It’s been half a year of continuous learning since my last blog , and what a wild half a year it has been! I’m not sure if the world is better off now than it was when I was writing the last one, but I feel confident that I certainly am. 

Self-awareness, learning & growth go hand-in-hand

Never in my adult life have I learned so much in such a relatively short period. The position I find myself in is quite odd, I think. When my coworkers speak about our work, I can now thankfully follow along almost wholly, even contribute. However, the gaps in my knowledge are still apparent to me, as some topics we speak about might as well be in a foreign language at times.

I believe it is a good indicator of growth to be consciously aware of your blind spots, though, as it’s better to know what you don’t know so you can address it, but it’s still a learning process. For example, I spend a lot of time looking at resumes as part of my daily responsibilities and education, and now I am quite confident in what I’m looking for as I read through them, but I do not feel I’m in a position to give anyone advice on how to improve their own, at least in a professional capacity. There are so many titles, acronyms, qualifications, and technical terms I deal with daily that I know are relevant, but I often only have a vague idea of why. There are even some jobs and professionals I deal with semi-frequently, and I could only give a vague recant of what their work entails. But that’s what we’re working on. It’s a process, a metamorphosis! It takes weeks to turn a caterpillar from goo to butterfly, and hopefully, in this metaphor, I have moved on from the grub stage.

Teamwork really does make the dream work

It’s also important that I praise my team because I don’t know if a better learning environment could exist, or certainly not one I could imagine up. One of the greatest boons of the experience is surrounding myself with a phenomenal team. I’m an agreeable man, and I’m fortunate enough to have gotten along with almost everyone I’ve ever worked with, but never before have I admired and respected every coworker I was surrounded by, especially not to this degree. They have so much to teach. They are charismatic, conscientious, and highly competent, at least from my perspective. And as a novice among veterans, their wisdom could compare to Socrates’ own in my mind.

There is so much to learn, and I have the privilege of seeing snippets into mastery of what I hope I will one day achieve. I am constantly gaining an appreciation for the small details like the specific language and mannerisms they use when speaking to people regarding our work and the confidence that comes with it.

Only time will tell

Hopefully, the next time I sit down to write one of these blogs, I’ll be more accomplished and confident (not to in any way denigrate the progress made thus far), perhaps though, more doors will open that I’m not even aware of right now. I will find myself blind once again in a different manner to aspects and details I don’t even know I don’t know yet. And I welcome the incoming challenges and learning still ahead of me!

In conclusion, I’m having a great time; I love my work, this is a great opportunity, and I hope to become and prove myself worthy of the chance I’ve been given! If you’re a young professional and have the chance to join an apprenticeship program, my advice would be to do so with open arms.

Malique Richards is the current Tomorrow’s HR Talent Apprentice, working with the Nova Recruitment team during a 2-year stint as he learns all there is to know about HR & Recruitment here in Cayman.