Dear College Student,
I don’t know who needs to hear this but, if something isn’t working, change course until it does.
I’m about to get super real with y’all.
I’ve been hearing so many young professionals say that they can’t find opportunities, or the field that they’re in isn’t providing paid opportunities.
I was in the same boat.
I went to school for Film & TV Production and the same was true for me. I worked (and left) a few unpaid/low-paying internships. And didn’t even put them on my resume. And don’t get me started about internships that offer “credit.” I advise folks not to do those unless you’re 100% sure you’ll get more value from that internship than your college courses.
When I was in school, the internships in my industry were also unpaid/low-paying and competitive. A lot of people wanted to (and still want to) be in the media, entertainment, and communications fields.
So I changed my mindset and tapped into my other skills: marketing, design, and tech. Here’s how I did it:
1) I used what was available to me to upskill: I joined student organizations as the marketing chair, became an RA to work on my comms skills, and worked on-campus office jobs. I did all of this during the school year, every single year. Each year I dropped orgs or jobs that no longer aligned with my goals and kept stacking my experiences.
(P.S. Please use your student organizations and on-campus jobs as your work experience on your resume if it aligns with your desired career path. It counts!)
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2) I stopped thinking small, and looked at the bigger picture! Sure I wanted to be Channing Dungey or Shonda Rhimes, but I also didn’t want to be a struggling creative/media professional. I realized this: I was a storyteller, and one thing will always be true, every single company that exists needs someone to tell their story.
So I changed course and searched for programs and post-grad opportunities that were in my industry (i.e. NBCUniversal PAGE program), but I also got super creative and looked at other industries (i.e. Uber).
By doing this, I ended up landing “Marketing Tech” roles in the entertainment and media space. I didn’t even know that existed! These roles allowed me to “get my foot in the door” and be in close proximity to the industry that I wanted to be in. And since then, I’ve changed my career aspirations a million times, because there are so many opportunities out there.
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So if you’re open to veering off of your current path and taking a slight detour, even just for a small amount of time you could end up somewhere even better than where you started!
Remember this: “…the minute you take your first step into the life of your dreams, the first to greet you there will be fear. Nod. Keep walking.”
Good luck, you got this!!
DW | Breakroom Buddha