Preparing For The Next Step

Throughout my time at John Hancock, I’ve developed into a young, motivated professional with a back pocket full of experience, connections, and great career insight. The big business world can seem intimidating to students. My time at John Hancock has taught me to embrace change and be eager to take the next step in life, wherever it may be. The skills I’ve learned throughout my past two years of interning have helped me in both the professional environment and everyday life. I interacted with some of the greatest mentors I’ve ever met who made my experience invaluable.

Walking into my internship at the beginning of the summer, I was assigned one mentor who I would meet with weekly to discuss resources, goals, opportunities and more. By the end of the program in August, I had a network of mentors within the company who all wanted to help. While working at John Hancock, one of the main things I’ve learned is that people want to help you. When you think of an office job at a big financial corporation, you might think of it as a dull, stressful or boring environment. My experience, including a relaxed dress code and team building exercises, made me realize the 9-5 work environment isn’t something to dread. It makes it that much easier to network and make new connections with people whom you may not have even considered being a mentor at first. I considered my managers more as influential mentors and knew I could speak up if anything was on my mind. I found that many of my colleagues were mentored and received some great guidance when they were in my shoes, so they were almost always open to returning the favor and having a chat! Grabbing a coffee or chatting over lunch were weekly occurrences and it felt great to relax and talk to coworkers about life and career paths.

I could go on about all the benefits and great advice that I received from my mentors.  If I could share just one piece of some great advice that I’ve received, it would be that persistence is key, and this is something that people may often feel uncomfortable with or unsure of. In such a fast-paced and ever-changing society, there are a lot of smart, skilled and gifted young adults on the rise who want to reach their goals just as badly as you do. Being persistent, interested and trying to go above and beyond are how I’ve tackled the early stages of my professional journey. For example, I didn’t get the Campus Ambassador job the first time around. I applied, interviewed, followed up, but I was dealing with some great competition. If I had given up after not receiving the position the first time around, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I took what most would consider a negative experience and turned it into a learning opportunity. I re-applied the following year with a confident, eager mindset, and here I am.

I learned so much from my coworkers, and I made the most of my experience at John Hancock. The mentoring and networking opportunities I had were so valuable and I’m ready to apply the skills I’ve developed into the next stage of my life. I loved receiving feedback, constructive criticism, and advice because I knew my colleagues genuinely wanted to help. I’ve been put in touch with some great contacts during my time here and before coming into this company, my professional network was well under 50 people. I now have hundreds of people within John Hancock, Manulife, and beyond who I feel comfortable reaching out to as a resource in my network. I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today without the influence of some great individuals working for a great company.