A) I have only two words – Challenging. Rewarding.
One of the first lessons of being a student is to effectively wear multiple hats – sometimes you’re a group leader, team member, presenter, interviewer, interview – I could go on forever. But outside of university, in the classroom of life, it means to be able to juggle between your life roles. Besides being, a student, you’re a new adult navigating through life, a new friend to many long-lasting relationships and a young professional at the start of their career. It is perhaps the most challenging phase of life (based on all my 23 years of life experience). However, it is also the MOST rewarding. The ability to earn your own (hard-earned) money, gain financial independence, navigate through balancing responsibilities and 20-something shenanigans and provide for yourself and your loved ones – there is nothing quite like it. It is simple, although not quite easy. In my experience, two elements helped me most – discipline and consistency. Time management was my best friend, I was working on weekend mornings, so it was necessary for me to finish uni work during the week, and then weekend was strictly for work hours and fun hours! Consistency in doing a little bit over a long period of time (I am mainly talking about assignments) helped me with this routine. Lastly – support is your best friend! I reached out to my professors for guidance, my peers for support, family and friends for their love and my workplace for their support
Q) What strategies helped you land a job in your field of study?
A) It is a cliché answer – but your network is your net worth. Your presence – not just as a learner but a valuable member of the community you want to join, is incredibly helpful as a professional. At one point I spent around 8-12 hours on LinkedIn everyday reaching out to EVERYONE in positions/companies/roles that I aspired to be. Reaching out wasn’t about just connection requests though, it’s about conversations. I set up lots of virtual coffee chats, attended free events hosted by brands I wanted to work with and participated in discussion sessions around my topics of interest. Perhaps the biggest challenge in today’s professional world is being able to unabashedly voice your presence – your inputs, learnings and opinions in a sea of other voices. I found putting up my own content on LinkedIn and commenting (with some value) on other’s posts to be most helpful in forming connections. This in turn helped in getting recommended for roles, making myself visible to the brands I want to work for and the people I want to work with!
Q) And what does a typical workday look like for you now?
A) Ahh, life right now is super busy! My days are split between working with an accounting firm and helping bring their organic social content for their product, and between the bakery I used to work for before – I now handle all their social media! I have also just started working with Queen Mary (my masters university) for a sustainability project – I am the marketing and comms person for that initiative! Working in London has been a dream for so long, so I am taking all the busy-ness I can get and enjoying building my career in this incredible hustle city!
