Finding your path (with the help of Startups)
I think it’s fair to say that the period after finishing university for a lot of people is bittersweet. For me it certainly was. Already in the weeks after my finals leading up to graduation I began to miss it. I asked myself; why was it that I felt lost after graduating and what was it that I actually really missed? When I really thought about it, it wasn’t the amazing social side of it, I still had that. It wasn’t the lie-ins and tons of free time; I’d never really been blessed with loads of spare time anyway having to juggle work, my studies and all the other shit I’d been doing, from running a paper to unironically joining a society to try to learn to DJ… (it was in first year, can you please not judge me).
On reflection, it was the incredible people I had met, the real sense of achievement when I’d worked hard on something I was good at, and it was the sense of being secure in the knowledge that I knew I was growing. With a third of our adult life spent at work, the experiences I had while at university became a benchmark for what I wanted to experience with my career. While I am unfortunately yet to find a job that has a vibrant DJ Society I can join, I am finally starting to feel comfortable with the route I am taking to gainful employment.
There is no doubt that the job market has changed. It’s clearly less secure, and with a huge increase in the number of graduates, it’s as oversaturated as it has ever been. I, like many others from my generation grew up hearing ‘work hard, go to uni, get a job.’ There was a simple path that we’d been told to follow, and when it came to the end of it I was left with some phenomenal experiences, a pretty sizable amount of debt and found myself in an incredibly competitive and volatile job market.
That’s a pretty scary situation to be in as a graduate. For me it certainly was, and when it came to taking the next step, I wasn’t sure what I didn’t want to do, let alone what I wanted.
I think a lot of people used to come out of uni expecting to stroll in to a big company with their degree in hand and stroll out aged 65 with a nice watch and a fat pension. While that traditional career path offers a degree of certainty, it wasn’t enough for me. What became clear to me is that this period at the start of proper adulthood should always be seen as a continuous process. It can be easy to set arbitrary goals in our head of where we should be at certain points in our life, often we put unreasonable expectations on ourselves. When we measure our success against the perceived success of others, we are in danger of falling into the same trap.
This sounds very doom and gloom, and while it is intimidating, things have changed. There has been an explosion of different opportunities for graduates of our generation. The emergence of the Startup culture is often seen as being symptomatic of a struggling economy, when the fact is it’s a great thing for the economy and in particular the workforce. The shift towards the Startup culture offers graduates the chance to take on a greater deal of agency and responsibility within their work. It’s often an environment filled with opportunities to learn new skills and become a vital part of a business from the get-go while offering the chance to get involved in innovative and exciting endeavours. While an internship at a big firm might involve a lot of filing, photocopying, and tea making, working in a Startup environment is likely to be a totally different kettle of fish.
Right now, I’m in the thick of it, having joined a Startup called GoGetters as their Growth Hacker. The reason that Startups will often list roles like Growth Hacker, or Superhero, partly stems from the difficulty to define the role. What the hell do you call a position where you will be helping with copywriting one minute, working in sales the next and later that day trying your hand at marketing and design. These are varied roles where your input into the business is absolutely visible. Being able to have that kind of impact can generate a huge amount of passion for the work that you do. Having such a varied experience in the work I have been doing has given me a far better idea of where my strengths lie and the sort of roles I know I will enjoy doing. This has been one of the most reassuring experiences for me, coming from a position where I had loads of energy and a real desire to find what was the right path for me, but not a huge variety of experience to act as a frame of reference to make that decision.
The opportunity to find your vocation and discover what you want is of course an invaluable part of development, but one of the greatest opportunities of working in environments like this is the chance to meet an incredible variety of people and build your network.
This is why GoGetters is such a unique business. It is a business founded on pretty simple ideas. We all have it within us to do incredible things and being in a network of like minded people is the key to unlocking that potential.
After I met with the co-founders Josh and Harry, I was immediately infected with their enthusiasm and excitement about this project. I was given the chance to get on board and help out and the experience has been hugely beneficial. There are very few other environments that give you the opportunity at entry level to come in and work with CEOs and COOs with an unbelievable wealth of experience on a daily basis. My time working here has helped me develop both my skills and confidence in my own abilities. The confidence and trust that has been placed in me in return has been amazing.
GoGetters is a hugely exciting project. I had already unwittingly experienced first-hand one of the earliest iterations of GoGetters some time ago. I had contacted Harry about getting some advice in finding what sort of role I should be looking for and he had put me in contact with friends of his. These guys were also happy to take the time to talk to a clueless graduate and give advice and support to a total stranger. Among those helpful friends of Harry were people who became part of the tester group for the GoGetters concept. The concept was proved, you get a bunch of cool people together, they can do some pretty incredible stuff. It was that tester group that took an eclectic bunch of people and helped them to achieve the various ambitious and exciting challenges they took on. After the challenges, it became clear that this group had become a community, a community that had helped these people realise what they are capable of with the right amount of courage and support.
It all sounds pretty ambitious, but that’s sort of the whole point. GoGetters believes that with the right tools and support everyone can break out from their normal routines and achieve their dreams. The inspirational people I have connected with and the passion for community I have experienced has made me pretty chuffed to call myself a GoGetter.
Join the GoGetters Challenge Community for the chance to get involved, push out your comfort zone, and be epic. Connect with a community of like minded souls and unlock your curiosity, creativity, and courage. www.gogetters.live
