At almost two years post college graduation, I wanted to share three things that I've learned working in the real world.
1. The biggest thing that you can do to further others in life is to give your time and mentor others. I have had the greatest mentors in life - whether it was women older than me in school or executives I've met at work. All of these people give me great advice and teach me skills to further my life in the work place. My work mentor just taught me the best ways to do conflict management and one of my mentors and friends taught me all about STEM outreach. For me, I give my time to the Girl Scouts, NSBE, or whatever organization can use my skill set to further advance its members. Sometimes it is an early Saturday morning or an after school activity, but you will never regret spending the time to help others get a foot in the door or in STEM.
2. Figure out your post graduate style. I know when I got out of school, I was not sure what kind of clothes that I needed for work. I work in manufacturing so I generally dress pretty casual but when we have a customer or corporate in the plant, I dress business casual and when I have work functions or recruiting, I dress formal. I bought so many things that I have given to Goodwill but I have finally found what I would say is my work style. I wear a lot of dressier pants and wear a shirt that fits the occasion. What works for you and makes you happy is what you should wear to work and in life.
3. Network, network, network. All of college we spend meeting new people in clubs, at parties, and in class. There are a ton of people that you have connected with in life. I try to connect with anyone I know at the same conference or the city I am traveling to currently. I try to see all of my best friends once a year and my family as much as possible. I am such a huge advocate of keeping relationships alive but I also realize that sometimes you have to exfoliate those toxic friends or negative people from your network so that you can meet new people. If you can find balance between these two things, you will basically win at life.
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