The greatest opportunity of today’s job economy is that there is no need to wait your turn to engage your passion. The Internet has opened up the playing field for demonstrating your savvy and brilliance.
When I studied at Wellesley College, Google was just emerging as an Internet leader and Facebook was merely a new college networking tool. So much has changed in ten years! Back then, I knew I was passionate about the intersection of media and social change. I went to work at the William J. Clinton Foundation for four and a half years, making use of the research offered by the Internet, and from there, I was able to launch my own company, Imagine 1369, by following these tips:
Stay specific. If the depth of your communication on careers is that you are interested in public service, you are referring to a personal value system, not a job. What do you want to improve in the world? What is your greatest societal frustration? Saying that you want to improve urban education or that you want to help women in developing countries launch their own businesses illustrates that you have taken the time to understand your passions. Ultimately, happiness and achievement in any job happen when you know why you are there.
Live your interest. You can use Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter as a public reference resource on your career interests, and you can easily stay up-to-date on leading organizations, people, and news relevant to your passion. Try writing a review on Amazon on a book you have read or post a comment on NYTimes.com—let your ambition speak for you and build your social media imprint.
Put yourself out there. It is very easy to ask people for help, but the challenge is learning what you need help with and what you can do on your own. Conduct research and consider what you can do, BEFORE seeking the wisdom of an alumna or other mentor. I tried to engage one person I admired once a month, with thoughts outside of common knowledge (easily found on Google) during my four years at Wellesley. My connections led to leadership development opportunities, internships, and best of all, lifelong mentorships.
Attend events in Boston. Anyone you could want to meet is at one of the college campuses near Wellesley on any given day. Begin an event journal or download Evernote to your smartphone and record inspirational ideas and thoughts and revisit them later. Make friends with others attending events that share your ambition. Take advantage of Meetup.com, Eventbrite.com and events posted to Facebook. I spent a lot of time at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute at Harvard Law School, with which I still have a relationship today.
Make your classes work for you. The one thing I wish I had done better was to relate more of my courses to my passion of using media to effect social change. If you are taking a required course, meet with your professor to discuss your passion and ask for direction on how the course could feed into your passion. I spent too much time on other campuses and not enough exploring the interesting faculty at Wellesley. Appreciate time spent with both the people who challenge you and those who indulge you.
Get an internship related to your passion. There are many virtual and in-person internships available today. Try out multiple interests, because as you grow, your interests may shift. Get over the role or title of an internship or job and attend to the culture and your supervisor. Ask for feedback and learn to take it, good or bad, so that you can really learn about the work and yourself.
Success is building on your efforts and not taking failure too seriously. The path has been unexpected for me. Learning to get over failure and to practice patience with self and others are probably two of the most difficult traits for a Wellesley woman. But learning to be tender with yourself and your peers in your explorations can both build a better world and help you more than you know.
Read books, watch documentary films, write letters to editors, follow influencers on Twitter, and indulge your questions. Success is approaching ideas and questions and people with love, learning to reduce your reaction to the things you cannot control. I find that dreams come true faster for the constant learner.
-Jenna Bond-Louden ’04