Some Career Advice

A while ago, I signed up to Reddit (hoping I would somehow figure out how to use it for the business) and while I have not been as active on there, I wanted to share some career advice I gave someone, in case that helps anyone reading this here on the Internet randomly. The original poster was looking for advice related to their own situation here:

i need some career advice byu/CalligrapherKey3127 inPublicPolicy

Specifically, this college student is majoring in economics and was in their second year at the time of the post, but they were struggling with feeling like "absolutely nothing that we are taught in college that makes us employable". Here was my advice (copied and pasted - first response is here): I studied urban planning for my bachelors and then went on to do adult education and community development for my masters (though my bachelors was probably more employable to be honest). What I want you to remember is that your education IS worthy, and that what you do with it will be more helpful. Are there courses you can take as part of your degree that will give you skills and/or hone your skills further? I'm thinking these but you can definitely add to this: - research methods - statistics - anything related to communication (especially business communication) like report writing or presentation skills

I became interested in a career in research (which led to my career in public policy eventually) but my bachelors didn't have as much room for it for more courses beyond the two research courses and later doing a thesis in my last semester (I was in third year when this happened). When I asked a professor (feel free to email a prof you respect for their opinion!), he suggested I could volunteer with the local Social Planning Council. I did for a semester and honestly, it helped put into perspective how much I could help them with what I did know and what I could do. I'm definitely sure there's an organisation that you can approach that would benefit from all the great things you're learning! I'd be shocked if one of these organisation types wouldn't be interested in your skills / knowledge / perspective given what you're studying (I'm obviously only going from my perspective): - think tanks - research organisations - social planning councils - economy departments in government - government in general! (you'd be a steal, honestly) - finance / banks (think Goldman Sachs if you really want, etc.)

Also, something that helped me - network! You're young and any alumni from your programme or others with your degree who are older will be happy to talk to you with some coffee because they'll often see a younger version of themselves in you, so find out where they've ended up with their degrees. They'll also keep an eye out for you because they've met you. LinkedIn is great for finding that, or ask your schools or professors for contacts if they'd be willing to help.

Please do not worry - I'm sure you have a bright future ahead of you!

I then also added (second response is here):

To add to this, I don't know where you go to school but lots of universities in Canada (where I went to school) have student services like a career centre. My advice: use them! They'll look at your resume / CV and tell you what they think. Also, when you've met someone for coffee, see if they'd be willing to give you pointers.

Lastly, if you're applying for a job through a machine, my advice though THIS may be really divisive (HR people, please jump in): have a full in-depth resume that lists university courses you've taken, etc. A lot of the online systems (at least when I used to apply this way) are looking through your resume and yes, often yours can be overlooked. All the smartest people I know have been rejected. If you're applying by email, to someone's inbox, THEN stick to the 1-2 pages because you want some detail but not bore them.

Also, don't get discouraged. I can assure you I've been nearly overlooked and had networking luck on my side in that case because truly, I was exactly who they were looking for but my resume kept getting overlooked until I was brave enough to ask a really big deal kinda person in the industry for coffee. I owe my public sector career to that woman, honestly!

The TLDR - my advice in a few bullet points:

• All experience and education is worthy, and that what you do with it will be more helpful so build on what you already have.

• Ask people who know more than you for their perspectives and listen, like a professor or somebody already in the field. They already know more than you and you get to claim some ignorance right now and just listen without adding your opinion right now.

• Network. When you're young, others are so impressed that you're looking to network and learn (through information interviews or networking events).

• Make your own rules when applying to jobs based on what works. Don't assume that you have to always stick to certain rules if they don't work (see why above).

Soon, you're going to be as excited as this for whatever's next in your career too!