I recently completed a deck at work for a senior colleague and their response really triggered a reality check for me. I had thought I did an alright job quickly rushing together some slides for them but they were ecstatic with the slides, saying it was better than anything they would have done. I was honestly shocked as those slides were really basic level consulting work to me but it really drilled home to me that I have a very good grasp on the fundamentals of slide building which is what made it seem easy to me when in fact it isn’t an easy skill.

And this is the crux of this week’s newsletter - in the early years of your career, focus on the fundamental skills/capabilities for your chosen industry. It is really easy to be drawn to networking, being visible and taking on loads of ‘'side of desk’ work during your first few years in the workforce. While this is good and should be done, it shouldn’t be your priority as that should be building the fundamental skills for your career path.

Honing your fundamentals and being the best when it comes to them will honestly open so many doors and turbocharge your career development faster than you think. The main way is through building your reputation and brand wherever you work. As a grad or early career individual, first impressions and your reputation will be built on the quality of work you produce not how many people you network with so make sure your focus is on that. After building your fundamentals to such a high level and thus your reputation, opportunities and doors will naturally open for you.

I’ve learnt from experience first-hand the downsides to not building the fundamentals for your career. I had neglected the fundamentals in certain areas of my strategy consulting development and I’ve had this exposed later down the line in my career in senior roles where my work was not at the required level for that particular skill. So don’t think you can skip past the fundamentals as they will come back to haunt you in the future!

That’s all peeps, see you all next week same time!

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