Richard Dzikunu shares 4 powerful lessons for young professionals from his experience as a young leader on Ghanaian and Global stages alike.
It all started as an extracurricular activity.
When I joined a child rights group called Curious Minds, I spent time after school at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to learn about children’s rights. I benefitted from training and capacity-building workshops on child and youth rights advocacy, and these early experiences shaped my passion and commitment to youth development work.
Fifteen years later, I remain committed to adolescent and youth work and have successfully transitioned into different professional roles supporting youth initiatives. During these transition periods, I encountered other challenges as a young professional.
One such challenge is the often untold reality of young advocates or volunteers who want to transition into professional paid work. It’s often challenging to get started in your career.
Here, I reflect on my top 4 lessons for young professionals, especially from the Global South, who want to grow their careers and impact.
Lessons for young professionals: Leverage Volunteerism
Document your previous experience as a volunteer.
I know many young people who struggle to find paid professional work despite many years of voluntary experience. They may even be well-traveled to international conferences and have the education, but they lack a track record of how their work impacted others or led to change.
Throughout my work journey, I have written blogs about my work, submitted abstracts, documented my impact through reports and video documentaries, and, most importantly, showcased how I can translate these opportunities for my personal development to the organization that engages with me.
When I was shortlisted for the first-ever UN Sustainable Development Goal Action Award, I was asked about the evidence of what I said I had done.
I won the award because I could show the evidence and tell a story about my work.
That’s the key. No matter how big or small your volunteering as a young professional, take the time to document it.
Lessons for young professionals: Be Strategically Flexible
Be open to opportunities but also strategic in what you choose.
Being a young professional in your prime age of career development is exciting, particularly when you realize that your experience and skill set might fit different job opportunities. During my early job searches, I learned that I could work in various roles and was careful about my options.
I opted for opportunities that challenged me to use more of my talents, improve my previous experience, learn new skills and expand my network.
Finding opportunities that help me grow my networks of other young professionals and mentors has been a great asset.
Lessons for young professionals: Network like a Pro.
Networking is important. Find the style that works best for you.
I used to collect many business cards whenever I travelled for a conference or met other people. Instead of investing time and effort into knowing them and having a conversation, I mainly focused on getting their business cards with the hope of sending a long email to tell them about my work and projects.
Well, it never worked that well.
We all bring cards to exchange, but it is the quality conversation over lunch and memories of your enthusiasm about your work that people remember. What has worked for me is to allow a conversation to flow naturally and follow up where mutual interest develops. The opportunities will come along as you develop relationships with these people.
Ultimately, you must identify what works for you and keep learning to improve your experience at each opportunity.
The effort you put into your personal development results in your professional growth.
Let Feedback Fuel your Growth.
Knowing how to receive feedback can make all the difference.
My supervisor gave me three books to read on the first day of my Global Health Corps Fellowship at PAI. Among them was a book by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, “Thanks for the Feedback,” which I recommend to every young professional.
It is easy to become defensive when faced with criticism, especially as young professionals trying to prove our worth. We seem to feel the need to win, to be correct, and show that we are better than others.
Early in your career, there is more learning to do, and that requires feedback, whether positive or negative. You can get off the wrong foot if you aren’t willing to accept criticism gracefully. Recognize that the feedback is related to your work and not always about you as a person.
Accepting feedback led me toward self-awareness, understanding, and taking action when needed. It helped me understand myself, my team, and my work environment. Making the most of feedback kept me learning and growing.
Which brings me to the most important lesson of all: never stop growing.
2 Comments
This was a great read. I tend to downplay my involvement in most of the work I volunteered which makes it hard to document the journey because you think it is not that great.
But one thing I know is that I love to volunteer when the opportunity presents itself.
I hear you, Cynthia! I often tended to downplay my experience too, as I didn’t do it for the attention! But then I realized that I was hurting my career – and more importantly my ability to serve others – by not including and really talking up that experience. Won’t lie, I still find applications and interviews to be a bit uncomfortable because of how ‘showy’ we need to be in those spaces, so I just try to remind myself why I’m doing it.