I’m officially in my late twenties. It was my birthday a few weeks ago and I wasn’t particularly in the mood to celebrate. But before you say it, I know what you’re thinking: what’s there to be upset about, reaching your mid-twenties? Objectively I know that there’s nothing wrong with it at all. I just think it’s the whole concept of turning 30 in the near future and all of the expectations that come with that that scares me
Anyway, it got me thinking: what are the accepted things us women should have nailed by the time we get to our mid-twenties? Most of us are hard on ourselves especially when it comes to reaching professional milestones but surely there are some agreed skills and benchmarks that we can all agree on, right?
In a bid to get this answered once and for all I turned to a handful of women nailing life in both their late twenties and thirties to find out what habits they could all agree on. Leave it to necessity to lead me to journalistic inquiry. So without further adieu, below is a summary of my findings:
Set up your Facebook privacy settings: This is an obvious one so if you haven’t set up high privacy settings on your Facebook yet, stop everything you’re doing right now and do it. We all know that these days recruiters and employers use social media platforms to assess applicants suitability for a role and to sniff out any risks someone may present so making sure the photos of your boozy night out over the weekend aren’t accessible to the whole world is just a quick and easy way to make sure you’re not sabotaging your career efforts.
You should also think about setting up privacy settings among the people you have already accepted as friends. You might not want your old colleagues or current co-workers seeing what you get up to despite feeling obliged to accept their friend requests. That’s where privacy settings come in because Facebook now allows you to create customised friend lists so you can choose who sees your check-ins, photos and any other personal details. Just remember to add people to the appropriate lists when you accept them. The same applies for Instagram and Twitter. If you’re prone to ranting or posting the type of images you wouldn’t want a future employer to see, make your account private.
Build your LinkedIn profile and actually use it: A large number of the women I spoke to said they have either got jobs or at least been contacted by a recruiter thanks to their LinkedIn page and often when they were not actively looking for a job. Recruiters are always using LinkedIn to keep an eye out on potential candidates so keeping your page up to date increases your chances of being contacted for a role. If you haven’t updated your job title and responsibilities since your last job, it’s unlikely that a recruiter will find you suitable for a more senior role.
Treat your LinkedIn page like a summary of your greatest hits. Make it detailed – it’s the space to present yourself and put your capabilities forward – but don’t list everything you’ve ever done. Reserve some information so you can bring that to the fore as and if you’re ever called for an interview.
Once your page is up and running, don’t just leave it at that. It’s a good idea to get involved in forums and discussions in areas associated to your line of work. Connecting and commenting shows that you’re actively engaged in your chosen community and allows you to connect with likeminded people, which only help expand your network.
Networking is one of the other plus sides of maintaining a LinkedIn page. As you make new contacts throughout your career, add them on LinkedIn so you can keep up to date with what they’re working on and vice versa. Get contacts you have a great relationship with to endorse you. Sometimes recommendations mean more than a list of qualifications to try to get as many quotes as you can from colleagues and both ex and current bosses – anyone who’s reputable and who’s worked with you.
Maintain relationships: This one kind of links to the point above but it’s so important to maintain relationships with people you work with. Staying connected with an old boss or colleague might lead to new opportunities you never could have predicted. Also, most industries are small so it doesn’t hurt maintaining good relationships with people as you climb the ladder. A simple ‘hi, I just wanted to see how you are and what’s new’ every six months is all it takes to keep a rapport going. You never know what opportunity might present itself from doing so.
Always send a thank you note and follow up: I’ve always been a fan of receiving hand written notes but it’s only relatively recently that I have started sending them myself. I was overwhelmed by how grateful people were to receive them so it shows that even the smallest gesture like this can make a big difference when it comes to building a rapport with people you work with. Make a habit of sending them after a meeting or project with a business contact. Unexpected gestures are always remembered.
Follow up notes are even more important when it comes to interviews. I wrote about this recently in a piece about the mistakes we all make in our twenties but seriously, failing to thank an interviewer for their time sounds like a small thing but it could be the factor that makes another candidate secure the job over you purely because they went that extra mile.
