longer hours and end up accomplishing much more,” adds Schawbel. Life is too short to settle for a career that you dislike.

Make a memorable impact immediately

The quicker you make an impression the more attention and backing you will receive. Millennials understand this well because they won’t want to wait five years to get a project where they can make this type of an impact — and in this age, we want to move forward at lightning speed. Starting your first week, you have to learn as much as possible and start mastering your job so you can latch on to the superior projects faster and prove your potential.



Don’t play it safe

One of the imperative lessons today’s economy has taught us is that not taking risks is risky. “There is so much out of our control and if we just keep doing what we did yesterday, we can’t get ahead,” shares Schawbel. By taking a risk, you are putting yourself in a position to learn, whether you succeed or fail. You’re also demonstrating to your organisation that you’re willing to put your reputation on the line to make things happen. “As we become an ever more entrepreneurial society, those that take risks, both inside and outside of the corporate walls, will become more successful. Be brave. The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake,” advises Meg Whitman, the CEO of HP.

Engage with your coworkers

Somehow, we are now designed to be plugged in and don’t realize that the strongest relationships are formed in person, not online. We often come across individuals looking down at their iPhones instead of at people’s faces and trust me, it’s a missed opportunity. Soft skills will always become more cherished in companies so it’s important to drop your technology and actually communicate with people. People hire you, not technology and you have to remember that. Also, a lot of people avoid communication with co-workers or team members because they’re too egotistical for their own good — this could be catastrophic for your career. “Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. You should never be the smartest person in the room. Worry if you are,” shares Jessica Alba, actor and Founder & Chief Creative Officer of The Honest Co.



Leadership is all about adaptability

Darwin said those who survive are neither the strongest nor the most intelligent; it’s those that can adapt to change — “I wish I had thought about that when I was younger because it always seemed to me that you had to be the brightest or the strongest,” shares Anne Finucane, Vice Chairman and Global Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer of Bank of America. She adds, “There’s something to be said for adapting to change. That doesn’t mean abandoning your values, but it does mean recognising that the environment has changed and being at peace with that.” Also, embed in your mind: a good leader is a good listener.

It’s all going to be okay

It’s completely natural to feel overwhelmed with a new job or a new project at hand — just don’t let the negativity get to you and keep pushing through. It’s disheartening to imagine how countless people have lost their dream jobs at the hands of pessimism and the inability to pull themselves back together after a mishap. “I would tell myself to relax, that everything works out the way it’s supposed to. If you look back on your life at the things that you stressed out, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t get that job, I lost that job,’ quite often in the end when one door closes, another one opens,” recounts Gayle King, Editor-at-Large of O, The Oprah Magazine and co-host on the CBS This Morning. She elaborates, “Everything, even though you don’t believe it at the time, works out the way it’s supposed to — the good and the bad.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2015.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.