Hi am 20y old and I am trying to put the “pedal on the gas” on my career. I am curious what type of skills I should develop before I am 30 to be competitive on the job market. I made my goal to become an attorney but I still want to get skills while in college and military
Advice for a 20y
r/Advice
Comments
Skills? Skills don’t really matter.
Job experience does.
If you want to get ahead of everyone else, go get a job anywhere in your field or adhacent to it. That is how you get ahead of other people.
The skills you need are universal and not specific job related.
First are communication skills. Be able to write an email with punctuation, sentences, even paragraphs, including a greeting and closing and never a ‘lol’ or emoji. Be a better listener than someone who wins arguments. Be confident enough to communicate at all in the first place. The best way to be forgotten at work is to never communicate or be too difficult or immature to want to be communicated with. Good communication skills also translate to good teamwork skills, which is really what they are looking for (and why experience is first over skill)
Next are time management skills. Don’t be afraid or insecure to rely on notes and calendars, alarms, or even writing something in sharpie on the back of your hand if it is what you need to do to make sure you get what you need to get done by when it’s supposed to be done.
Notes and documenting skills: never expect to remember everything, and they also serve as a CYA to back up your work. How you do this differs for everybody, but make it a habit.
Any other career skills only come with on-the-job experience. College doesn’t actually do this. College is for networking.
i def agree with everyone with the “skills” and “experience” stuff. you mentioned you’re in the military… that’s awesome, thank you for your service. lean on that. if you’re feeling inclined, i also recommend joining the peace corps (there are actually a LOT of vets in the peace corps rn… if you want some contacts lmk, my dms are open). it’s a different kind of discipline than the military, but it is HIGHLY regarded in academia and shit.
in the military, you’re with a platoon of other americans in a foreign country. in the peace corps, you’re by yourself in a village full of natives, most of whom probably don’t speak English. in the military, you still have electricity and shit (maybe it’s not super reliable, but it’s still there). in the peace corps, you may NOT have that.
not trying to say that one is harder than the other (peace vs war), BUT both military AND peace corps service will DEFINITELY get you a LOT of credit to be a competitive applicant for law schools and the job market. through the peace corps, like the military, you gain SKILLS and EXPERIENCE that are so unique and that stand out.
again, i highly recommend it. it will also get your foot in the door if you want to continue to work for the government through an agency, rather than risking your life. you also get decent benefits (probably similar to post-military service benefits) from the peace corps. having BOTH on your resume will really make you stand out against most others in your chosen field (or law/grad school), no matter what it is. good luck:))
Learn to network and maintain references.