If you want to find the perfect outfit, there is no substitute for shopping around and trying things on to see how they fit.

I’m coaching a group of college students these days. We’re practicing leadership skills like how to solve complex problems in the workplace and create a career roadmap and write a killer resume, etc. It’s a great program, and I love it. But my advice to students at the end of the day is always this: do all the things. When you’re young and inexperienced, you have the luxury of making bold decisions and experimenting. So do it! Explore, experiment, and put yourself in as many different situations as you can.

  • Get an internship in a Corporate setting to understand business / healthcare / law
  • Join AmeriCorps to understand nonprofits and grantwriting and what a service industry job is like, and most important to learn how to get things done in scrappy, innovative ways (because the organization will have limited funding)
  • Write because that can only help you in life / jobs / career
  • Draw or take photos and enter them in contents; if you win, that’s a cool thing to put on your resume! If you don’t, who cares? No one ever has to know 😉
  • Get an entry-level customer service job to make ends meet, because customer service if something you’ll have to do for the rest of your life anyhow
  • Tutor students in math and science and computers / coding if you’re good with numbers and interested in research or software engineering
  • Travel (if you have the means or credit cards to do it) because it will teach you about the real world, real people, and different cultures

You must do these things in the first few years after college, not because you want to start climbing your personal career ladder, but because you need to figure out what motivates you at work. College can teach you a lot about yourself, but it can’t teach you your strengths in the workplace.

My favorite career book when I was looking for work in 2008–I had just returned home from exploring Barcelona for a semester and the world economy was collapsing–was this one: You Majored in What? Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career. I recommend you read this book after you you have done at least three of the bullets above and complete the mapping exercise that helps you discover your unique path through seemingly unrelated experiences.

youmajoredinwhat

Thomas Edison is known for saying, “There is no substitute for hard work.” This is great. Just make sure you’re working hard on things that fit you best, and don’t expect to know what fits you best until you’ve tried a lot of things on for size.