Letter to my 25 y.o self

Dear 25 y.o Bauhinia,

I know you’re experiencing a gut-wrenching period of uncertainty. Your rational mind is telling you that employers frown upon ‘job hoppers’. You don’t feel confident that you are developing the right skillsets. Everyone out there seems to have “got it” except you - you'll find out in a few years! Most of all, you’ll find out that many of your peers are just “faking it until they make it”. I hope the following points will shed light to your current situation...

1/ Have confidence even without the experience

Have the confidence to know that you’re an interesting person, and someone who is eager to learn and contribute, even though you do not have 3+ years of work experience. Remember that work experience brings wisdom. It gives you ‘war stories’ and more perspectives to how life, work, and the world works. However, it does not necessarily replace the curiosity that you have as an individual - curiosity makes you wonder and learn more. It makes you much more interesting - trust me. Never stop wondering and thinking like an 8 yr old!

2/ Clarity of thought

Work on writing down your personal elevator pitch. It should not take you longer than 1 min to explain who you are and what you’re looking for at this stage. If people want to know more, they will evidently ask you deeper questions. When you become a Founder one day, you’ll be pitching a lot. These elevator pitches will be very helpful to you.

Look up what Jeff Bezos asks each Amazon employee to write as ‘memos’ before each meeting that they attend. Writing more helps clarify your thoughts and helps organise what you want to say.

3/ Be a ‘Doer’

There are many more people who consume than do these days, esp with the abundance of social media. It’s rare to find people who ‘do’. So be a ‘doer’ - this will help you stand out from the crowd. It doesn’t matter whether you have a job or currently searching for one - you can always be coming up with ideas for something.

Think clearly about your values and your personal and professional mission - do they align? The more they align, the better and easier it is to make being a ‘doer’ sustainable. You can start by writing content. Most ideally, what you write should be reflected in your ‘North Star’.

You don’t just have to look for a job. Be inspired by what you see around you and see if you can find a gap or problem, and see if you can think of a solution. It generally is that the more simple the solution, the more it can be a business. If you need to understand business: either join a startup, or, create your own business - that’s a baptism of fire to kickstart everything that you need to learn in business!

4/ Be ok with uncertainty

This follows my previous point. In this day and age, it’s rare to hop onto one linear career ladder and expect to excel and “move on up in the world”. It’s much more likely these days that you’ll have a non-linear career with lateral moves, or stops and starts. People who are smart and modern will recognise this. Unless you’re applying for something in Professional Services, nobody cares if you stayed with your employer for 2+ years.?This is why you need to be mentally ok with uncertainty. You’re always in ‘beta or prototype mode’. The more you think of yourself as ‘beta’, the more you can thrive in this fast-changing world of work.

5/ Keep building your network and community

You don’t yet have a proper network, so continue to reach out to people for casual chats. Always ask for referrals from people you’ve talked to so that you can extend your network. Ask what they’re working on that’s interesting. You don’t just have to ask about their thoughts on their career. Widen the berth of what you ask - perhaps there are ways you can contribute to them and make yourself helpful.

Whenever you’re building a network, even as a young person, don’t treat it as a transaction, because these are all relationships - it should be two-way. As a young person, remember that your currency is time+energy+creativity. This is how you can contribute even without as much knowledge, network, or experience.?Ask deeper questions that help you can move beyond superficial talk. It also signals that you’re ready to think and could be a helpful problem-solver. The world is round, you never know… the boomerang can come back to you at any moment!

Lastly, do remember that this feeling shall pass. You'll come to see all of this as precious experience :)

Sincerely,

'Slightly older' Bauhinia