Episode 73 – 1000 Years of Career Advice, with Paul Murphy

May 31, 2018 Podcast

Hello and welcome to the 73rd episode of the Graduate Job Podcast. In this episode, I speak with Paul Murphy, author of the brilliant new book 1000 Years of Career Advice, which details the careers journeys and advice of 100 graduates 10 years after graduation. In this episode, we delve into the book in detail exploring some of the cumulative wisdom from the collective 1000 years of career advice. We explore some of the different career journeys that people have taken in those 10 years since leaving university and look at the advice they give students who are just about to graduate. We cover the pros and cons of graduate schemes, why you shouldn’t stay in your first graduate job too long, and why travel and working abroad should definitely be on your agenda as a recent graduate. We touch upon the power of work experience, and why you really shouldn’t worry as you start out on your career. No matter where you are your job search, just about to graduate or already searching for your first graduate job, this episode is packed full of brilliant advice and is one you definitely aren’t going to want to miss.

As always all links and a full transcript can be found in the show notes at graduatejobpodcast.com/1000years.  From there you will also find links to all of the other 72 episodes which cover every aspect of getting a graduate job, from help with interviews, assessment centres, to specific companies, to finding a job you love. Check them out and you won’t go far wrong.

Don’t forget, also make sure you check out http://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/subscribe which links to how to subscribe on Itunes, Spotify, Youtube, and by email. So something for everyone there.

You can download the podcast to your computer or listen to it here on the blog. Additionally, you can subscribe via iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher radio.

And don’t forget to check out today’s sponsor who are our friends over at CareerGym.com. Career Gym is the number one place for you to undertake all of your psychometric tests which you will face when you apply for a graduate job. No matter what graduate job you apply for you’re going to have to face some type of verbal reasoning, situational judgment, and working style tests. You can practice these at CareerGym.com. Use code GJP to get 20% off all of their tests!

MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

  • The top careers advice from 100 graduates 10 years after they graduated
  • Why you might end up using in your graduate job, less of the things you learnt in your university degree than you think
  • Why working abroad could be the best thing you could do for your career
  • The pros and cons of whether a graduate scheme is the best option for you
  • The power of work experience and why it might lead you into areas of work you hadn’t originally thought of
  • How non-linear most careers are, and why you shouldn’t worry if you think yours is taking a slight detour
  • Why you should be taking risks with your career in your 20’s!

SELECTED LINKS:

  • Check out the ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’ step-by-step online course at https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/
  • Don’t even think about applying for graduate jobs until you’ve read my free guide, ‘The 5 steps you must take before applying for graduate jobs’. Click here NOW. It will completely change the way you apply for jobs!
  • Would you like a free 30-minute video coaching call? Simply select a time that works here https://calendly.com/gradjob/ We can go over your CV, application, or anything that you are struggling with.
  • Assessment Day – One of the top providers of psychometric tests. Click HERE and support the show
  • Career Gym – Use code GJP to get 20% off all of their tests!
  • Job Test Prep – One of the top providers of psychometric tests. Click HERE and support the show
  • 1000 Years of Career Advice – Paul’s brand new book. Click HERE to buy it now from Amazon and support the show.
  • Rich Dad Poor Dad – Paul’s book recommendation. Well worth a read! Click HERE to buy now from Amazon and support the show.
  • Paul on Twitter. Tweet him and say hello
  • Paul’s blog. Check it out!

IF YOU LIKED THIS EPISODE, CHECK THESE OUT:

Transcript – Episode 73-  1000 Years of Career Advice, with Paul Murphy

Announcer: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, your home for weekly information and inspiration to help you get the graduate job of your dreams.

James: Hello and welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, with your host James Curran. The Graduate Job Podcast is your home for all things related to helping you on your journey to finding that amazing job. Each episode I bring together the best minds in the industry, speaking to leading authors, entrepreneurs, coaches and bloggers who bring decades of experience into a byte size weekly 30 minute-ish show. Put simply, this is the show I wish I had a decade ago when I graduated.

