Don’t Sacrifice Your Dreams For Prestigious Titles This Recruiting Season

Us Millenials, we're lucky.

We have been born into a generation where we are constantly told that we must, above all else, do what we love and follow our dreams. However, in the heat of recruiting season, it is easy to ignore this crucial piece of advice.

Nowadays, we're upperclassmen who know that the end is in sight. The days that were once spent talking for countless hours about our dream jobs seem long gone, as everyone and their mother seems to be on the hunt for an internship.

The stakes are high and the social pressure soon becomes so unbearable that we start to tell ourselves that we must, above all else,  get an internship offer before the holidays. 

"That dream stuff? Nah, who even does that anyway"

 Soon enough, we're applying to roles for the wrong reasons and our last summer before the real world will leave us unhappy and unfulfilled.

This is tragic because there is no doubting the value of a great internship. Not only is it an excellent opportunity to hone and develop a versatile skill set, but it also gives you a chance to work alongside other talented professionals in an industry that you find compelling. Often, these experiences can give you the foundation upon which you can build a career and, ultimately, follow your dreams.

But, think about it for a second, what really makes an internship great?

The answer is, quite simply, you. Yes, you make the internship great. Everything else (location, money, firm) is just a bonus. The above experience only occurs when we choose the right internship, that being the opportunity that will take us one step closer to fulfilling our dreams.

An internship at a prestigious organization with a role that does not interest you is not a great internship, but an internship at an unknown organization doing something you love, is.

We cannot let this overwhelming social pressure get the better of us. Do not become obsessed with getting any internship, rather, become obsessed with doing everything that you can to follow and fulfil your dreams. 

Start making decisions based on what you love and want to do, rather than on what others think you should do.

Make sure you follow your dreams this recruiting season, not someone else's.

"If you don't build your dream, someone will hire you to help them build theirs" - Tony Gaskins Jr.

Here are four ways you can follow your dreams this recruiting season:

1. Decide What's Most Important To You, Nobody Else
   - Grab a piece of paper and write down all your dreams, goals and aspirations.
   - Reflect on each goal that you have written and make sure that it is meaningful to you, no-one else.
2. Plan Out Your Dream Summer
   - Now that you have your goals written down, write down what your perfect summer would like (location, work, pay, role etc.)
   - Get online and start researching. Does your role already exist? If not, find ways that others have created, designed and funded their dream summers.
   - Hint: Thousands of dollars that go towards student grants often go unused simply because students do not apply. You can only gain from applying.
3. Be Bold, Take A Risk & Make it Happen
   - Stop pursuing options that are not what you truly want and start spending all your time working towards this opportunity.
   - Get creative, you're going to need help if your going to make this happen.
   - Network with anyone who can help make this dream summer a reality for you. Email them, let them know who you are and tell them why they should hear your story.
4.  I Promise It Will All Be Okay
   - *Repeat Step 3 until you find joy*
   - And finally, trust the process.

If you're wondering why I talk with such confidence about this issue, it is because I made the very mistake that I spent this entire article warning against.

Although I did not find any internship description remotely stimulating, I still decided to  pursue an internship in a popular industry with a major company because everyone else told me that I should.

Soon enough, I managed to convince myself that I liked the role just because I was so scared of what other people would think if I did not apply. As I started to make several networking calls a day to this particular company, I realised that I could not continue to fool myself, and them, that I really wanted this internship.

Not only was I wasting their precious time, but I was also wasting away my own energy and morale. So, I quit the recruiting season.

No more Career Fairs, job applications or networking calls to companies I did not want to work for. Instead, I took a risk and decided to pursue an internship application with the startup that I am currently involved with, ProMazo.

Although I may not be sitting in a skyscraper office or taking my coffee breaks in Central Park, it is here that I will have the opportunity to create meaningful change in hundreds of students' and companies lives.

But above all else, have the opportunity to follow my dreams. 

#NDThoughts #StudentVoices