I spent about a year volunteering for EA NZ before transitioning into a paid role. (First part time, then full time)
I interned with FEM as a research assistant, and was encouraged to apply for a role as operations manager when it came up. They also interviewed external candidates, but ended up hiring me over applicants with significantly more life experience/​education. (Not trying to brag: this still surprises me!)
Thanks a lot for reading and sharing your story Rowan! Love this story through volunteering, which led to a paid role, which in turn led to another paid role! I think that it’s a really valuable takeaway, that we don’t need a whole lot of opportunities, we just need one high quality opportunity, and then build from that. I also appreciate the point familiarity/​trust vs experience/​education. I think that people often believe that they have to be better than all the candidates, and there is some truth to it, but often it’s about standing out, building trust and credibility over the long run.
This matches my experience:
I spent about a year volunteering for EA NZ before transitioning into a paid role. (First part time, then full time)
I interned with FEM as a research assistant, and was encouraged to apply for a role as operations manager when it came up. They also interviewed external candidates, but ended up hiring me over applicants with significantly more life experience/​education. (Not trying to brag: this still surprises me!)
Thanks a lot for reading and sharing your story Rowan! Love this story through volunteering, which led to a paid role, which in turn led to another paid role!
I think that it’s a really valuable takeaway, that we don’t need a whole lot of opportunities, we just need one high quality opportunity, and then build from that.
I also appreciate the point familiarity/​trust vs experience/​education. I think that people often believe that they have to be better than all the candidates, and there is some truth to it, but often it’s about standing out, building trust and credibility over the long run.