James: Hello and welcome to the 73rd episode of the Graduate Job Podcast. In this episode I speak with Paul Murphy, author of the brilliant new book 1000 Years of Career Advice, which details the careers journeys and advice of 100 graduates 10 years after graduation. In this episode we delve into the book in detail exploring some of the cumulative wisdom from the collective 1000 years of career advice. We explore some of the different career journeys that people have taken in those 10 years since leaving university, and look at the advice they give students who are just about to graduate. We cover the pros and cons of graduate schemes, why you shouldn’t stay in your first graduate job too long, and why travel and working abroad should definitely be on your agenda as a recent graduate. We touch upon the power of work experience, and why you really shouldn’t worry as you start out on your career. No matter where you are your jobsearch, just about to graduate or already searching for your first graduate job, this episode is packed full of brilliant advice and is one you definitely aren’t going to want to miss.

As always all links, and a full transcript can be found in the shownotes at graduatejobpodcast.com/1000years.  From there you will also find links to all of the other 72 episodes which cover every aspect of getting a graduate job, from help with interviews, assessment centres, to specific companies, to finding a job you love. Check them out and you won’t go far wrong.

Don’t forget, also make sure you check out check out http://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/subscribe which links to how to subscribe on Itunes, Spotify, Youtube, and by email. So something for everyone there.

Before we start lets have a little message from today’s sponsor who are who are our friends over at CareerGym.com. Now if I said to you, are you ready to do verbal and numerical reasoning tests for the job of your dreams tomorrow? I bet most of you would say no, well graduate employers don’t hang about, some of them give you as little as 2-3 days notice before you have to do the tests! So you need to make sure you are ready and willing to do the tests and start practicing now, which is where Career Gym comes in. Career Gym is the number one place for you to undertake all of your psychometric tests which you will face when you apply for a graduate job. No matter what graduate job you apply for you’re going to have to face some type of verbal and numerical reasoning, situational judgment, and working style tests. You can practice these at CareerGym.com, as well as numerical, and abstract reasoning tests. They are all produced by testing experts, and exactly the same as the ones you will see in the real graduate job tests. You can just practice them as you want, or you can do them in exam mode, under time pressure, and they come all with detailed explanations and solutions, and you can track your progress and see how you compare against your peers.

If you’re applying for a graduate job will have to do them, so pull your finger out now and start revising straight away to make sure you don’t fall at this first hurdle. I’ve been recommending this site for years to the clients I coach and it comes very highly recommended. What’s even better is if you use the code GJP, you will get 20% off of all of their tests. You can’t say fairer than that. So, head over to http://www.CareerGym.com that’s CareerGym.com and use the code GJP to get 20% off and start practicing today.  Now, on with the show.

James:  A very warm welcome to Paul Murphy, the author of the brilliant book that I have in my hand A 1000 Years of Career Advice. Paul welcome to The Graduate Job podcast.

Paul:  Thanks James, it’s a pleasure. How are you doing?

James:  I am doing very well thank you. The book is such a simple idea but so useful, do you want to fill the listeners in with a little bit about yourself and a little bit about the book?

Paul:  Yes sure, I am 33 and I am from the west of Ireland, a place called Sligo. Qualified as an accountant in one of the big four accountancy firms and in the last ten years I have worked in various positions at multinational companies. The reason I wrote the book is because there isn’t really anything on career paths on the internet because I have always tried to seek out people who are older than me because I have always been a huge fan of finance so I’ve always thought about going in a different direction and talking to people. I also knew that a lot of my friends were doing something very different than what they did in uni for a job; some of them don’t even like their jobs, some want to change and so I knew all this stuff and I thought it might be interesting to interview 100 graduates 10 years out of uni to see what the benefit of hindsight, see what they would say and what advice they would give to the younger generation.

