Stop waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself at work and make one.

Coming straight from college and with no work experience I had little idea of how businesses functioned, or of how to function in one. I was mainly good at learning.

When I first started work as a recent grad I was basically assigned a series of tasks that varied with the weeks and months.

What I came to realize after a while was that those tasks didn’t necessarily follow a specific logic. They might be minor deadline-driven emergencies, parts of a larger goal my manager was working on, or temporarily helping out with some company initiative.

That is almost the definition of not having a clear path forward. Going from one assignment to the next without an overarching goal does not allow you to:

• Build up deep skills,
• Prove value
• Build your personal brand
• Set your own career path.

Your managers face their own pressures and challenges. For the most part (with few exceptions) they are not keeping track of or nurturing your career path. This is why the assignments are sometimes random.

So make your own assignments based on a career path that resonates with you:

Start with your strength as a recent grad: learning.

Learn all you can about the company, even the parts that have nothing to do with you or your department. Treat it as a research project complete with deadline.

Next, locate a specific challenge or even a whole new position you’re interested in. Your research will have uncovered several.

Finally, create assignments that will teach you more about, or get you actual experience with that challenge or position.

You’re still going from assignment to assignment but at least they’re leading somewhere specific that you want to go to.