When you first leave education and really start on a career, it can feel as though what you do work-wise doesn’t really matter. After all, you’ve got plenty of time to figure out what you want to go into long-term. If you end up working a few different low-pay jobs what does it matter? Things don’t get serious until you’re in your 30s, right? Well, sort of. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things you should be doing to make your future work life as happy and successful as possible.
First off, you should make a plan. Even if that plan is to make a more solid plan after a year off, that’s still a kind of plan that should be consciously made.
The most important things to focus on when you make your plan are what your passions and skills are, and what you want to do in order to align your future career to these. The plan can change and evolve over time, but always keep the end goal in mind. The end goal being to have a career that you enjoy and which makes you feel fulfilled.
Another important thing to do is to save. In your 20s people generally (not everyone in their 20s, but the majority) have fewer calls on their salary such as young children or a monthly mortgage. Take this opportunity to save for the future. Whether that be to get a deposit or to save up enough money to invest in your future career (this is especially true if you’d like to own your own business one day).
When saving and a plan are in place, keep looking forward. Identify what the next stage in your career progression is and work towards gaining the skills that this job will need. When the opportunity for a promotion at work comes up, you’ll want to be ready to go for it.