James:  Yes and that is were the thousand years comes from, ten years from the one hundred people. Such a fascinating perspective they are able to give. I think when you are starting out in your career and you see people ahead of you, you almost think they strategically have a laser like focused plan for how they get there and it is really interesting when you look at were people are and then the paths of how they got there and see that it is anything but.

Paul:  Absolutely, and with the 100 people they were willing to help and they were in the exact same position, faced the exact same problems, worried about whether they were doing the right things themselves and worrying about their career paths. It was really interesting and they were all happy to help the younger generation.

James:  That’s great and what we are going to do is explore the book in more detail, pick out some of the interesting career paths from people in the book and then look at the advice they have offered to people coming in their path. So maybe starting off with some of the interesting careers from people in the book, maybe starting off with Colm who immediately peaked my interest with his story. Maybe let’s talk about that one first.

Paul:  Oh yes, Colm was a great one. Colm, a bit like myself, trained as an accountant with a big four firm in Dublin and after his three years training was up he went travelling around South America and during his travels thought why don’t I set up a hostel. So he went to one of the biggest hostels in South America and said ‘can I franchise your name and set up a sister hostel in Peru?’ So he did that and I interviewed him around that four/five years of his life and he never really saw it as work, he saw it as enabling people to have the time of their lives. He was managing a team of chefs, receptionists, cleaners, there are 180 beds in the hostel, another 180 personalities every night. He wanted it to be the highlight of their whole year away. He loved it, he didn’t see putting the hours in as a job or work. It was really inspiring because he contrasted that with his training as an accountant in his training contract.

James:  Slightly different.

Paul:  Yeah and he couldn’t be more different. He didn’t enjoy that work, he was just out of university, and thought that is what people did. It was just a job to pay the bills. After running the hostel for four or five years he realised that wasn’t the case, people can really enjoy what you are doing. He tells the young people, every interview is structured, the first bit is the bit about the degree, the second bit is about the jobs as they graduated and the third bit is about the advice for the younger generation. His advice is great, he tells young people, just because you did something for a degree, doesn’t mean that you can’t do something completely different and really enjoy it. Makes things happen, try things out, see what works for you. It is a really inspiring read.

James:  I completely agree. As a former geographer myself, so I did geography for my degree, it was really interesting to read through the 100 people and see who else had done a geography degree and seeing where they had ended up, the sort of roles and careers that they’d done. Tracing off from the same initial point of the same degree and seeing the diverging paths people had taken as they went along.

Paul:  Totally James and what I would say was he had transferable skills over from accounting. So for graduates or young people now, or even people who are a bit older and want to change careers, check out what kind of transferable skills you have that may allow you to move sideways into something you might enjoy more, try and be a little bit creative. He doesn’t run that hostel anymore, he has just set up a Whiskey bar in Sydney called The Doss House. He is a serial entrepreneur now, no matter what it is you want to do, do it if you want it bad enough.

James:  Listeners, next time you’re in Sydney make sure you pop into The Doss House and make sure you tell them you heard about him here on the Graduate Job Podcast. One of the things that really struck me from the book Paul is, the question you asked ‘what percentage of what you learnt at uni do you use in your day to day life?’ what is fascinating is the low percentage of scores people gave for that question. Nothing at all to a max of 10% of what people use from their degree in the job they end up working in.

Paul:  Totally and I think young people who are 19, 20, 21 probably think, a lot of people in the book thought their law degree would qualify them to teach law or work as a lawyer or practise as an accountant but you have a long road ahead of you when you graduate, but you don’t really know that when you are 18 or 20, it is really just a tool to get you in university for your degree. We know that looking back as 30 year olds, but it tough to know that in your 20s.

James:  Completely and as you mention it is all about the transferable skills and you referenced that some of the courses are better than others for that and people in the book talk about their courses not having the direct skills that they put to use in their day to day work but not having the broad ability to present in front of people or think about the analytical thinking and things like that and being able to use them in the roles that they go into.

