Learning that careers are not as straightforward as they used to be and you don’t have to have your s*t together from day one. It’s ok to be unsure of what you want, your perfect career will find you if you let it.
My time as an intern at Eva Connections is sadly up, and even more sadly the time for the business is up as well. Due to the COVID-19 outbreaks that have ravaged the world for months, Eva Connections have had to permanently close their doors. However, working there as a communications and HR intern has taught me a lot.
When I first joined Eva Connections I believed that careers were usually quite straight lines, when you first manage to land a job (that many of us without a lot of experience know can be quite the obstacle) you stick to it for years and advance in the ranks within that firm. However, I soon learnt that my view of career development was an old outdated picture based on how things used to be, not how things are now. Careers aren’t straight lines, they are squiggly, wobbly little buggers that twist and turn. The average millennial spends less than 2 years in a new job before they switch, we explore who we are through different lines of work and get bored easily. But how do you manage a squiggly career? That’s what Eva Connections worked for, to help women manage their careers, develop professional skills through workshops and mentoring, and create a supportive community through networking.
So how do you make your own squiggly career take off? A good start is networking and mentoring. Working with Eva Connections made me realise how important these two things are for a career. Networking is a great way to meet new people, figure out what type of careers and different jobs that are out there. Helping you find something that suits your needs and wants. It also puts you in the position for others to find you for jobs you never even thought to pursue, but that might be your absolute dream job if you try it.
Mentoring is also a great step towards building a career, it can be an official mentor or casual. Admire someone for how they have managed to get to the position they are in? Or wondering how they got there? Ask them, send them a message and ask to pick their brain over coffee, you will be amazed at how many will say yes. Find someone to help guide you or to ask questions so that you might guide yourself in the right direction. Have a look at your life, you might already have a mentor without knowing it.
The moral of the story is, chill, you got this, it’s ok to be unsure of what you want with your life or your career, it is ok to try something and change your mind, you are not alone in this struggle. At the beginning of my internship at Eva Connections, I was insecure and unsure, I am still unsure of exactly where I want to go with my life, but I have gained confidence to believe in the process. And guess what, along the way I managed to build a network and find a mentor that has already managed to land me my next job at a different firm. My squiggly career journey has already started, get yours going too.