A letter to a young graduate entering the often unforgiving universe of a workplace.
Positive Minds | Positive Quotes | Edition 020
Dear young graduate:
Congratulations on receiving your Master's degree with distinction from the Jury. You have reached a milestone in your life. I hope it lays the foundation for a full and successful career and life.
As you enter the arena of the professional world, let me warn you: having a great degree from a great school is no longer a comparative advantage nowadays. And when you are a young woman, you will encounter extra challenges in the arena.
"If my degree is not enough to succeed, what do I need then?", you may ask. Well, you can go to where everyone else often rushes to find a solution: Google. Then type in "key skills to succeed in your career". You'll get at least 20 million pieces of advice; every author swears their recipe is the best.
No advice is better than lived experience. In my almost three decades of professional experience in three of the world's largest INGOs and at the United Nations, I can boil down the more than 20 million tips on Google into three main categories.
First, simply being human who feels for and cares about others.
HR professionals will talk to you about "interpersonal skills", often and wrongly called "soft skills". There is no magic formula for being human. However, there are two key principles to follow: (1) be emphatic and show compassion, (2) aspire to be a net giver, not a net taker (more about this here). You will be surprised that, in return, people around you will do the same, or even more, for you.
Second, be multilingual.
Even if it pisses off the French speaker I am, English is a must. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Today, speaking and writing English fluently is at least the equivalent of a master's degree, and this is not about to change. But it is not enough. You need to speak and write at least one other of the 6 UN languages, i.e. Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.
Third, be digitally literate.
A few years ago, the use of computers was reserved for a privileged few in organisations, notably the leadership group. No longer. Not having digital skills nowadays is like living in the stone age. I am well-positioned to tell you that technology is a process booster and a performance catalyst. It makes all the difference between the average and outstanding performance.
Remember that tomorrow's illiterates are not those who can neither read nor write. Tomorrow's illiterates are unilingual and have no digital skills. In tomorrow's world, English and digital skills are equivalent to passports and visas. To travel, you need both.
The good news is that both skills can be easily developed. All you need is the will to do so because where there is a will, there is a way.
I hope you find these advice useful. I wish you good luck.
