Building A Career in 2018

It can be unfair, asking children at the age of 14 and 16 to make choices that will influence them for the rest of their lives. It’s all often that people make decisions while they’re at school pick subjects with a job in mind and find themselves locked into this course, only able to reconsider after they’ve graduated and it’s too late! The lucky ones can retrain when practicality trumps romantic dreams in their mid-twenties, but not everyone: law conversion courses, for example, are a big commitment of time and money and it’s only the luckiest who have the resources (or more accurately, have parents with the resources) to support them while they work on them. Less lucky people might cherish dreams of jobs in psychology but never have the means to make them happen.

Today we’re looking at the hows of building a career in 2018, so you can, even if it’s only by tiny steps, make your way towards the job you really want.

Acquiring Experience

You can never do totally without qualifications, but experience is the most vital thing you can acquire in the quest for your perfect job. The benefits of getting experience are manifold: for one thing they let you actually sample the field you’re interested in and make sure it really is for you. For another, demonstrating experience and commitment could help to break the deadlock on a hiring decision in your favour, and for another, going out and getting practical experience could make it easier to get suitable qualifications when the time comes. Years of volunteering with charities could make the difference between having to find the funding for a second three year degree and being able to get onto a shorter, cheaper, more manageable conversion course for your chosen field!

Networking

‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ is a truism and a cliché, but things rarely become truisms because they’re false. Networking is only going to work to your advantage, and fortunately in 2018 it’s easier than ever!

Twitter and especially LinkedIn represent a great opportunity for you to reach out and contact people in the industry you’re focussed on, making connections that will stand you in good stead when they’re hiring and you’re looking for work. If you’re getting out there and volunteering, pursuing your passion in amateur fields, or simply attending events and courses, you’ll meet people. Following up on that meeting with an online connection is second nature, and it means you can keep track of some of the big names in your industry and ensure they don’t forget you.