Essential Advice Millennials Must Apply to Nourish Their Ambitious Career Goals
People born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s are the generation often referenced in mainstream media when it comes to the ups and downs of business, finance, and consumer culture. This demographic—often referred to as millennials—have the advantage of growing up during a time when pop culture and technology was on the cusp of evolving into the highly digitized society that we now live and breathe in today.
Another thing that millennials are known for is their high degree of idealism, particularly when it comes to their career goals. Many millennials possess this incredible drive to become successful individuals, however, they can’t seem to translate their desires of excellence into tangible achievements. This largely boils down to the negative traits that millennials sometimes exhibit, such as the lack of pragmatism and a sense of entitlement.
If you’re a millennial who constantly dreams big and wants those fantasies to become a reality you can be proud of, then you need to take a step back and look at the big picture. Despite all of the unfair criticisms people from your generation often get from mainstream media, this doesn’t take away from the fact that you can make positive things happen. Take a look at the advice below to discover how you can achieve all of your ambitious goals.
Learn from your experiences
One of the most common setbacks millennials often encounter in the course of their careers is the fact that they have difficulties getting hired, particularly if they have no previous job experiences. Instead of treating such rejections as failures, think of them as positive teachable moments that will help you understand why a certain company won’t hire you and what you need to do in order to be more marketable to recruiters.
However, this doesn’t mean that you have to change who you really are just to get a job. You have to accept the fact that you can’t please everyone, and that it’s better for you to maintain your individuality and integrity. For every company that won’t take you in as an employee, there’s bound to be a business out there that will be more than happy to hire you as part of their team. Just be persistent and look for the silver lining in every downside.
Follow your true passions
One of the worst pieces of advice that millennials often hear from older generations is that they should just settle for a job that allows them to pay their bills. When this happens, millennials have a strong tendency to quit that job they never wanted after only doing it for a short period of time. If you’re thinking about career longevity, you need to follow your heart and pursue jobs that you love to do, irrespective of the salary you’ll be receiving.
You must change your mindset because you’re not going to be able to last long in any job if you don’t love the kind of work you’re doing on a daily basis. When you’re making a career out of something that you’re deeply passionate about, then you’ll grow significantly as a working professional and find better opportunities as time goes by. After all, there’s a famous saying which states that if you find a job you love, then you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
Don’t be afraid to take risks
If you’re not going to be proactive about where you want your career to go, then chances are you won’t be able to achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. If you want your lofty ideals to be fully fleshed out, then you must gather the courage and take a leap of faith by doing some risks. Naturally, you don’t want to spend the rest of your life wondering what could have been if you were only brave enough to seize the moment when it showed up.
The willingness to explore possibilities outside of your comfort zone is something that you should embody, because companies are more likely to hire individuals who are bold enough to make out-of-the-box choices that no one would think to ever do. Regardless of whether or not those risks paid off, what matters is that you should be more of a risk-taker rather than one who is cautious because success isn’t going to come your way unless you take it for yourself.
Be active with networking
Millennials are notorious for being very active on social media, so you must use this to your advantage, especially if you’re trying to build a professional network of individuals who could potentially help you grow with your career. But beyond wielding the power of social media at your fingertips, nothing can ever beat the potency of having to establish connections with people in the flesh, which is way better than indirect interactions online.
Building meaningful relationships with others on a personal level goes beyond exchanging instant messages or lengthy emails. You have to connect with them face to face so you’ll get to know them better by picking up essential cues like body language and personality quirks. Physical networking is also encouraged since millennials are highly sociable and are open to meeting different people who could challenge them in the best ways possible.
Take advantage of traveling
Now that so many businesses are open to collaborating with each other on a global scale, you’ll have a stronger chance of getting the best offers possible if you are able to travel frequently to different places. Exposing yourself to a different environment and discovering a new culture allows you to expand your worldview and be more aware of your place in this world. Furthermore, traveling also makes for great job interview conversation.
Best of all, the experience of traveling gives you the freedom to do the things you’ve always wanted to do that could help you gain several steps up the career ladder. A good example of learning something valuable during your travels is mastering one or more foreign languages. When you are able to place this information on your resume, recruiters are likely to tag you as a desirable candidate because you possess a skill that no one else has.
