Just before the pandemic, I was invited to give a career talk for 100+ students at the University of Greenwich in London. Ten years ago, I was in that position so I shared with them 3 moments that shaped my career.

The University of Greenwich students were coming from various programs but particularly Business, Marketing, Banking and Finance, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I tried to put myself in their shoes and shared something that could potentially resonate with them instead of the classic inspirational speech.

In fact, I’ve also made a video for my YouTube channel in case you’re more into watching than reading.

We’re Really Powerful

I studied Industrial Engineering for 6 years at the Technological University in Argentina (UTN). The reason I studied this was because I wanted to have some knowledge of different engineering areas such as chemical, mechanical, electrical, civil and so on. Industrial was a good compromise to be a generalist.

Back in the days, I heard my university in Argentina had a partnership with another one in France and 2 spots available, so I decided to apply for a scholarship to finish my studies in France. In fact, I applied 3 times and didn’t get it.

I never stopped learning from each process and never stopped trying one more time. I was frustrated but at the same time obsessed and had no time to let the frustration stay in my mind for too long.

After 2 years of constant rejections, I decided to apply one more time. It was truly the last time as it was my last year of university. This time I earned it.

Fake It… Till You Make It

I was in France finishing my engineering studies, initially 6 months. I had my return ticket. But it was too little for me. I needed more time to understand the culture, how they work, how they live, what they like, what they don’t like, the language, traditions. Everything. After 2 months studying in France, I started to apply for an internship. I could hardly understand my classmates in real life, imagine what the business life could look like.

I sent 100 CVs to pretty much every possible firm. More rejection on my way! Only one gave me the chance of an interview. Over the phone and in French. Either I had massive confidence, either I was insane.

I prepared the interview for few days, writing down every possible question and answer they could ask and I could answer. Memorising my speech. Wow. The moment of truth came. They were asking me questions that I could only catch few words. Enough for me to link that to my long list of questions and read the answer I prepared if I didn’t remember it. That’s exactly what I did. They asked me like 10 questions. I could catch very little, but my way of fighting this battle was by catching few keywords.

The interview ended and I didn’t hear anything for a month. Luckily, I got the letter confirming my next round and eventually the offer.

After the internship, I went through a similar process but in this case for the full time permanent job in Paris.

Learning Is Perpetual

While living and working in France I signed up for my MBA (part-time) as I wanted to complement my Engineering background with a stronger Financial and Business knowledge.

I needed to find ways to stay relevant and to outperform constantly because I couldn’t make big mistakes. The truth is that I was facing a very strong competition from local people. I learnt the language, finance and to make money.

Part of my role in that job was to stay in Paris for 6 months and another 6 months relocate to London. I knew I needed to be there at that point in time to maximise my opportunities. And eventually this paid off.

Final Thoughts

One of the biggest challenges after University is to face the complex and unknown situations. We all want to land that one first job that will change our lives. We want to make a lot of money and perhaps to buy property. And have a dream life. But things don’t always go according to the plan and we need to be willing to learn beyond the formal education.

It’s key to focus on how to build a network, how to think outside of the box, how to learn from mistakes, how to stay calm, how to use our unfair advantage and how money works for example. When we’re newly grads we tend to get trapped because we might think that money will buy happiness.

But we forget that happiness is not a destination, but a journey. Let’s enjoy the process.