Today we thought we’d do something different and explore some of the more unconventional pieces of career advice we’ve come across in our research.

Why?

Two reasons:

1. Cause why not?

2. We think it’s important to explore different perspectives.

These aren’t our views, and some directly contradict our previous emails, but that’s not going to stop us.

So here are a few pieces of left-field career advice that may resonate more than our usual waffle.

Don’t listen too much to anyone’s advice

Well… this is awkward. We did say there were going to be a few contradictions, so why not start off with the biggest one?  

Grads early on in their careers should ask themselves a few key questions: 

1. Am I growing? If so, by how much? 

2. How much am I learning? 

3. Am I growing and learning in the ways I want to? 

4. Can I see myself becoming obsessed with the things I’m on track to be working on?

5. Am I surrounded by people who challenge me for the better?  

These are difficult questions to answer, which makes giving advice on them even harder. Couple that with the unnecessary weight of strangers’ advice and you’ve got a recipe for confusion. 

Further, how do you know it’s advice worth following? Does the advice giver need to be successful in their field to validate their wisdom? Or is your uncle’s career advice at Christmas lunch worth listening to? 

The TL:DR: figuring out your career is hard and involves personal variables like your skills, interests, and values, and that shit is hard to advise on.

If you’re not good at office politics, steer clear of it.

Another contradiction…great. 

While we firmly believe you can’t escape office politics, some think otherwise. 

Some people have exceptional office social skills — they’re great at convincing others of their views, leading projects, getting recognition, and forging strategic relationships. Some just aren’t. 

One has to think that such different people require different career advice. 

Does it make sense to tell the office introvert that their only hope is to play politics or else their career is doomed? 

Maybe not. 

Another question then arises. Is office politics really able to be learned?  

(We think so). 

Perhaps the introverted software developer is better off learning a new coding language than office social skills. That may be a more effective use of his or her spare time. 

Worth thinking about.

Develop specific skills and think about specializing early

Is it better to know a lot about a little or a little about a lot? 

Grads are often told the former. To keep their options open, to explore their strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Specialization is what happens when you’ve finally figured everything out…right? 

This is generally true, however, one cannot ignore the cases of the early specialist. You know, the entrepreneur that’s been selling lollies since they were 10. 

They’re an exception, of course, and some of us are just born to do things, but it stands to reason that developing specific skills early on is a great way to increase your chances of success. 

It’s unrealistic to specialize early in a career sense, but you can absolutely pick a skill and learn it, which ironically, could help you find your path earlier.