My First LinkedIn Article #amidoingthisright

I have always been into writing, in school I took pride in my essays, in my spare time I chose to write short stories, and I even have thought about writing a "novel." I use quotes for novel because well let's be honest I doubt I will be able to get to 40,000 words (according to Quora a novel must have at least 40k words.) Also my grammar/punctuation/etc is already way off and about to get even more wild, so if that bothers you maybe you should save yourself the horror and stop reading this now.

I have always been a little intimidated by the LinkedIn articles. Do I have to have perfect writing etiquette? Can I not use run on sentences? Should I proof read this 12 times? Well, here I am writing a LinkedIn article - why? because I would like to have a place to share my thoughts, and hopefully it is worth the read! With each article I plan to touch on something I have learned, or am working on. I hope to provide useful information, and a splash of sarcasm, to help the amazing people in my LinkedIn network navigate their careers. So for my first article I have chosen to write a brief intro about myself (because I am so interesting), thanks for reading!

I am a Career Coach, or as some would say "a free resource to bounce ideas off of." This is true, I offer my services to anyone I meet. Now I might not be able to help everyone, but I definitely try. I chose this profession recently, and I can't emphasize enough how big of a jump it was for me. I always thought I would be the girl in the corporate world, climbing that oh so fun "ladder" and making all my co-workers laugh in the lobby elevator. Turns out, that's not me at all, well the corporate part not the making everyone laugh part. I chose this profession so I can help people, like myself, who feel lost after graduation. Or even people, again like me, who worked for 2 years and then thought is this really my path?

As a Career Coach at Athletes to Careers I help not only student-athletes, but anyone looking to advance their career. I work with candidates to help with resume writing, interview preparation, and job placement. That being said, we do mostly work with student-athletes (we are called Athletes to Careers after all). I was a student-athlete myself, a soccer player, known for very long throw ins, and dreads (yup you read that right). I love sharing my personal story with my candidates and coaching recent graduates on how to "sell" themselves. For example: How are you going to get the job over a NARP that has 4 internships and a 4.0 gpa when you were "just" an athlete? I will tell you. There is no more "just" an athlete. In fact, (sorry tangent coming) there should be no more "just" anything. I didn't "just" want to follow up, I AM following up. I didn't "just" want to see if you have time, ARE YOU available at this time. (End Tangent). So yes, I am a Career Coach and yes I honestly will answer my phone at 11pm if a candidate is nervous and needs to talk before their interview in the morning. I love what I do, and I want to help others feel this way too. By the way, if you are reading this and you were not a student-athlete, not to fear I don't turn down a conversation or a reason to help. And sorry about the NARP thing, it's funny and you know it. Let's do this, get excited about your career, find what you are passionate about and enjoy it!

I spend countless hours on LinkedIn connecting with new people, learning about their dreams and goals, and helping them find their passion. This is why I am so thankful for LinkedIn and for what I do. One piece of advice I give to all college students, USE LINKEDIN. It is your friend, people are out there that are willing to help. Reach out!

One day I would love to transfer this information to a Podcast (so hey anyone reading this that wants to help me on that dream, slide into those InMails). For now, I hope each article brings a little laughter and some extra thought to your day! (Also, sorry I use so many parentheses, I have a lot of side thoughts).

-Darci