With the population of young people in Kenya standing at about 33% and an unemployment rate of about 40%, it is important that you equip yourself with knowledge and practical tips to build your dream career when you get the chance to. You certainly will not or did not start off with your dream job, but making the right decisions that set you up for success increases your chances of getting there. In your journey, the people you interact with and the skills you gain along the way will create great opportunities in future. If you are a youth looking to get ahead of your career, the following ideas will get you started on a good footing:

1.  Don’t be afraid of taking risks

Life experiences teach us that not taking risks is in itself risky. There are so many things that we cannot control. Doing the same thing each day breeds mediocrity and you won’t move ahead that way. When you choose to take a risk, you set yourself up for learning, irrespective of whether you succeed or not. In taking risks, you demonstrate to your bosses that you can risk your reputation to make something happen.

2. Make a big impact right away

The earlier you make considerable impact in your job, the more attention you will draw and the more support you will get. Do not wait for 5 years to jump into a project where you can make an impact, start learning as much as you can and mastering your job from the first day. This enables you to latch on a big project faster, gives you an opportunity to prove yourself and puts your career on the path for growth. You become more valuable to your company and you attract higher pay, title and better projects.

3.  See  your career as a sequence of events

The best way to view your career is not how long you work with a single employer or the course you took in college. Instead, focus on the big picture and gather your experiences from different areas, whether it is from 5 employers, or various business functions that you have worked for. The idea here is to become a lifelong learner. Your experiences broaden your views, improve your perspective and make you more fun to be around. This is the way to succeed, have an impact and get a feeling of accomplishment.

4. If you are not passionate about a job, don’t settle for it

Most young people find themselves getting jobs just so they can pay their bills. The truth is this strategy doesn’t keep them on a job for long. No good company wants to hire an employee who is only interested in money; there will always be another person who wants more. Being passionate about a job gets you excited; you can work longer and accomplish much more. You do not want to spend your productive years doing what you don’t like.

5. Build relationships with people

Staying online on phones, laptops and iPads is the in thing for most young people today. The sad thing is that you can miss out on opportunities. As you are glued to your gadget, you fail to notice people’s faces. The strongest relationships are formed through physical interactions, not online. Companies cherish soft skills; you are better off dropping your gadget and communicating with people as companies hire individuals, not their gadgets.

6. Highlight successes in your resume

I cannot emphasize this enough. Modern day job recruiters want to see outcomes as opposed to listings of companies you have worked for and general information of the tasks you undertook. You need to package your resume in a way that tells the numeric impact that you had in the company such as reducing costs or increasing revenues. Make it a habit to measure your projects and keep tabs of the outcomes that your inputs generate. This will make it easy to justify promotions.

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