20-Something Young Woman Believes She Does Not Have Enough Experience

It’s a global phenomenon, reports Em Thomas, a Freelance B2B Copywriter.

That was the task I assigned myself. Then I thought, who am I? How do I define myself when all I’ve done is exist in corporate for a year or two.

I’ve found making portfolios extremely hard. I have a short-term memory paired with a serious case of perfectionism. See? I’m quick to list down everything I don’t have rather than talking about every thing I have achieved.

Which is not a lot but it’s something.

Like, I recently was part of a round table discussion on how LEGO should market to Gen Z, as part of Word Tonic Community. (Which was pretty fun!)

Or that I gave my insights and tips into — ‘How to get better at Copywriting’ and ‘How Academic writing is different from Copywriting’ to high school students at Holy Cross UK.

Talking about how to begin with copywriting, Hosted by Word Tonic

A lot is happening in my life, but I just find it extremely hard to narrow it down. I hate the constant and numerous decisions I have to make when it comes to showing my capabilities.

Which platform is the best? What should I put? Which one would be accessible on all devices? Behance? A Website? Canva? What do I write? — my brain crashes.

I wonder if that’s the case for a lot of women?

I wonder if we all find it hard to describe what we do. If we always ask ourselves — is it enough?

Listing down my responsibilities in a CV can feel draining. Quitting a job and looking back can make me feel that — what did I even do?

The solution, an addiction to listing down all my tasks notoriously in Cron, apologies, sadly its Notion Calendar now. (Will never get over that awful logo transition).

In these situations, I seek my friends, they are able to reassure me that I have done enough. I do in fact have experience. I’m not ten years into the game sure. I’m not ready to be Head of anything (as of now). But I have been working for more than three years. That ought to mean something.

I have been writing for far longer than that.

And do years really mean a lot? How do you measure experience anyways in a digital landscape where we’re constantly outdated? Where everything changes in a split second?

So if you’re doubting your skills and wondering if you do even know jack sh*t about your job, fear not, you’re not alone.

This was what I told her — “Yes, I’ve worked in multiple agencies, done freelance and internships in copywriting. I’m currently working as a full-time copywriter and getting my Masters in Brand Management & Marketing but I don’t know if it’s enough.”

But it was true. Sometimes it may actually be that you’re inexperienced but other times, it’s just being a young woman in corporate.

I hope her words can bring you the same comfort as it did to me.

Special thanks to Em Thomas, the headline is a quote by her.

Cover Image by Serena Tyrrell on Unsplash