Why You Should Not Be Afraid to Work Outside of Your Field

As a person who studies Finance but does an internship in marketing and PR, a lot of people have questioned my choices. 

If we hear someone is studying medicine, immediately after that we look at them differently. You build expectations of what kind of person they are and look through the stereotype of how people in medicine think, what skills they possess and what they are capable of. 

In my case, I face something similar. Not to such big extremes as comparing medicine and marketing - but when you tell people you are studying finance, you are met with expectations that as individuals your capabilities end at creating spreadsheets, reading the Financial Times and checking the stock prices every hour. 

Well, I believe that your degree gives you skills and knowledge, it allows you to learn and grow, but it doesn’t determine your future path. My whole life I was creative, and although being good with numbers was always to my great advantage, I could never get rid of this artsy side of mine.

This is one of the reasons why I started applying for different experiences within the marketing field. Marketing was something I was interested in and I believe will allow me to grow as an individual and as a professional. Joining Goho was the next step for me, it put me on a new level. I had experience working in marketing before, but I was never actually involved in working with social media accounts, or writing press releases or helping to plan corporate events, Goho gave me this opportunity. 

And it led me to think - how many people miss out on opportunities because they think this is not for them, or they are simply afraid to try and apply for an internship outside of their degree?

It might not be for you, you may not enjoy doing something as an intern, but does this mean it’s a bad experience? Certainly not. Why? Because you learn. You learn how to work in a team, you learn how to communicate, manage your time, and maybe even how to lead projects and take on responsibility for the work you produce. 

I am lucky to have really enjoyed my internship, I am lucky to learn and improve in the areas that I thought would not be open to me after I have chosen my degree. 

Any experience is valuable without a doubt, and if it is something you have never done before or are not familiar with - it is even more valuable. You learn about your strengths and weaknesses and discover areas for your development. 

So, do not be afraid of trying new things, always say yes to opportunities, and if someone tells you - you can’t do it, well, you would have to try first, to know that it is not for you.