advice for early career professionals

Episode Description:

I always feel fortunate to get the lineup of guests that we do for this podcast. They carry with them many years of experience and wisdom. One of the areas of continued relevance is advice they give to early professionals. We asked each guest what common challenges they've observed in early career professionals and what mentorship advice they usually give.

Interview by Jimmy Jia (www.jimmyjia.com)

Music by Sean Hart (www.seanhart.com)

Website: http://www.leversforchangepodcast.com/

Let us start with Jay Bruns, the Senior Climate Policy Advisor to the WA State Insurance Commissioner. His answer was a succinct of the Career Advice Episode from Season 1 - to search for sustainability impact within your existing job rather than applying for a job title that includes Sustainability.

Suzanne Singer, Chief Engineer of Native Renewables, see that students as young as Junior High and High School are already getting interested in clean energy jobs. To those people, there's nothing more important than getting good grades because, unfortunately, it’s the metric most of the world relies on.

When people enter the work force, they face a multitude of challenges, from simply landing a job, to not settling for less than what matters to them, as Ben Kott, CEO of LightsourceBP Labs observed.

It's great if you already have that vision, but what if you don't? Or, what if your vision isn't right sized to your capabilities? Prachi Vakharia, Managing Director of Womanium noted that she often runs into people who underestimates their abilities and encourages people to dream bigger.

Stacy Flynn, CEO and co-founder of Evernu agrees. And not just dream bigger, but for a lot of female leaders, to not lose confidence in their abilities and the pursuit of their dreams.

But no matter one's passion, their ability to perform must match their visions of big dreams. The upshot? Work hard and know why you're doing it. Jud Virden, Associate Laboratory Director of Pacific Northwest National Labs explains

So, there you have it. Whether you're in high school or junior high, just trying to land your first job, or trying to shift careers, it is a combination of dreaming big, of knowing the "so what" question that you're working on and working hard to deliver on achieving it. But above all else, it's the grit to continue. After all, each of our guests have spent many decades on their career journeys and they would not be where they are without perseverance.