We all have that voice in our heads that tells us we’re not good enough and feeds our insecurities but listening to that voice can have serious impact on our career trajectories. Knowledge is power and appreciating your worth will only put you in a position to gain.
Know your worth and be bold about it: By your mid-twenties, you’ve probably had a few jobs in your sector, worked with different people and have become familiar with where you fit in your space. Taking the time to look at your skills, assessing it against your contemporaries and understanding the market is so important to you career progression because it’s factors like this that help determine whether you’re due raise, deserve a promotion or should be looking for a new job altogether.
We all have that voice in our heads that tells us we’re not good enough and feeds our insecurities but listening to that voice can have serious impact on our career trajectories. Knowledge is power and appreciating your worth will only put you in a position to gain.
Seek mentorship: Mentorship is such a huge thing in America but it’s something that we Brits seem a bit slow to adopt but having someone with more experience in your industry to talk to who’s career and journey you admire can only be a good thing. Most people would feel flattered to be asked so be bold and ask. What’s the worse they can say: no? You’re no worse off than you were before. Schedule time in with them and ask questions and listen carefully. Do whatever you can to learn from them
Master networking: Talking to people you don’t know can be daunting but by now, it’s something you should at least be more comfortable doing. You shouldn’t feel forced to act like a different person but networking and interacting with new people is crucial in expanding your network and opening yourself up to new opportunities. Countless opportunities have come my way purely because I was at the right event at the right time so don’t pass off that next invitation quite so quickly.
There’s so much research showing that people who are better connected progress in their careers far quicker and the beauty of sites like LinkedIn is that you build your connections and stay in touch with people electronically without having to deal with a face-to-face exchange. Doing so may make you privy to hear about a new job that hasn’t been advertised or may lead to you being recommended for a role by an old colleague or acquaintance.
Don’t be afraid to ask for more money: We’ve spoken about this before but failing to negotiate for more money might just be one of the biggest ways we’re sabotaging our earning potential. A friend of mine is the perfect example. Six months ago she turned to a recruiter to help her escape the job she was in that was drastically underpaying her considering her responsibilities. She was honest with the recruiter about her pay which ended up in the promoter accepting the lowest salary on offer from the role my friend later joined, rather than going to for the maximum. After failing to push her salary to where it should have been, my friend is now looking for another job and has vowed never to put herself in that situation again. Now, she’s determined to make sure she pushes for the salary she deserves for the effort and dedication she knows she will bring to the role.
Talking about money isn’t an easy topic to broach but each time you accept less for a role, the less you will make throughout your career. If you’re qualified for the role, why shouldn’t you expect to get a salary that reflects the industry standard? Accept anything lower than that and you’re selling yourself short.
Keep it moving: Talking about asking for more money, countless surveys have shown that it’s far easier to ask for more money when entering a new job compared to asking for more in an existing role.
There’s no science in deciding what is the right amount of time but most recommend staying in a role for anywhere from two to five years (two on the low end and four on the high end) in order to learn, make a difference and truly master what you do in order to advance to the next level. Of the friends and colleagues I spoke to, moving jobs regularly was one of the points they were all adamant about.
Research shows that the longer you stay in a job, the weaker your chances are for promotion and moving on isn’t a bad thing. We need to remain loyal to our employers only when doing so allows us to keep loyal to professional goals at the same time.
People who stay too long in their roles have been proven to earn less over their careers than those who change more often. According to Forbes, those who remain on the job get paid 50 per cent less than counterparts to leave and start anew somewhere else. And remember, the more you move the more opportunities you have to negotiate your salary and that’s always easier to do when starting a role rather than when you’ve been there for some time.
Get your work out there: If you’re working in a creative field, get your work out there by making sure you’re not only on social media platforms but also by having a professional portfolio website that you can direct people to on your business card. It allows you to show off your work and you can use updates as a way to redirect people there from places like LinkedIn.