Paul:  Totally, couldn’t agree more.

James:  So then picking out another example of someone with an interesting path, who would you pick out form the book?

Paul:  Another of my favourites was David. David graduated at the height of the 2008 recession, he had an undergrad and a postgrad in Human Resources but could not get a job for love nor money, very qualified. He approached a big insurance firm in Dublin and said how about I work for free for a month, can I come in and work for free? So they said sure, why not. He worked very hard did the same thing for the second month, worked for free, for the third month he worked for free again and then a maternity cover came up so they gave him that maternity cover contract. No way would he have got that contract if he hasn’t been learning the ropes in those two/three months. He ended up spending five years in that company and was quite a senior HR business associate when he left, he is now a pretty successful dude. So really if you are a graduate out there or unemployed or if you are having a bad time in video interviews or attitude tests, then try and be a bit creative. Try and see if you can work for a week, two, three, a month for free and if you can just get your foot in the door and show you’re good with people and show you can learn the ropes, you will be amazed at how far you can go. I don’t know about you James, but I am 33 now and it is a pity I am not 20, 21, 22 because I’d love to…I would email forty or fifty very successful people like entrepreneurs and ask if I could shadow them for a month or two months, can I help you run errands or whatever it is because I think you learn so much doing that, as opposed to an entry level grad in an finance or HR department. So try and take a leaf out of David’s book and see if you can do something a bit differently if you are struggling to get that smart in your 20s.

James:  That is really impressive perseverance there, sticking it out for one, two, three months and having the confidence in your ability that you are going to make something happen and make those opportunities because you do need to put yourself out there. No one is going to knock on your door one day and offer you a job, you have to go out and make things happen.

Paul:  It was a real investment for him as well, time is one of the biggest investments you will make in your life. Another one of my faves was a friend of mine called Suzanne. Suzanne has a real unconventional career path, she did zoology for her degree and in forth year the uni said, you’re going to struggle to get jobs out of this degree, so she was like great thanks very much. I don’t know if some of your listeners can relate to that but anyway she didn’t have a clue what she wanted to do. She had this zoology degree in her back pocket and she went traveling, she had some confidence issues, which I’m sure every 20 year old has, every 30 year old, everyone really. She came back from travelling still didn’t know what she wanted to do. She got a job in a phone shop selling phones and was very good at it but questioned whether this is what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, her sister got her a job doing finance and she did finance for a couple of years but she didn’t really like the finance stuff. Selling phones increased her confidence, she had a lot of good sales and presenting skills. She thought, I don’t like the finance stuff but I like creating the finance processes for the small company she worked for and maybe I’d like a more creative role or company to work for. Now she is an accounts director who looks after multiple clients for a really cool media company in Dublin. Her career path was really meandering, she tried out loads of different things and now she absolutely loves her job. I would really encourage people to try things out, that is one of the things I got from the 100 interviews, you can really try things out in your 20s, take little risks and move around in different roles, leave after a year and find a different role, you can’t really do that in your 30s. any listeners that are in your 20s try and get as broad and varied skill set as you can because it will allow you to be a lot more flexible when you do come to your 30, a bit like Suzanne. That was a really inspiring one for me.

James:  In the book you ask them ‘what would you do again if you were to start over aged 22 knowing what you know now about your career?’ And it was interesting the number of people that said ‘I stayed on too long in my first role, I should have moved on sooner’. I know personally that was the same for me, I stayed around in my first graduate scheme a lot longer than I should have done. When you are 20 it is easier to move than when you are 30 and might have more responsibilities but also now, no one excepts a job for life. No one excepts you to be in your first job for ten, fifteen, twenty years. The people at the grad scheme I worked at just did 18 months, tried it, liked it and then moved on too something that was more them and as you said just trying different things.

