By Mimi Granell:
Where has the time gone?
It’s as though I’ve blinked, and my first month at Five not 10 has whizzed right by me. In my second interview with the team, I asked what attributes they thought were important for an Account Executive to possess. The resounding answer was, confidence.
So, since the beginning of October, I’ve not only been thinking about confidence, but other habits and lessons that have proven important.
Confidence: of course, I’ve already harped on about this one. At times, it’s tempting to see the abilities and extensive experience of your colleagues and think, ‘something must be wrong, why can’t I do X like that’. But, in reality we all bring something different to the table. In the final semester of my MA in journalism, I interviewed freelance business development consultant Cara Ashford, about the notion of imposter syndrome. She said, “I wouldn’t label it, I would just say there’s always going to be some self-doubt whatever you do, because you’re learning something new, you’re in a challenging position.” I left my conversation with Cara, thinking the chances are if I’m doubting myself then I’ve probably put myself in a position for development.
Be a sponge: ask some questions, then ask some more. The whole way through education you’re told to ask questions, because they want you to be curious and learn. So, why would you stop doing that now?
Culture’s important: it’s estimated that we spend a third of our lives working, therefore finding a team that you enjoy working with is imperative - a supportive team will help with make all of the above possible!
Create a scrapbook: no, don’t go printing off everyone’s Teams photos and sticking them in an A4 book. Instead, save examples of work you get feedback on to use as a reference point later on.
Learn the difference between important and urgent: As our Account Director, Emma told me in my first week. When you’ve got a million and one jobs to tick off your list, learning the difference between what’s important and what’s urgent.