Words by Danielle Castillo; Photos from Pexel
A month ago, I was accepted into Athena, a US-based delegation company outsourcing Executive Assistants (EAs) in the Philippines. I started training last Monday. This week was honestly one of the most challenging weeks I’ve ever had to go through.
It can’t be that bad, you might think, and you’d be right. Training honestly wasn’t that bad. It was really pressuring and difficult, true, but it was heaps of fun as well. However, what made it really challenging was the feeling of being out of depth, out of place—like I'm lost and not where I'm supposed to be.
And to some degree, that’s true. I’m on break (LOA) to recover my mental health and finish the INCs I’ve accumulated over the past year. Getting a job wasn’t in the plan, yet here I am — training among peers with years of experience under their belt.
However, if there’s anything I learned from the pandemic, it’s that life is unexpected. It’s a raging current that deposits us anywhere but our ideal destinations. Being a working student wasn’t in my plans, but it’s been the best twist in my life so far.
If there is anything I do regret, it’s that I didn’t really prepare for this job — applying for Athena was an impulse decision made five minutes after seeing an EA’s TikTok (yes, it was that convincing). Here are a few things I wish I knew before I started training with zero work experience.
1. Online certificates are a thing!
You know—the thing people have been raving about since the start of the pandemic, but you always ignored it because you didn’t have the time? Turns out it's really useful. You can study anything on the internet for free and earn a certificate that you can put in your resume!
Online courses and certificates can be real lifesavers if you want to break into a field with zero working knowledge (e.g., me). In my case, I should have taken a few courses on leadership, management, and resourcefulness to better embody the job description. That way, what I lacked in skills, I could at least make up for in knowledge.
2. You need to (actually) master productivity tools instead of always relying on Google.
No, having a “working” knowledge of Sheets isn’t sufficient if you want to coast your way through work. While I didn’t really lie in my resume when I said I was proficient in most tools, I wasn’t really a master at any of them — except perhaps Docs.
I wasn’t entirely satisfied with my skills, true, but I was very confident in my ability to Google. In university, I had all the time to Google “how to write a reflection paper,” and I thought that applied in work as well. Turns out, Googling can be an incredibly stressful activity under pressure. Having multiple tabs and gleaning no valuable information in 15 minutes because you’re so overwhelmed is a surefire way to spiral.
3. ALWAYS have a student mindset.
It’s ironic how most of our teachers at school always claim that they’re teaching us to have a “working” mindset to prepare us for work later, but now that I’m training for work, I found that what really helped me get better was treating work like school.
Of course, I don’t mean it in the literal sense that you give yourself a rigid curriculum and aim for straight As. What I mean by it is that you must never stop trying to improve yourself. Listen attentively. Ask questions. Volunteer. Take notes. Assess feedback and do better. Don’t think of yourself as too good to learn more. It’s a shame that I only adopted this mindset after reading Ryan Holiday’s book over the weekend.
“No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student. If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying. It is not enough only to be a student at the beginning. It is a position that one has to assume for life.”
- Ryan Holiday, “Ego Is The Enemy”
Could’ve Been Betters
The first week of training was honestly a rollercoaster of emotions. Monday dashed my hopes from feeling confident-ish to feeling like the worst student in the room Zoom. I had the worst time management, so I always finished late. I even went viral on TikTok accidentally on Thursday, posting about my struggles as a trainee. By Friday, I had a legit mental breakdown due to a house chore going wrong adding to the stress.
Looking back at it now, though, I feel so relieved that I could accomplish so much despite how unprepared I was. In training, I loved the promotion of the phrase “could-be-better” and the elimination of the word “weakness.” It’s very comforting in its nuance that you aren’t failing—you just haven’t learned or mastered the things that could be better just yet.
This newsletter was late, so sorry for that! I am now going into my 2nd week of training, so please wish me luck. Much thanks!
Were there things you wished you knew before you applied for your first job?
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