Paul:  Totally and talking about trying different things another good one that I really liked which shows you that you can change careers easier than people might think. A friend of mine called Niall did civil engineering, a very smart guy, did a four year civil engineering degree, did four or five years working as a civil engineer and then just says he doesn’t like it. He said he didn’t want to just waste the last nine years of his life and throw that in the bin, I think a lot of people think like that, don’t want to go back to college or start again because it seems to have wasted so much time. But what I found very interesting was he looked at the future. He said never mind about the nine years I wasted, what about the thirty years I have left to work, he didn’t want it to be as unenjoyable as what he had just done. So he tried to figure out what he liked and he liked IT and software stuff, so did a 12 month Masters with three months of it work experience. He said the three months was key because out of that he had practical experience, he wasn’t just a guy with a Masters trying to change career. The company offered him a permanent role so after his years Masters he was in a permanent job in a completely different career, so that kind of made me sit up and notice that in 12 months you could have a new lease of life. I’m not sure a lot of my friends realised that, they thought it was a big slog to go back and change or what would my parents say or would it be risky. So I thought Niall was a really good one about changing careers.

James:  That leads us nicely on to the end of the book you have a really good section and I like the quote you have there from Albert Einstein ‘the only source of knowledge is experience’. What you do is group together the advice of the 100 graduates into nice little sessions. Maybe if we start with university, it touches upon findings Niall had there. Maybe you could take us through the top three most common bits of advice from the graduates about university?

Paul:  Yeah sure. There was so much advice, James, all the 100 guys offered three, four, five different pieces of advice, so there was 370 pages of advice. So I thought maybe this could be the way I could group together the ones that really stood out. So university, a lot of the interviewees said, well the majority said, the more work placements you do the better. That is so true, it rings out so loud from 100 people in their 30s because the benefits are you can figure out what you like, what you don’t like, it lets you test things out on a three or six month placement. It puts you ahead of your peers, gives you a head start when you are looking for jobs and a lot of the time the interviewees said that if someone was doing work experience in their firm then they got a job out of it. Work placements I think are invaluable, I really do and interviewing 100 people just cemented my thinking on that. In some of the other university ones, people said research the jobs that you can get out of your degree. I think in my generation people just applied for jobs, if they were happy they took it and probably just worked in that job or career for the next X number of years. But a lot of my friends said if they were to go back they would research what graduates would get out of those careers. Talk to people 10 years down the line, what kind of jobs are they doing, does it appeal to you? What kind of money are they earning? Do they like their jobs? Are they pigeon holed? So do your research it will really stand you out. Then, some of the other tips I gave that are more career focused, one of the big ones coming out of the book is go and live and work abroad. I don’t know what your thoughts are James, but a lot of my mates did it in their 20s and I don’t know a single person who has gone and worked abroad and when life starts getting in the way, you have a wife and kids and people get more comfortable, they don’t want to live out of a back pack. That was a big thing coming out of the book, go and live and travel abroad, you will have the time of your life in your 20s. Don’t put it off.

James:  Just jumping in there, I was lucky enough to after university spend a year teaching English out in China and the friends I made out there are still some of my best friends now. It was great for my CV, it was great fun. I really got the sense from the profiles of the people who had worked abroad that…you asked a question ‘is work fun?’ And I can’t remember the name of the person, but someone who had been working in China said ‘yes, it had actually been too much fun’. So yes you get the sense that they are crafting a brilliant career but also really enjoying themselves at the same time which is really important.

Paul:  Yes that stood out, I interviewed people in Australia, Canada, Oman, China, UAE, none of them regretted doing it, going abroad. All increased their personal skills had a great time, new networks of people, Colm has a great quote, he says you are out there in the world finding stuff out so go and travel. Putting you to the test, would you go over now in your 30s and teach English in China?

