Many young professionals worry that they’re not “doing the right thing”—that is, they feel that their career paths up to this point aren’t like the career paths of those they want to emulate, or that they haven’t done “what is necessary” or aren’t “doing it right” and thus worry they won’t get to where they want to be.
“I see people ten years older than me doing things that I’d like to be doing some day,” I’ve heard many young people say, “but I haven’t taken the same steps they took or done all the things they did, so I worry I’ll never make it to where they are.”
But the fact of the matter is, most of us working in international education, exchange, and development haven’t strategically planned all of the experiences that have led us to where we are. Rather, most of us have felt our way into our jobs and career one experience at a time, often stumbling along the way. Ask any international professional if the path they took to get where they are now was smooth, and 9.9 times out of 10, the answer will be, “Not even remotely.” Many of the 12 very accomplished professionals profiled in Working World the book relay how their careers have developed not with ease or flawless planning but instead one “fortuitous accident” at a time. So it seems fruitless to worry if you’re doing the right thing, or following the path that others before you have taken. There is no “right thing,” nor is there a one proper career path.
In the same way, there’s no sense in worrying that you haven’t done enough in the past to pursue an international career, if that’s what you now realize you want to do. I’ll admit that I definitely did worry, once I realized I wanted to pursue international things, that I hadn’t set myself up properly to do so. Why hadn’t I realized this interest earlier and done more to prepare myself? Why hadn’t I taken more IR courses in college, or tried to do more internships or study another language or do another abroad experience?
Eventually, though, I came to see that it didn’t really matter what I hadn’t done but rather what I was going to do in the future. I guess it would have been nice if I’d identified my desire to work in IR earlier, but you can’t control how your professional interests develop. Rather, what I did once I came to grips with my desire to do international work ended up being far more important than what I hadn’t done—which sounds painfully obvious now that I’ve written it, but I still think it’s very much worth pointing out.
Looking at the careers of those you admire is very worthwhile—for ideas and inspiration. Talking to those professionals is even better—for advice, encouragement, and help in your job search and career planning. But worrying that you aren’t doing the right thing—i.e., exactly what someone else has done—is not worth your time.
