I was 11 when I decided what I wanted to do with my life.
“I’m going to be a journalist,” I calmly told my mum one afternoon.
“So, no more marine biology then?” she asked.
Umm, yeah – after a bit of research I decided that wasn’t for me, despite my eternal love of all things dolphin.
“No,” I told her. “I have to write. No matter what I do I will always write. That’s what I want to do.”
It sounds so simple doesn’t it? It always does when someone describes their career choices to you.
“I did this.” Easy. Bam. Done. Career made.
Except, we all know it doesn’t work like that.
Just as an FYI, this post is sponsored by SodaStream. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100 per cent authentic and written in their own words.
Careers are built with experience, with education and by making some seriously hard decisions about where you see yourself in the future.
I’m talking about the career choices that truly cement your future. The ones you look back on and think, “Man, I’m glad I did that”.
For me, the best career move I ever made was completing a number of internships. It gave me much-needed experience and I made friends with people in the industry. Over the years it has opened up more opportunities for me than I could have ever imagined.
Related: This is the CEO’s career advice that every woman should ignore.
I threw the topic into one of our regular chats at the Mamamia office, and asked everyone what their smartest career choice was.
Their answers were wide and varied. To get to where we are today, we’ve all come from different backgrounds and made very different decisions. Decisions we’ve all worried about and lost sleep over – but decisions that, in the end, were the smartest career moves we’ve ever made.
The Mamamia team’s smartest career moves:
“Saying yes to a job I was offered, even though I wasn’t sure I was qualified for it. Throwing myself in the deep end turned out to be a good way to go.” – Helen
“I volunteered at my local radio station and just kept turning up and helping out. My parents thought I was crazy and making a nuisance of myself but they ended up employing me and I stayed in radio for fifteen years.” – Jo
“Having a “back-up career”. Being qualified in more than one area opened up a lot of doors.” – Valentina
“I moved back to my hometown and back in with my parents when I got my first journalism job. At the time I was really upset about it but I got the most amazing experience, worked with really incredible people and learnt so much that it was the best decision I could have made.” – Alexis
Related: Career Advice: Yvonne Strahovski, Aussie star.
“Persistence. Even when I wanted to give up and find a rich old man to marry I kept going.” – Lauren
“I started a blog with absolutely no experience or direction, and it opened up a whole new career to me.” – Lucy G
“Trekking Machu Picchu. I met the executive editor of The Huffington Post UK, Stephen Hull, on that trek. We spent four days chatting about journalism. Five months later an internship came up in London and he asked me to apply. I wouldn’t have heard about the internship if I hadn’t met him and had the chance to prove myself and become staff.” – Emily
“Moving to Australia. I knew the kind of career I wanted in media wasn’t available in New Zealand.” – Laura
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Top Comments
Experience and hard work is definitely key. I worked hard through uni to secure work experience, paid and unpaid internships, helped local friends who needed help with their business and put my hand up for events and other cultural exhibitions in my spare time. I also held a job at the same time so I really pushed myself to get ahead - it paid off though, when I graduated I was working at a professional level as I had done most of my entry level experience whilst at uni and people took me more seriously.
Joining clubs at uni, then getting involved with professional associations. I joined the club for my faculty at uni and went on to become the president. It gave me great experience going into the working world when I had fairly little other experience.
Then once I was in the work environment I joined a networking group for women in my sector. I went on to become a board member and have landed jobs (in fact been handed one) because of the contacts I made through it. I've just joined a new association more relevant to my current role to keep up the networking - it really is vital.
Can I say how much I despise networking? The other name for it is nepotism and it is the antithesis of merit based human resource selection.
Please note, Lisa, I'm not having a go at you: you aren't responsible for hiring practices and your employment history based on networking doesn't invalidate the skills you have probably developed through your own passion and commitment to the various associations.
I'm in no way offended by your comment and I know your thoughts are shared by many people but it just isn't the way the world works. Most stats say 75-80% of jobs are never advertised. If people don't know about your skills, you won't get offered those jobs and they are often the best ones.
I also think you are confused about networking vs nepotism. There is no rule that states you have to advertise a job. A job can go to anyone who deserves it, weather that is an advertised opportunity or not and lets face it anyone who has done public recruitment knows they would much rather just appoint someone who is good.
I have absolutely got all my jobs based on experience and skill, I just circumvented the job application process by being in the thoughts of people when a job arose.
Nepostism is favouritism towards family members.
Networking is an important skill for people to demonstrate qualities important to business - confidence, social grace, communication etc.
I think it is very meritorious! The opposite of nepotism because you aren't handed those contacts on a platter, you have to work for them yourself.
I get anxious at the idea of networking, but it is a beneficial activity. If you have a business, you need to put yourself in contact with clients/customers through advertising and networking opportunities. I treat my personal career in the same way as if I was a business; I believe need to be the best at what I do, visible and proactive to gain the best opportunities. Networking can be a great source of mentoring, gaining industry knowledge, sharing ideas, and obtaining a support network of industry professionals. As an employer, the skillset involved with personal networking translates well to a person being able to sell my business and to engage with customers and stakeholders.