Energetic, aimed at success in a highly competitive environment, today many strive for professional activities from school. But they soon realize that she alone is not enough, says Natalia Krivitskaya, author of the bestselling book “Right into a Career.”
Psychologies: What do today’s 20-year-olds think about their work, career?
Natalia Krivitskaya: When I started writing Right Off the bat, most of my peers (and I was 22 at the time) faced the same problem: everyone wanted to work, but no one knew how to break through. Our generation is very different from the youth of the 90s: at that time, many large foreign companies appeared on the market, it was interesting and fun to start working, everyone rapidly grew and developed professionally. Today, things are different: having come to the company, a young specialist quickly takes the first step, but then falls into the “swamp” of middle managers, which is very difficult to get out of. For this, it is not enough, for example, to work over time – everyone who tries to solve a problem with the help of overtime soon understands that they need to look for other ways and opportunities.
Why did you decide to write this book?
N.K .: I wanted to emotionally support my peers, especially since I already had some experience by that time. When a young man comes to the personnel department, he is often told: “Oh, you are so inexperienced, you still have to study and study!” I worked successfully in a small company, but when I tried to take the next step – to find a place in a larger company – I heard about the same words. I was told about my age and offered the most basic position. As a result, the accumulated emotions resulted in the first lines of the future book: “If you are young and you have no experience, this does not mean that you will not succeed.” And then the continuation came out by itself: do not listen to those who teach you to live, go your own way, do not get bored at work, learn to turn flaws into virtues, believe that everything is possible. This book is about how a young specialist can be proactive, show himself and listen to not all the advice of more experienced colleagues …
At what point and why do young people start working today?
N.K .: I started working in my third year at the institute: I got bored listening to lectures, it seemed that work was something insanely interesting, I wanted to wear a suit, hold meetings … Now many people start even earlier – in their first year or even at school. The reason is crazy competition: everyone wants to combine theoretical and practical knowledge, and also have one more trump card in their hands when they start looking for a good, stable job. There are fewer and fewer young people who graduate from college and only then start thinking about finding a job.
What do young people want, what do they expect from their work?
N.K .: They are ambitious, motivated, success-oriented, career-oriented. They want to apply the knowledge gained at the institute, strive to find themselves, move from one place to another, grow up, study… : so you can live freely only now. It seems to me that in youth everything is the same, we have no priorities: only work, only study, or only personal life. There is so much drive, desire and energy that you have enough strength for everything and you constantly want even more. We all have time to: roller-skate or bike, travel around cities and countries (it’s very important to leave for St. Petersburg on Friday evening, return on Monday morning and immediately go to the office), go to concerts, exhibitions on weekends, get to know someone on vacation -something abroad, then communicate online and visit each other. Nobody forgets anything. Young people do not get hung up on work, we do not only dream of a career, we try to do everything.
But when will this rainbow period end?
N.K .: Yes, I think, after 25 years. By this time, rarely anyone occupies a high position – they just accumulate decent experience, the first satiety of work comes, the first fatigue, the understanding comes that you need to take a serious step in your career, you need stability, insurance, a normal salary , you need to help your parents or think about your family, children … When you work and study, work seems like something fun – it’s fun, an additional advantage, you are a free person, everything is built on enthusiasm. But after your studies end and the first working year passes, you understand that this is a completely different life: you need to be in the office from 9.00 to 18.00 (at least), you are paid money for this, and the same thing happens every day or…
How do you solve this problem for yourself?
N.K .: If earlier I planned how to take the next career step, now I think about whether it is needed at all. What is more important – work or life in the full sense of the word? Is it necessary to strive to make a career and work from 8.30 to 10 pm for huge money, but at the same time lose freedom, not see either family or children? Many, after several years of a hard work regime, today go into free swimming – freelance – or move to work from a large company to a small one, agree on a flexible schedule – come earlier or leave later, take a day-off to tie one more day to the weekend – Friday or Monday. I increasingly find myself thinking that I do not want to grow endlessly and achieve unprecedented results. It is much more important to do your own thing, have a stable income, work in a good team and at the same time write books, draw, be creative, and have a good rest. Now I am just thinking about how to devote the next book to this very issue: how to fulfill oneself and find oneself not only in the workplace, but to combine work with a fulfilling life.
“The main thing is to start”
This is exactly what Natalia Krivitskaya claims in her optimistic book “Right into Career” (Vershina, 2006) and suggests several ways for a successful start.
- Do what you have been asked to do thoughtfully. Analyze what you are doing and how.
- Don’t waste your emotions thinking about your bosses. Don’t do anything for someone else: learn new things, make decisions, learn, move forward – you belong to yourself!
- Get out of the office more often. Make appointments at lunchtime: this will broaden your horizons.
- Share your thoughts with other people. “Dump” on the interlocutor the maximum information that interests you. It will be easier for him to choose the most interesting for himself, and he will definitely express his point of view.
- Never act at the expense of your future. Did you not take a language course because you have too much work to do? But there was just as much of it a year ago, and now only you remember it.
- Try to enjoy any (even the most boring) work, so you will have the opportunity to learn how to infect other people with optimism.
- Take a look around. Everyone is given the same number of hours in a day to achieve what we dream of. So don’t think that you are less likely than someone else.
- You are young, but that doesn’t stop you from thinking. What do you really want and what do you deserve? Try it, you just have nothing to lose!
- Avoid obvious success. Don’t go on the beaten path, turn off, try to make a new path that will allow you to take shortcuts.