Graduating or leaving school is just the beginning – Dare to Dream!
I was walking along the beach this morning on my walk listening to Selina Barker’s “The Career Change Coach”. She was talking to a recent Brighton Uni graduate who was feeling stuck and quite low after graduating and moving back home. He felt excited, motivated and alive living in Brighton, and moving back home felt like a step backwards. He didn’t know how to break into the creative writing world he wanted to be part of and felt demotivated and unfocused.
This got me thinking about my uni days: the safe space where I could be me without judgement and experiment with ideas and dreams. Graduating was like a massive crash down to earth. Excited about the future whilst moving back home. My parents were great, but it still felt like a “now what” moment, and I had no clue what I wanted to do next.
Friends keep reminding me that I had always dreamt of becoming a business owner/entrepreneur! Really? When did I say that? To be honest, I really don’t remember ever saying I wanted to own my own business. I have fallen into most of my job roles and a 25+ year career in recruitment. All my jobs had a theme: people and relationship building. From Motor Engineer Assistant, Credit Controller, Door to Door Commission-Only Sales, and Recruitment Consultant. I am good at talking to people (sorry Dad – I know he was a bit gutted that I didn’t become a bank manager!)
That’s the key to developing you own career after graduating/leaving school:
- Know what you are good at
- Know what you love and are passionate about
- Don’t treat it like a marathon – life is lots of steps, runs, leaps and bounds at different times and different paces.
- Celebrate every time you make a small win
- Learn from others who are where you want to be. This is my biggest tip! I never stop learning
- Rejection is not personal – it’s just 2 letters: N and O, and is a letter shorter than YES! (don’t let “no” define you…concentrate on the Yeses)
Did you recently graduate/leave school and are not too sure what to do next, why don’t you reach out to see if we can help you figure it out? We’d be happy to talk to you: team@gogecko.org.uk
