Before we get into preparing for an interview (Before we make a decide the course of possibly your next 10-20 years), let me ask you a few questions.
Who are you?
Are you naturally energetic?
Are you an extrovert/ introvert? Or you speak when needed.
Are you organised/ chaotic?
How well do you hold under pressure?
Are you a natural leader?
Are you naturally creative? Or are you really good at following instructions?
Do you have good memory?
How intelligent are you?
Are you empathetic?
What kind of a learner are you? Theory to practice or you like to get hands on learning?
Are you kind/ caring?
Can you lie? Can you bluff?
Can you sell ideas?
Are you naturally curious/ generalist? Or you like finding one interest and specializing in it?
In only 5 years, I’ve learnt how crucial each of the above are. And I think young graduates need to think about each of these, before joining a company and letting organizational goals chart your career.
Just knowing who you are (now) is not enough. You also need to have an idea of what you need in your
What do you want in life?
Say, you’re in your twenties and have at-most 40 good years left in your life. How do you want to spend all that time?
Do you want to make a lot of money? If so, how much money? Enough to get yourself and parents out of poverty? Enough to live comfortably in the place of your choice, Or do you wanna be a millionaire?
Do you want to travel a lot? If so, how much money, time and energy are you willing to spend on your travels? Do you want a cozy, slow life? Do you want a life of adventure?
Do you want to be as fit as humanly possible? If so, how much energy, time and money are you willing to spend on this lifestyle?
Do you want to fall in love? Do you want a life partner? Do you want kids? Do you want a family? How much money, time and energy are you willing to spend on your family?
Sorry to give you an existential crisis. But you need to go through this thought process before you can even think about your career. You need to have a vague idea of your aspirations in life before you commit to work at any organization/business/company (even if your own).
Do you want a job where you love what you do? Or do you want a job to financially support your dreams/aspirations in life.
You don’t need a detailed plan to all of these, life rarely allow your plans to work out, but you can try steering the ship, and hopefully reach land.
If you have satisfactory answers to above questions, you are now ready to get into the right mindset
The right mindset
Needless to say, your mindset determines how to think and act in your life. And the worst thing you can do to yourself in this phase of life is to keep a fixed mindset.
In a world that’s changing in unprecedented pace, you can’t afford not to change your beliefs, dreams and even skills.
Who you are right now need not (should not) remain as is. What you want in life should not remain as is.
You need to accept that you’ll need to change certain traits about yourself over time. Maybe you were an introvert all your life, but your dream career demands you have excellent communication, so you change yourself for the better.
You may learn that your current life skills are obsolete 3 years down the line, and be ready to gain new skills.
You may learn that you no longer want to bring kids into this dystopian world, so you now have more time and energy to put on yourself.
No matter your starting point. Whether you started poor or rich, Whether you had privileges or circumstances bringing you down.
You need an adaptive mindset. Be ready to challenge yourself anytime. Change yourself when need be.
How to pick jobs
Applying for a job may seem as easy as sending your resume that matches with a JD you found on linkedin, but it’s more than that.
You should definitely apply if a JD matches your resume/experience and give interview. But whether or not you join the org should be thought out well depending on the above answers.
Now before you pick a job, you need to answer a few more questions.
Why do you need this job? What kind of environment can you work with?