5 career tips for graduates - Make 2022 your year!

Career tips for graduates - Make 2022 your year!

30/12/2021

If you have recently graduated or are finishing your degree in 2022, you are probably wondering what the future might hold. Whether you’re in a job wondering if it’s the right one for you or searching for your graduate job, now is a good time to collect your thoughts and identify your career objectives for the year ahead.

Here are some tips from Kat Snodgrass Head of Talent Pool at Wiley Edge.

 

1. Realize your self-worth

Life can be a blur. Time flies by when we focus on doing what we need to do. It’s important to take some ‘self-care’ time to reflect and to keep exploring who you are as a person. What do you think you’re good at? What have you proven you are talented in? What challenges have you overcome? Your strengths and achievements set you apart from others so give yourself a pat on the back for what you achieved in 2021. And take time to complement your colleagues and friends on their achievements too!

2. Build upon yourself

Understanding where our strengths lie can help us realize our hidden potential and development opportunities. We need to continuously learn to remain engaged and keep growing.

Try listing a couple of points you wish to develop and see if you can make a plan for the next year to help you achieve what you want to do. It doesn’t have to be a set timetable. A simple list of what you want to do better prepares you to jump at opportunities when they’re presented.

For example, is there someone you admire for their confidence, or the way they think or do things? Send a connection request to them on LinkedIn and ask for a chat to understand how they do it and how they got to where they are. People are usually happy to help.

3. Get involved and make an impact

It doesn’t come naturally to everyone but, when you find your voice and build enough confidence to share your opinion, you can make an impact and open doors to careers you might not have heard of.

Be brave! Leave a lasting impression and boost your own confidence by speaking out. If you tend to step to one side or keep your ideas or thoughts to yourself when there is a louder person in a meeting, keep calm and wait for a break in the conversation to say what you think. Learning to say ‘no’ and expressing a reasoned difference of opinion builds respect if you do it in the right way. Share your thoughts. Help others. Use common sense and your instinct.

4. Don’t be afraid to fail

When you are in a job interview or workplace situation, it is important to put your goals and objectives above any fears because fear of failure can block your way to success.

Many very successful people attribute their success to what they’ve learnt from their failures. Failure simply means there is something to be learned or another direction to be taken. It can help to develop your resilience by making you more self-aware.

Developing self-awareness through failure will help you assess your growth and effectiveness and change course when necessary.

5. Bounceback from setbacks

The last couple of years have been challenging for all of us, often pushing us to our limits, but the hard times bring opportunities to test our strengths. We can use our experiences to develop our resilience and cope better next time when life throws unexpected things at us!

Push yourself out your comfort zone. Make sure you evaluate what you could have done better, take learnings and keep moving forward towards your dreams and goals.

 

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