James:  I would work abroad again. Maybe if there was a major recession and I was out of work here I would go and teach again. But I loved it, it was really good fun. The skills that you develop, especially stood in front of a class and speaking to people gives you so many transferable and soft skills that I was able to play upon going through the application process. It definitely helped me in my career, especially getting on to my first graduate scheme, they were really interested in what I had learnt. If you compared me, a year teaching in China with somebody who had not been working in the UK or had a lower level job it just gives you that little bit of difference to help you stand out when you are one of a thousand people applying for a job on a grad scheme.

Paul:  Totally and I don’t know if you found this, but some of the interviewees were like go abroad and do it because the little things like opening up a bank account and finding somewhere to live, if you can set up a life for yourself and do all these things abroad, getting an apartment in France or China, it just seems easy to do it when you come back to Ireland or England.

James:  I totally agree and I will do a link to it in the show notes but I have done a podcast before on how to apply for a graduate job abroad. As Brits it is easier to go and work in the Commonwealth so Australia, New Zealand, Canada, being able to work anywhere you want in Europe at the moment take advantage while you can. The opportunities are there it is just a question of reaching out and grabbing them.

Paul:  Absolutely and one of my other tips at the back of the book, well not tips but one of the messages that jumps out from the interviewees is related to that, stepping out of your comfort zone. A lot of people in their 30s are too afraid to take risks, do it in your 20s, go ask people for stuff, try and reach out for people for coffee, you have nothing to lose. There will always be a million reasons not to do something and they are really encouraging when you are in your 20s to do it. You might not feel comfortable doing it but that is the way you are going to stretch yourself, develop and learn and be a better individual and it is so true.

James:  You never know where those conversations are going to go and it has never been easier to reach out to people now with LinkedIn and Twitter, you can just pick any career you want, type it into LinkedIn and you have access to the top people in the industry, people near you and the companies you want to work at so you can reach out to them so easily.

Paul:  Totally.

James:  One question, so one of the ones listeners often think about is applying for the big graduate schemes. What is the feedback you got from the interviewees in terms of the pros and cons of the bigger graduate programmes having been through them?

Paul:  It was interesting, the pros they said you have a ready made network, you get different aspects of the business, so you get rotated into different aspects of the business that you wouldn’t get in a regular job, so you can learn a lot. But some of them, I interviewed a lot of people who did grad schemes in various companies and some of them said, to be honest I found the learning curve a bit shallow, they thought that might have learnt more if they went to an investment bank, or a different company or learnt something else. One of the cons people said was that it was very dependent on your manager or your client. So if you are stuck at a client site for X number of months and you’re not really learning or enjoying it or your manager is giving you a lot of work to do and you’re not learning from your manager, so it was kind of a balanced view. The only thing I would say is, another pro was that you make friends for life. Out of my grad scheme in the big four I met so many cool people and you really do make friends for life, I interviewed several of them for the book, they are all in very different jobs now but I could reach out to them and ask them for advice. I think that’s a huge thing for a grad scheme.

James:  One of the things that struck me that someone said in the book, I completely agreed with it but I hadn’t thought about it until I read it was a comment like, it is an extension after university. It is in them first couple of years when everyone is young, they are in their early 20s, you are working hard but it is a very social place to be, companies often invest well into you, if you are at a big grad scheme and there is a big cohort of you there will be social functions, meeting for drinks on a weekly basis and often if it is a new city you have moved to for the scheme then you have a ready made network already. It really is like an extension of university, it is good fun.

Paul:  Totally and one thing springs to mind and I have to say it. One of my interviewees Georgie, she says that she hires loads of young people now, she is an account director for an advertising agency and she says that grad schemes aren’t the be all and end all. She would much rather see people come in as an entry level assistant or even a receptionist and learn the ropes. Show that you are personable, show that you are hard working, show that you are a fast learner and she said that those roles can progress further than a grad scheme. I think a lot of graduates now get a bit depressed because they can’t get a grad scheme, it is so competitive and they get a bit despondent but I really would encourage people to be a bit mo creative. See if you can go shadow someone, see if your dad has a friend of a friend who can get you a month working somewhere for experience. Grad schemes are great but they are not the be all and end all, I would think.

