As one of many proud Millennials, there are clear trends I’m seeing amongst my peers and the emerging generation of young people rising behind us. The most obvious of which, is that we all want to work on something we’re passionate about. We seek purpose. We crave a work environment appeals to our mission-driven sensibilities. Most of all, we require a “why” that aligns with our inner voice.

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We’re a generation that was consistently told by our optimistic Baby Boomer parents that, “You as Millennials can be anything you want to be,” and we believed them.The problem though, is that without mastering a useful set of hard skills first, success in finding your dream job or launching a successful mission-driven venture is far less likely.

Treat every job you take on as a form of paid business school, and you’ll find tremendous learnings within each environment you encounter. It’s important to remember that the job that you don’t necessarily like right now is a necessary step to one day landing the career you love.