My 21-year-old Self Emailed Me for Career Advice

What I told her isn't important. What she made me realize is.

Apr 18, 2024

Okay, so the headline was sort of a lie.

My 21 y/o self didn’t really email me. (Shocker)

But it sure did feel like it when I received an email from a senior attending my alma mater. She explained she’d found me through the MU Career Network and that she had a major similar to mine.

She told me she wasn’t sure how to proceed with her job search.

I pictured myself in her shoes. I totally remember how I felt at that age. I had similar questions but wasn’t as clever as she was - reaching out to an alum.

This very impressive and resourceful go-getter also told me she was interested in my career path and hoped to get some advice as she embarked upon hers.

Specifically, she asked, “What advice do you have for someone considering a career in writing & marketing?”

My first reaction was, “Oh, honey. That’s a damn good question. Can you ask other grads and then tell me what they said?”

(Remember, I’m a freelancer. I’ll take any leads I can get.)

But then I realized, wait… she’s looking to me for advice.

I wondered, “Does she realize I’m still figuring it out too?”

Sure, I’ve been around the block and have done a lot of things since graduating. I’ve transitioned from television production & writing to teaching and (now) back to writing & content creation (same production concepts, just better technology that happens to fit in my pocket).

I’ve learned a lot about writing & marketing along the way, so I shared some tips and tricks for finding opportunities.

I also advised her to use the power of LinkedIn & connections in order to meet as many people as possible. Because, as we all know, connections are everything.

As I was giving her suggestions on how to take advantage of the job search resources available - social media, YouTube tutorials, LinkedIn, etc., I realized how lucky kids are today.

a little girl sitting in front of a computer keyboard

I wanted to tell her, “When I was your age, we didn’t have the internet …” 👵🏻

And also…

“We had to find our connections through phone calls and live meet-ups and jobs in the freakin’ want ads!” 📰🦖

To make matters worse, we couldn’t turn to YouTube or IG for motivation and education as we prepped for interviews.

We had to read books, attend classes, or watch motivational speakers like…

Sidenote: Matt Foley made a cameo at my graduation ceremony - Chris Farley graduated from MU & was our speaker!

But I refrained from talking about “those days” because while telling her about the Dark Ages might have been funny, it probably wouldn’t have been helpful.

When you’re starting out, hearing about how bad someone else had it in the past isn’t all that helpful for today’s challenges.

And then I had a realization.

And… wouldn’t you know it, it happens to be What I’d Rather Be Talking About this week.

Most of the time, the advice we give is the advice we wish we’d taken ourselves.
All of it feels greatly important to us, and when we find someone in a position to receive it, we desperately want them to listen.
We want to SHAKE THEM SILLY (like Homer Simpson shaking Bart) so they get it.
(AM I RIGHT?)
And sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
This should sound familiar, because we do the exact same thing when people give us advice.
We listen, and maybe follow it, but essentially we follow an internal force that’s part of our life trajectory.
And we go on to make our own successes and mistakes, learning lessons along the way that we’ll share with others.
This is one of the reasons giving advice is bittersweet.
We clearly see the solution that can bring success and joy. But we know our advice might not be followed.
The other part about advice is that it reminds us of our mistakes and our missed opportunities, and all the advice we didn’t follow.
Giving advice can make us long for a portal to our younger selves.
Giving advice makes us feel like maybe we can right the record.
The only thing is, we can’t turn back time.
But by reflecting on the past, maybe we can be our own best future guides.

So… the next time a mini-me comes to you looking for answers - know that by helping them, you’re helping yourself.

Bam.

Now, let’s move on to the fun stuff. I’ve got more advice you may or may not want to take.

Let’s go!

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