Playing to win v playing not to lose
As a student, I did everything right to land a job in financial services.
High GPA…check.
Leadership roles on campus…check.
Polished resume…check.
Networking pitch…check.
Mastery of interviewing techniques…check.
Jobs came easily through referrals by professors, peers, and career services. I was hitting all the markers of success. Yet, by my mid-twenties I felt unfulfilled in my career and like a stranger to myself. While I was progressing quickly, speed became irrelevant once it dawned on me that I was going the wrong way. What made it even more scary was my confusion about what to do next.
The best resume writing tips and interviewing tactics weren’t useful because I had overlooked two of the most crucial components of career planning — self-awareness and self-inquiry. In all of my years of schooling, these skills were somehow excluded from the curriculum. I had to learn them the painful way a few years into my career in order to create a path that’s meaningful to me.