Dear Young Professional is a 128-page, seven-chapter career bible, which chronicles life experiences, deceptions, and pitfalls young people face in the corporate world.
It also captures the essence of self-leadership and discovery in determining a person’s career path.
In the book, Christina Soname, a career developer and consultant with LYD Consulting, interrogates the dilemma of young professionals in their career journey.
It is her first book after a series of writings in online columns she maintained for two years, which metamorphosed into a literary work published in August 2020.
Soname advocates a paradigm shift in works ethics among young people by soliciting the adoption of stewardship above job and service.
She also harps on the danger of being obsessed with money, insisting that a career path is needed.
When we say entrepreneurship is a way out for Africa, we need a crop of young people who are not just trying to start their own businesses but are willing to support the vision of others pending when they start their own.
One of the reasons a lot of businesses started in Nigeria fail, the author highlights, is lack of good hands.
Seen as a career bible, the book fills the gap in educational development in Nigeria by capturing the fears and trauma of young people without career knowledge face.
Soname uses conventional style to inspire and equip young professionals venturing into employment to embrace dignity of labour and imbibe the mindset of stewardship.
She stresses that what makes it a career path is not that it is a straight-line journey, but that it a continuous journey towards a specific destination.
Another important issue captured in the book, which young professionals seem not to take seriously is the Personal Development Plan (PDA) as a lot of them think working is glamorous without knowing that it is just a pathway to a greater height.
The author says one of the major reasons young professionals fail to have a PDA plan is the absence of career goals.
“What goals do is to give form to what may initially seem like a limited desire, breaking big dreams into smart goals. Achieving one’s goals often will require a different and higher version of oneself, a more knowledgeable and skilled version. Today’s world is too fast-paced to rely solely on the learning and development plans made by your employer, except they are sufficient for your goal attainment in that season,” she says.
Also, worthy of note is the conclusion, which emphasises the need for professionals to adopt a world-class approach in serving their gifts by shaping them with an empowering mindset, tenacious work ethics, the right attitude, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
I recommend the book for every young professional with a vision and every corporate, which organisational goals is for excellence.
Soname is a first-class degree holder in economics from Babcock University, Ilishan, who believes that the quality of work delivered by these young professionals will fuel the economic growth and empowerment of enterprises across Africa.
