I have spent a long time trying to land my dream job, and in that time, there is much that I have had to learn and re-evaluate.
Lesson 1: Not to rely solely on my university degrees to gain employment.
In 2018 having completed my Masters with an average above 70% I was ready to hit the ground running and kickstart my career! Only that didn’t happen. In hindsight when I first tried to enter the workforce as a marketing assistant, I was underprepared for what employers are after. I learned that the theoretical knowledge I gained needed to be used together with real world practice.
For example, I had only heard the term ‘SEO’ in passing and so had to research that myself, it wasn’t until my time at Perth Plasterboard Centre where I truly got to learn SEO through practice. Throughout my Master of Marketing degree, I believed that by having the qualification I would not struggle to find work, and because of that I did no co-curricular activities that would help to further my learning. Although I worked full time hours the work had little relevance to helping further my marketing expertise.
My advice to students who are yet to complete their studies, is to simultaneously learn outside of your university or TAFE courses. For example, an internship can be invaluable hands-on experience, or look for online courses that teach you how to build specific skills.
Lesson 2: I needed to step out of my comfort zone.
For context 3D Printed Talent was a small business in Barcelona in its first year of operation, where only half the office could speak conversational English (my Spanish was much, much worse). However, the business’ infancy created a very different environment to my other workplaces and allowed me greater creative freedom and say in the business. An example of this is how I was tasked with choosing which CRM system to implement that best suited the business (I had not used any CRM programs at this point). That task helped me to gain a strong understanding of the variety of programs on offer, as well as hands on experience with HubSpot which I chose to implement, based on cost effectiveness and its versatile categorization options.
The other program I gained hands on experience with was Adobe Illustrator. Whilst using that program to develop infographics about the Additive Manufacturing industry, I slowly learned more and more about the program. The only downside is I am far from artistically gifted!
It was also in my time at 3D Printed Talent I started to learn some very broken Spanish due to the need to communicate with my co-workers, as well as how to order a flat white (café con leche).
While my career has yet to truly take off, I have no doubt that I am a more qualified and versatile person than I was on my graduation day. Although I am always eager to learn more.