Career advice I’d give my 25-year-old self

I spent two days with graduate engineers this week and had a confronting realisation…

I’ve officially become the older person giving career advice.

Which is weird, because in my head, I’m still 27. But somewhere between bad jobs, terrific leaders, career risks, workshops, and building a business… I’ve learnt a few things.

I loved the graduates’ questions on communication, careers, and workplace ‘etiquette’ and wanted to share some of the conversations we had this week with you.

So, here’s the career advice I’d give my 25-year-old self.

1. Say yes to everything

At this stage of your career, breadth matters.

Seek out exposure, experiences and embarrassment.

(As you know, I love alliteration and ‘embarrassment’ is also a proxy word for rejection/failure).

If someone:

• Invites you to something and your first thought is, “Oh, that’s not really in my wheelhouse,” say yes.

• Gives you a project and you think, “I don’t know if I can do this,” say yes.

• Asks, “Would you like another rum and coke?”… (well, 25 yo version Leanne would say yes, current version: Absolutely not…well, maybe you could twist my arm).

If someone has confidence in you before you have that confidence in yourself, borrow their belief for a bit (here’s something I wrote about getting your confidence back).

Worry about being discerning later in life. Don’t worry about it in your twenties.

Learn what energises you, and what absolutely drains the life out of you.

When you’re younger you have more time to recover (and less people/dependents that rely on you). Take risks and collect stories.

2. The org chart is not an intelligence chart

I used to think seniority = smarter.

Now, as an elder millenial, I can say this with confidence - someone’s position on the org chart does not necessarily correlate with how intelligent they are (this also applies in the political world, too).

If you see poor decisions being made, if something feels clunky, inefficient, or painfully bureaucratic… you might not be the crazy one...

Also, if you’re a leader reading this: Some of the best ideas in your organisation are sitting with the people closest to the actual work. They often spot what’s clunky, what’s broken, and what customers are really asking for.

If you want innovation, start by listening to your people closest to the action.

3. Use your beginner label while you still have it

We spoke a lot about the word “graduate” this week. There’s baggage attached to it - you’re junior, inexperienced and your colleagues might underestimate you.

But there’s also a huge upside, too. You can ask any question and get away with it.

Those questions get harder to ask the longer you’ve been around because people expect you to already know. So ask them now. Approach everything with curiosity, even if you frame it as “help me understand how...”

Fresh eyes are a gift.

4. Want to be interesting? Do interesting things

Part of our time together focused on networking, and I shared this corny line: “Your network determines your net worth.”

I also shared two approaches.

Curate your connections first. We overlook the people already in our lives. You know more great people than you think, from university, old jobs, travel, dog parks. These are people who already know, like and trust you. Take a stocktake, triage the list, and invest in those relationships before chasing new ones.

Then expand. Look, I don’t love networking events. Yes, I’m an extrovert, but who genuinely loves walking into a room alone and chatting to strangers?

I love this quote from Michael Bungay Stanier, ‘No one likes to be the person who approaches other people, but everyone loves to be approached’.

Be the approacher. Walk up to someone, smile, and say hi.

I was also asked, “How do I have more interesting conversations?”

Two parts to that.

First, be interested in others. I’m in my comfort zone as the question-asker, and it’s genuinely fun to learn about people rather than rattling off stuff about myself. What’s wild is that some nights I’ll go to an event, talk to strangers, and no one asks me a single question. I recorded a podcast episode about that…

Secondly, to be interesting? Just do interesting things! Live a full life, travel, get new experiences, exposure to different industries, ideas, explore cultures, hobbies and read widely. Aim to be social versatility/have enough 101 general knowledge so that you can talk about any topic, to anyone, in any room.

5. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job

I wish I said that quote, but it’s from the master, Jim Rohn. I was 25 when my boss, John gave me Jim Rohn’s 12-CD pack. One line completely changed how I thought about work, “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job”.

You need to hear this…(video below). Honestly, if I end up being even 33% as good a speaker as Jim Rohn, I’ll be very happy #lifegoals.

6. Find your friendtors

Finally, find your friendtors (love this phrase from ❤️ Jenny Blake ).

When I was younger, I thought learning happened with mentors - people more senior and experienced that I was.

And look they’re great, but I think we overemphasise them sometimes.

When I’m around a mentor, I can feel this pressure to say smart things. I want to impress them, so I don’t always tell them the full truth.

With peers, it’s different. You’re in a place where you’re all just trying to figure things out. You can confess about having no idea about what’s next. You can talk about money, decisions, weird work moments, ambition, uncertainty - all the stuff you might polish up before saying it to someone more senior.

I was part of a self-formed Quarter-Life Crisis (QLS) group with my friends Camilla and Jason. We’d meet every other month and talk through what we were thinking. We’d find really great cafes and make a thing of it.

It was fantastic.

And unlike some formal mentoring relationships, peer groups can last because you’re growing alongside each other. We still have a QLC Whatsapp group!

Leanne’s career advice, in short

Take risks, and let experience teach you.

Don’t assume hierarchy equals wisdom.

Embrace your beginner era, use it as a superpower.

Don’t overlook the people already in your world.

Approach first - most people are relieved when someone else starts the conversation.

Build a life that gives you something to talk about and learn from.

Work hard on yourself

You can’t beat sharing the journey with your mates.

Oh and this isn’t career advice, but if you’re in Australia I highly recommend watching The Piano on ABC iView. It’s incredible (grab tissues for Season 2, Ep 4).

And if even one of these six points landed for you, tap the heart 💙 below. It takes two seconds and helps more people find this.

🌴

Leanne “Exposure, experiences + embarrassment” Hughes

P.S. What’s the career advice you’d give your younger self? Let me know in the comments.