Advice to 23 year old me
I have a 30 year college reunion in UCC coming up and thought it might be useful to list the words of advice that I would give to myself coming out of college 30 years ago? I would be interested in your views on this subject.
- A good quality degree will stand to you as a baseline requirement throughout your career.
- Enjoy your college years and build up good relationships as you will benefit from them for the rest of your life.
- Recognise what you are good at and focus on finding a career which gives you the opportunity to apply and develop your skills.
- Get a good training in the early years after college(The much maligned accounting/auditing training was very beneficial to me even though I never worked as an accountant after qualification)
- Interpersonal skills are more important than academic or technical skills for 80% of careers. If you have good interpersonal skills use them. If you don’t then make sure you develop some.
- Strive to be as independent as you can be so that you can develop your survival and competitive skills. (Are we, the current generation of parents too supportive and protective of our children preventing them from developing through the harsh lessons of the real world? They will blame us for that on top of everything else.)
- Be willing to make mistakes but it is very important to recognise them and to learn from them.
- Health permitting it is a long road so take a long term view in the decisions that you make.
- Don’t get in your own way in terms of career progression by being indecisive.
- Don’t let money ruin a good career. Find a career that you enjoy and it will give you everything that you want.
- Be willing to work hard and always try to give more than you take and you will get it back in spades.
- It is important to have a good attitude towards people and treat them well and you will reap the rewards.
Maurice Carr