James:  I completely agree and I have seen that in the places I have worked, people who have joined in junior positions and showed what they can do and have worked their way up and they do tend to progress quicker than those who have joined from a graduate scheme and just aren’t as motivated or driven. People who show the intuitive to get in often fly through the ranks when they get in there.

Paul:  Totally, totally.

James:  So thinking then about turning it on its head and some of the advice of what people shouldn’t do. What stood out from the book from the interviewees about what not to do from a career perspective?

Paul:  What not to do? I think this is a really common problem, people in their 20s or even older in their 30s and 40s, they worry are they doing the right thing in my career path? But really I think it is just nervous energy wasted. Once you get to your 30s you realise there was no need to worry because it all works out. That is a big thing from the 100 interviewees, they might have had bumps and blips and things might have not gone their way for a period of time but they are all very happy, successful people now. I think you don’t really realise that in your 20s, you are nervous and unsure, you wonder if it is the right thing to do, but don’t worry. That was a big theme coming out of the book. Another theme was keep your options open. A lot of my friends have taken jobs when they graduated and they have kind of pigeon holed themselves. The might work in a funds company and after five, six years of working in a funds company it is very hard to get out of that. So try and keep your options open, be open minded and don’t shut doors on yourself. That’s my key piece of advice, if you can do as many varied roles as possible and keep your options open, then you’ll be a bit of a jack of all trades and when you hit your 30s you’ll have lots of opportunities and can realise what you want to do. Another one if you are talking top three is take your time. A lot of the interviewees jumped into a job and barely anyone turned down a job. I wouldn’t necessarily be afraid of turning down a job. If a company wants you enough it shows that you are a high value candidate and maybe sit it out and see if you can get a better company, or role or more money. I think when you are in your 20s you are a bit naïve and you don’t really realise that, it is something you only realise in hindsight.

James:  That’s great and I think this is why it is such a worthwhile book and listeners need to invest in and buy a copy. When you do start out in your career you do worry, you worry if you are doing the right thing, applying to the right places, have the right degree, making the right choices. The overall theme I got from reading all the interviews was don’t worry it all works out all right in the end. You see people meander and I think I’ve said before on the podcast, career comes from the French word ‘carier’ which I think means road and that’s what it is, it is a winding road.

Paul:  Nice.

James:  It takes zigs and zags you might not expect but as long as you keep going you are never going to fail. So yeah read the book and be inspired from the 100 different interviews. You’ll be able to get a link to the book and a full transcript of everything we have spoke about over at the show notes on graduatejobpodcast.com/1000years. Paul time is unfortunately running away with us so let’s maybe quickly shift gears and move on to the weekly staple questions. Sticking on the theme of books, what one book would you recommend that our listeners should read?

Paul:  Tough question James, I would say Rich Dad, Poor Dad. If you haven’t heard about it, it is by a guy called Robert Kyiosaki and he basically grew up with two dads; his real father and his best mate’s dad. Both of them were very inspirational in his life, both of them taught him very different things. He ended up becoming a millionaire because of the lessons he learnt from the both fathers. Really the crux of the book is how the rich make money work for them and then poor people, middle class work for their money. It is only small, I read it about 10 years ago but it’s still a great book.

James:  Yes, it is probably one that is going to change the way you look at assets and liabilities and it is a nice easy read, don’t let that put you off. It will stick with you so Paul a nice recommendation there. Moving on to, what internet resource would you point our listeners to?

Paul:  I think for the people listening to this Twitter is a really good resource. I didn’t have a Twitter account until I wrote the book and I now follow some of the top influencers and if you are in your 20s and am trying to figure out what to do career wise, then some of the articles those guys post are fantastic.  They really are fantastic, they draw on their best articles, tweet them, retweet them. I really think if I had had them when I was 18,19,20 it might have been a completely different story. I really would say Twitter.

