HOW DID I GET MY (DREAM) JOB?
Recently, I have been asked in various occasions to share my experience during and after graduation in job-seeking in the #conservation (I would rather say #restoration, #nature and #wildlife) sector.
✨ Rewilding girls do not gatekeep ✨, actually I want as many motivated #youngpeople as possible to be empowered, so here are my thoughts and tips (might be unpopular!) on what has worked for me:
1. Find your niche, what you truly like and makes you stand out, even if it is uncommon (but better if interest is rising), and build yourself around it. I was the only one speaking about #rewilding in 2021 in my law school: I was stubbornly passionate about it and I noticed the topic was becoming hot, but with very low policy/legal attention ... so I decided to learn and write my thesis on it, while making #naturerestoration my personality in my free time. How? ➡
2. Engage in online #youthorganizations. I started as Policy Volunteer in GYBN Europe in 2020, as Nature Restoration Lead and then Biodiversity Coordinator for Generation Climate Europe (GCE), where I initiated the EU youth advocacy project for the Nature Restoration Law. These professional experiences count as work on your CV and put you in situations that you would not get otherwise. I drafted policy briefs and legal recommendations, I went to private and public high-level meetings with EU institutions, I even attended COP as a youth delegate... these are all experiences that would be given to a senior position in an ordinary work setting, but in the youth scenario, which is quick and increasingly put on the spotlight, you "climb the ladder" much faster.
3. On this matter, learn to spot opportunities and take them, you never know! Ahead of my Erasmus in Norway, I contacted a local sustainability initiative to introduce myself and, just because I proactively reached out to them, they decided to make me a youth speaker at a SDG event broadcasted on TV.
4. Accept that it will take time (and take it if you can! I went on a gap year and 3 Erasmus exchanges, and took 1 year longer to graduate) and that the process looks different for everyone: most people land the "anything works" entry-level job immediately and then jump from one workplace to another until a good fit ... in my case, I got absolutely nothing for a long time, and then boom, I got the dream job as my (basically) first job.
5. Controversial: prioritize the content of the job and alignment of values over the prestige of the workplace. Not only this will make you happier and perform better, but the latter does not necessarily say anything about passion and motivation, which I what we look for in this sector.
6. Grow your network ... but do not stress too much over it. Despite all the high-level contacts (see # 3), I found my job posted online and I went through the whole selection process as any other candidate.
💡 If you found this useful, interact so that it can reach others!
