'See every misstep as a lesson': Well-known faces share career advice they'd give to their younger selves

Take every opportunity going, push yourself outside your comfort zone, and don’t try to figure out every step, say high-profile people and professionals

Laura Dowling: "Follow what lights you up and if you keep your standards high and if your work is useful, honest, and coming from a good place, you’ll be on the right track.” Picture: Moya Nolan.

Newcomers to the workplace are often full of energy and enthusiasm. Over time, that dynamism tends to be replaced by hard-won wisdom. But imagine what we could achieve if we combined the two. We ask people what career advice they would give their younger selves.

Say yes to every opportunity

Virgin Media news correspondent Zara King would reassure herself that she was on the right path. King did work experience at her local radio station in Waterford during her transition year at school, and was “immediately bitten by the broadcasting bug”.

“I’d go down to the radio station every chance I got after that, after school and at weekends, putting myself in the line of opportunity,” she says. 

Zara King of Virgin Media Television News. Picture: Brian McEvoy.

“That would be my advice for anyone setting out now: say yes to any opportunity and figure out the logistics later. When you’re young, you have energy to spare, and I filled every hole I could on that radio station’s roster and learned so much and got to know so many people as a result.”

She took the same approach when she joined Newstalk in her mid-20s. “I wanted to be out in the field finding and reporting the news, but the only shifts were on the desk writing and reading the news stories,” she says. “I took those shifts, and when news reporting shifts came up on weekends, I took those too. I wanted to gain that reporting experience even if it meant working seven days a week, and that got me where I am today.”

Do something that brings joy

Businesswoman Margaret Goldsmith from New Ross, Co Wexford, didn’t have a clear career path in mind from a young age. As a result, she worked in hospitality and the service sector before moving into HR, training, and development, and then becoming a director of Guardian Fire and Safety Products.

She would tell anyone who isn’t sure about their career plan that they “don’t have to have it all figured out. Try to do something that brings you joy. And remember that your work ethic is your reputation, so be kind and help others. It will get you noticed, and a creative opportunity.”

It’s never too late to change

Cork-based chartered coaching and education psychologist Clara Byrne would tell her younger self that “it’s never too late to change direction or try something different. Every day brings the possibility of a new beginning.”

Try new things

Eric Roberts, the Ireland AM presenter, started working with his uncles, who were building contractors, while he was still at school.

“My mother thought I should follow in their footsteps and convinced me to study civil engineering, which I hated,” he says.

He left that course and tried performing arts. “But even then I didn’t know what to do,” he says. 

Ireland AM presenter Eric Roberts.

“I enjoyed sales for a while before training as a special needs assistant. I found that I loved that and thought it would be what I did for the rest of my life.”

That wasn’t how things panned out. Roberts discovered TikTok during lockdown, started posting videos online, built up a following, and new job offers started coming his way.

“How could I say no to travelling, hosting red carpets, and interviewing celebrities? I grabbed those opportunities with both hands,” he says.

Roberts quickly realised that pushing himself outside his comfort zone usually led to rewards. “The more I tried new things, the more new things I got offered, so I decided to trust in myself and see where I would end up.”

That approach led to him being asked to fill small slots on Ireland AM and eventually taking over as a permanent presenter. It also resulted in him writing a children’s book based on his experience working with young people with special needs.

“I’d never have seen myself as an author or TV presenter,” says Roberts. “So, to anyone who feels they haven’t got their lives planned out, don’t panic. It’s never too late to make a change. Grab the opportunities that are presented to you and work hard at them. If you do, who knows where you’ll be this time next year?”

Have a plan

Chef and TV presenter Mark Moriarty believes in the power of having a plan. 

“Big ideas will only come to fruition with a detailed and accountable plan,” he says. 

Chef and TV presenter Mark Moriarty.

“So set weekly, monthly, and annual goals on your phone that you can refer to regularly. And never give up when the going gets tough. It’s supposed to be tough.”

Always ask for feedback

Christina Canning is the co-founder of Kildare-based consultancy firm Inalead HR and her advice to herself would be “to always ask for feedback when you get rejected. Don’t be hard on yourself if things don’t work out as planned. Try to learn from it.”

See every misstep as a lesson

Pharmacist and women’s health advocate Laura Dowling sees “failure as feedback”.

“See every misstep as a lesson and every wobble as data. Stay curious and think outside of the box and if ever the box gets too tight, step out of it altogether. Follow what lights you up and if you keep your standards high and if your work is useful, honest, and coming from a good place, you’ll be on the right track.”

Fabulous Pharmacist, Laura Dowling pictured at the launch her debut book Love Your Vulva earlier this year. Picture: Conor McCabe Photography.

Dowling, who is also an author, podcaster, and the driving force behind FabU nutritional supplements, would also advise her younger self to “stop trying to pick one thing and stick to it forever. It’s a lovely idea on paper, but a complete fiction in real life.

“Skills travel. My time as a pharmacist taught me how to listen, translate science into plain English, and take responsibility. These skills work just as well on social media and in business.”

Don’t reflect for too long

If Kildare-based career coach Sarah Lennon could travel back in time, she would tell herself not to spend too long on reflection.

“Reflection is really important, but it won’t help you move forward,” she says. “You have to change what you’re doing by taking action. And remember that opportunities don’t always come in the form you expect. So stay open to potential.”

Take chances

Norah Casey has had a long and varied career. She initially trained as a nurse before becoming a businesswoman, magazine publisher, TV personality, and broadcaster.

Rather than imagining what she would say to a younger Norah, she wonders what her older self might say to the person she is today.

“I imagine she would encourage me to take chances,” says Casey. “To quell the inner voices that whisper ‘don’t’ and raise my hand high for every possibility life throws my way.”

Businesswoman, magazine publisher and TV personality, Norah Casey.

It’s an approach she has taken all her life, and she has experienced highs and lows as a result.

“There’s a picture of me as a young student nurse competing in a dance-off,” she says. “I wasn’t too concerned about my untapped potential then. I was channelling my inner wild child and hoping to win the trophy, which I did.”

Even if she could, she wouldn’t tell “that happy carefree girl any of what life had in store. If I had forewarned her to avoid the worst of it, she might have missed the best.

“So I’ll leave my younger self to enjoy the dance-off and blunder through the decades, making all the good and bad choices that made me who I am.”