James:  I think that is how I initially got in touch with you wasn’t it Paul, through Twitter?

Paul:  Yes.

James:  So there you go listeners I practise what I preach, it is a great way to reach out to people. How can people find you on Twitter Paul?

Paul:  @100careerpaths is my name on Twitter and my blog is 1000yearscareeradvice.com and on there you will find interviews with people from the book and lots of other articles about careers. So do check them out if you are interested in reading about their career paths and about how people would advise younger generations.

James:  Brilliant, but links to everything we have discussed today will be over at the show notes as I mentioned graduatejobpodcast.com/1000years. Finally Paul, what one tip would you give to listeners today that would help them on their job search?

Paul:  I think if I could give one tip but like I said there are hundreds and hundreds of tips given in the book, but if I could give one tip it would be to reach out to people who are ahead of you. So they will have been in your shoes before, they can advise you on what to do next, they may know people who are hiring, so it may be daunting as a 25 or 30 year old reaching out to 10 or 15 strangers that you don’t know but if two or three come back to you then they can give you great tailor-made advice which will give you a head start on your peers. For example, let’s say you want to be a lawyer, or you are a law graduate wanting to be a lawyer, instead of reading shiny perspectives from law companies, go on to LinkedIn, type in property lawyer or whatever the title is on a lawyer in their late 20s. Reach out to them and say ‘hi, I am a bit confused about high path to take in law, could I just have a coffee with you or ask you a few questions for five or ten minutes?’ Those guys will have the situation that you are in so fresh in their mind that they give you awesome advice. Try reach out to 10, 15 of those guys, it is not a numbers came. If you get two or three who come back to you then it really will be great advice. As opposed to reaching out to someone who is a partner in a law firm who is forty, forty five, fifty, they won’t really know about how video interviews are or grad scheme applications are. So reach out to the guys who are just one step ahead of you in the process, I think that is the best advice I can give to your listeners.

James:  That is great advice and I complete echo everything Paul said to you there, if you follow that advice you won’t go far wrong at all. Paul it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the show, you mentioned your website and Twitter there, is there any other ways people can get in touch with you?

Paul:  Instagram, my blog and Twitter, basically they are the three ways. Do have a read of the book because it really is the power of hindsight. If you have good career advice from one person, you’ll get it from 100 people in this book. I really would encourage young people to read it because it will be so valuable for them.

James:  Completely agree. Paul thanks for appearing on The Graduate Job podcast.

Paul:  Absolute gent, thanks a million James, it’s been a pleasure.

James: Many thanks again to Paul Murphy. Such a simple idea for a book but it works so well, and it really is worth investing in. If you’re unsure about what it is that you want to do with your career then you will get a tonne of brilliant insights into people’s careers, looking at how they have navigated and thrived in the difficult role of getting a graduate job and then in the first 10 years of their jobs, or lack of jobs. You will quickly see that most of the people featured have had a meandering route to career success, so don’t be worried if your graduate job hunt is maybe taking longer, or isn’t as smooth as you hoped. Check out the links to the book and everything we have talked about today in the shownotes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/1000years. Whilst you are there don’t forget to head on over to graduatejobpodcast.com/subscribe and sign up so that you don’t miss a thing. I’m developing a course on how to get a graduate job which will distil down all of my years coaching into one place, so subscribe to make sure you don’t miss the launch details for that. If you have any questions, need some help coaching or with an application, then do drop me a line, again at hello@graduatejobpodcast.com. Finally, if you would like to support the show and to help ensure that I can keep putting out great episodes, one way you can do it is by clicking on the Amazon links in the show notes. Amazon provide a small commission to me if you do so, it doesn’t cost you anything but helps to keep the lights on here with hosting and the like.

So that is just about everything. Do join me next week when I speak with Scott Mautz on finding an inspiring graduate job, it’s a goodie. All that remains to say is I hope you enjoyed the episode today, but more importantly, I hope you use it, and apply it. See you next week.

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