Adrien. Business and Management Graduate. University of Exeter.
I graduated from the University of Exeter in 2014. I had worked as a salesperson in a retail store during the entirety of my Bachelor, and that was more or less the entire extent of my professional experience. I didn't know how to look for a job. I didn't know how to interview. My worse offence, however, was being French in the UK.
I tried to make it work for a few weeks, but quickly abandoned the English dream and went back to France, hoping to find a job there. Not really knowing what I wanted to do. I considered going back to retail, for minimum wage. GRB got me an interview to be an assistant. I didn't even get that.
I persevered, and called / emailed the HR at the company that had just rejected me every week for two months to show them how eager I was to work there. This has a very, very low chance of success. Do not attempt; it will not work. I should have focused my energy on applying elsewhere. But it worked for me. I became account manager at a software company.
Obviously, this sounds like a tale of grit and courage. It's not. I had just met a wonderful girl, whom I believed deserved to be showered with gifts and dinners. So I did everything to move to Paris with her (sometimes in life, all you need is one really good decision), while avoiding minimum wage again. That was 10 years ago. I was 20. We're married now.
After two years selling software, I still was a bit lost and dissatisfied. So I went to do a Masters, and that's really when everything changed. I'd like to, once again, thank free European education. It was all easy from there: Consultant, Senior Consultant then Strategy Manager at Accenture - the world's largest consulting company.
So, a few lessons:
- Don't follow your dream: people who say that are already rich.
- Giving up is often the best choice there is. Too many people drag along projects with poor odds of success for far too long.
- You only improve when you're up against someone who's better than you. Move to the capital (whatever megalopolis is nearest to you) and get a Masters' degree.
- If life shuts a door, open it again. It's a door. That's how they work.
- Choose your industry wisely; it's better to be an average surfer on a big wave than a great surfer in a bathtub.
- The most important decision in your life is picking a partner. Compatibility, shared values, friendship, trust, responsibility, character, etc. matter at least as much as love.
- Success is wonderful, but the crises are what will define you.
- You don't find purpose, you create it.
- Get up. Dress up. Show up. That's always a good start.
- Don't underestimate the role of luck in life. Not all success is due to hard work, and not all poverty is due to laziness.
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