The 3 Year Milestone.

Three years ago, I graduated from the Young India Fellowship, with one main goal in mind: To get my dream job in marketing.

Ever since I’d joined the fellowship, there were many detractors in my circles. Heck, there was one relative, who was actively doing charchas that went “Chitra won’t get a job with a liberal arts degree.” ?

But to surprisingly for them, (and not surprisingly for me, because well, YIF is epic) I did get a job a month after graduating.

In fact, it was yesterday, three years ago, that I started working and started my journey as a sometimes-fumbling-sometimes-thriving-yet-always-learning professional.

And now, it’s exactly three years later.

It doesn’t seem like a lot. Yet it is.

Working in the midst of what it feels like Hunger Games at a global level? Working in the middle of a pandemic of catastrophic proportions, layoffs, deaths?

It’s not been easy at all.

And here are my five takeaways from my journey so far for those like me and for those younger than me. It’s not me, bragging. It’s just me saying things as it is. Seedhi baat, no bakwaas:?

Takeaway 1: You may be young, but that doesn’t mean you’re worthless.

The sad reality of many organizations is? They’re as ageist as ageist can get.

And if you’re a young professional? They’re always going to use your age as an excuse to write you off.

A single small mistake you make? For some senior folks in some companies, unfortunately, it’s going to be like you threatening them to donate their organs to an illegal organ donation racket.

And it’s not just the case while working. Even when you’re interviewing for jobs and all that jazz, your youth will always give them the license to try to give you less than what you’re worth. ?Be it your CTC, designation – anything.

I remember once interviewing for a company, when the interviewer, all of a sudden, told me, “You have all the qualities we’re looking for and the experience, but since you’re so young, we’d like to hire you for a junior role.”

I remember, back then, I had my Mickey Mouse smile plastered on my face and I chirpily carried on with the interview, with no loss of enthusiasm.

But deep down, I remember thinking, mere maathe pe likha hai kya main ‘Lallu’ hoo? Am I a joke to you? Why would you, then, interview me for a senior role in the first place and dismiss me because I’m young?

Takeaway 2: Be open to feedback. But while giving feedback? Be nice.

One of the biggest things for early career professionals is their responsiveness to feedback and their ability to learn from it.

You’re young. You’re new to this. You’re going to make a gazillion mistakes. And people will point that out.

Some, in a harsh way, like the ageist folks. But there would be a lot of others, who would give feedback, dil se.

But you have to act on it and work on getting better. While it’s not going to be easy. Your ego may or may not be bruised. But you will learn. A lot.

And yet. When you have to relay your feedback to someone else? Don’t be a jackass. Tell them what was liked about their work and what they can do to improve it. Don’t you ever dare to say that their worked sucked.

Because even the laziest of people do put in work. That effort should be recognized at the very least.

Takeaway 3: Mentors rule. Always.

For an early career professional, a mentor is a must.

Especially, in the post-pandemic world, where workspaces are hybrid in nature and you might not necessarily meet your colleagues in person, every day.

A mentor doesn’t have to be someone who has to be necessarily super-senior. They can be your immediate supervisor, your senior colleague, or even your peer, who’s been in the system longer than you have.

Having a mentor will only help you grow exponentially as an individual. They will guide you, encourage you to do better, to be better. And if you make a mistake, they will call you out and help you resolve it.

Personally, for me, find mentors in my senior colleagues at my workplaces has been a huge learning curve. It’s thanks to them that I can write better, work better. It’s also thanks to them that I’ve learned to be a kinder, tactful professional as well.

Takeaway 4: Taking breaks isn’t a crime.

In the post COVID-19 world, hustle culture has levelled up. And not necessarily in a good way.

For one, our homes became our workspaces. So understandably, the lines between our work and home lives blurred and to a point, became indistinguishable.

In 2020, every other day, whenever I’d open my LinkedIn, I’d come across posts of people proudly announcing that they’ve got promotions, gotten into universities, yada, yada, yada.

It’s great for them, really. To be resilient in such abnormal circumstances is not easy, not at all.

But it also left with me with a deep sense of paranoia that what I was doing wasn’t good enough. And that led me to take up more work to prove that I am decent enough… until finally, I burned out big time.

It made me realize that taking breaks isn’t a crime. It’s okay to stop working after your work hours. And more importantly, it’s perfectly all right to NOT take work calls or do ANYTHING work related after work.

(Unless, of course, it’s a do or die situation – but that too, is rare)

Back when I was still comparatively a fresher (post around 1+ year of working), I have been yelled at. For you know, not picking calls after work. I’ve even been mocked, you know, for leaving for home at 5:30 (after completing my work limit of 8.5 hours).

And at the risk of sounding highly controversial, I still don’t think it was my fault. I did my work on time and completed my tasks for the day. Maybe I wasn’t David Ogilvy or Piyush Panday, but at least I did do it, to the best of my ability. And how can people really expect me to pick up calls late in the night, when nothing majorly can be accomplished?

Takeaway 5: The balance between your passion and your worth is tough.

Something that I, and a lot of my peers, have grappled with, is the struggle to choose between what we love and what’s prestigious.

Many of my friends have taken the conventional path. They’ve become professionals, managers, and more. Many of them have gotten jobs with fancy designations at MNCs. It pays them really well, gives them the perks that they ideally deserve. But does the pay justify what they’re doing? Do they actually like what they’re doing?

Some do. Some don’t. Quite a few actually find it dull and monotonous.

And on the other hand, I’ve another set of friends, who’ve taken up unconventional roles but they don’t get paid as per what they deserve and have to deal with a lot of pressure. At work - for not putting in enough hard work. At home, for not earning well enough.

Seeing both sides, and being there on both sides, has made me realize that, for every early career professional, the balance between your passion and your worth? It’s tough.

As of today, I don’t have the answer to that. But I’m at least cognizant of the fact that the middle ground of a job that you’re passionate about with the pay and perks you deserve, is what we should strive for.

How will we, as early career professionals get there? I don’t know as yet. But I look forward to my journey ahead.

***

It’s only been three years, but it feels like I’ve completely transformed into a different person from who I was, three years ago.

I’m lowkey calmer. I’m a bit more measured with my words. I’m not so panic-stricken if I get a task that I’ve no idea about.

And somehow, this little bit of wisdom is keeping me going, and helping me grow better as a professional and as a human being. For that, I'm truly grateful.

Thank you for taking your time out to read this, dear reader, it really means a lot!

Love,

Chitra