Thread for young people looking for “career” advice, which I get asked for a lot. Maybe I’d be more successful if I had been more calculating, but the word "career" didn’t even occur to me until I was about 45. But i've had a super fulfilling work life.
We are living in surreally capitalist times, where the Supreme Court says corporations are people and everywhere we look, human beings are touted as brands. But I can't bring myself to give young people advice on how to “market” themselves.
It's natural to be anxious when you get out of college with enormous debt and a lot of competition. I get it. But a more relevant questions at 16, 18, 20 years old is how to find yourself, not how to market yourself.
Being methodically careerist isn’t the only way to have a great professional life. Trying to plot out every step of one’s occupation as early as the beginning of college blocks people from trying things that don’t fit in that trajectory. If I had done this,
I’d be an English professor now. I love English and professors, but that role would not have been right for me.
My advice, esp if you want to work in social change, is to try different kinds of work to find something that 1. you’re good at 2. makes a difference and 3. you enjoy. See how you are 2/3 of that formula? That’s because social change requires every kind of work so whatever
you’re good at, there will be a role for you. While you’re testing things out, and especially at your first job, don’t trip so hard about next steps (opportunities for advancement, in HR speak) for at least 18 months.
Constantly thinking about the next thing disrupts your commitment to the current thing, and that tends to show. If you can’t stand your job, of course it’s best to move on. But if you’re just constantly looking for the next thing, employers will flag your commitment issues.
Really DO the job you’ve got – the professional version of “love the one you’re with.” Give yourself over to it. Get great at it. Develop skills. Make a track record. Build community with your coworkers.
That will make lots of other people want to hire you. Before you know it, you’ll have a great career.
It's entirely possible I'm just being an old grouch, and that things have changed so much since I got out of college that this is irrelevant.
But still, we don't need the corporatization of humanity to take all the joy and serendipity out of work.
I resist on behalf of young people who deserve to play around and find themselves just as I did.
