Introducing yourself is your first chance at a good impression. This episode will help you polish your elevator pitch and get a leg up on introductions.

Sometimes it's better to create habits than to set goals. What are your habits every day? Week? Month? Quarter? Year? Do you have a topic you want us to cover on Sharpen? Share it HERE If you’d like to receive Kirby’s occasional blog posts for young professionals, check that out HERE We also have an Instagram account. Follow if you want to be sure you know about the latest episode coming out.

When you are a young professional in the workplace or about to graduate college, you hear “just get in there and take initiative” or “we are looking for employees who know how to take initiative”. However, this is rarely a discussion we’ve had in college or beyond. What does that mean? What are some examples? What if this isn’t my personality? We’ll talk about these questions on this episode. Do you have a topic you want us to cover on Sharpen? Share it HERE If you’d like to receive Kirby’s occasional blog posts for young professionals, check that out HERE We also have an Instagram account. FOLLOW if you want to be sure you know about the latest episode coming out

Sharing your work is a proactive step in communication that you can develop early on in your career. This is a great way to share progress and learnings with your team, manager or boss, and the people you serve. The application looks vastly different by industry and individual so take liberty in deciding what this looks like for you. Do you have a practical way to share with your audience in which you share your work? Reach out HERE to let us know If you’d like to receive Kirby’s occasional blog posts for young professionals, check that out HERE We also have an Instagram account. FOLLOW if you want to be sure you know about the latest episode coming out.

Kirby shares what she loves about the book “How Will You Measure Your Life” and the mention of two different strategies for life. These are especially helpful for young professionals in the first ten years of a career. HERE is the book HERE is further reading about this topic Do you want to share a book recommendation for this audience and 1-2 sentences of why they should check it out? Do so HERE If you’d like to receive Kirby’s occasional blog posts for young professionals, check that out HERE We also have an Instagram account. FOLLOW if you want to be sure you know about the latest episode coming out

In this final episode of the Back to Basics Series, we talk about the importance of recognizing milestones in the workplace as a young professional. We often go through the first years of our careers without recognizing the progress made. This is a great episode for people leaders who work with young professionals to be reminded of the milestones that do take place. If you’d like to receive Kirby’s occasional blog posts for young professionals, check that out HERE We also have an Instagram account. FOLLOW if you want to be sure you know about the latest episode coming out

“There’s no such thing as a bad question!” Well, maybe there can be some bad questions. But how in the world do we even know what good questions exist, especially as young professionals? Today’s episode is super practice with questions you can begin asking right away. Change them up a bit to make them work for you and your workplace, but having a core set of questions to ask can leave you feeling confident and curious, ready to connect and learn. If you’d like to receive Kirby’s occasional blog posts for young professionals, check that out HERE We also have an Instagram account. FOLLOW if you want to be sure you know about the latest episode coming out.

A spirit and discipline of gratitude is one of the most basic and simple practices that will create profound impact in your career. Today’s episode highlights this spirit along with sharing ideas to help inspire how you might build this into your days. Gratitude is often thought as something that simply happens but as we discuss in this episode, it is often a practice that we build that eventually becomes habitual... but we first have to build it in. Do you have a topic for this Back to Basic series you want to learn more about? Share your comments HERE Be sure to share this episode with another young professional in your network and don’t forget that college students, especially seniors, are great people to share Sharpen episodes with as they prepare for the next phase in life.

Today’s episode will feature two simple categories of thinking about your work and how both are essential for success at work and beyond. Continuing in our Back to Basics series, on stage/back stage reminds us of the simplicity and impact of structuring our days along with knowing that we probably have a bias to one of the two. There is also a reminder that both of these will likely take more time and effort as a young professional. Don’t count yourself out or think you’re not qualified because it takes more work; it makes sense that it takes more work. Do you have a topic for this Back to Basic series you want to learn more about? Share your comments HERE Be sure to share this episode with another young professional in your network and don’t forget that college students, especially seniors, are great people to share Sharpen episodes with as they prepare for the next phase in life.

As we continue in the Back to Basics Series, today’s topic is all about mentors and pursuing a diversity of mentors in your life. Kirby will share about the idea of a Personal Board of Directors that allow young professionals to learn from a variety of people in a variety of areas of life. You will not find ONE mentor to advise and guide you in all areas of life, so a mindset of a personal board of directors will a basic concept with great impact in your career and life. Do you have a topic for this Back to Basic series you want to learn more about? Share your comments HERE Be sure to share this episode with another young professional in your network and don’t forget that college students, especially seniors, are great people to share Sharpen episodes with as they prepare for the next phase in life.

We can lose sight of the “who” in our spheres of influence as young professionals from time to time. Being a great team mate to your peers in your role is one of the most crucial components of being a great leader. Today’s Back to Basics episode is all about why and how to be a great teammate at work. These are some of the most important relationships you can focus on building as a young professional. Do you have a topic for this Back to Basic series you want to learn more about? Share your comments HERE Be sure to share this episode with another young professional in your network and don’t forget that college students, especially seniors, are great people to share Sharpen episodes with as they prepare for the next phase in life.

Sharpen is back! The podcast will continue to focus on young professionals in the first ten years of a career with both interviews and short episodes with practical applications. Consider these episodes as your 5-10 minute professional and personal development boost for the week. Kirby kicks off the Back to Basic Series with knowing your core at work. Back to Basics will focus on the “main things” of the workplace for young professionals. These simple yet profoundly impactful topics will either be a game changer in your career or jump start your career with clarity and traction. Do the many tasks and objectives of the work day feel overwhelming? Do you end a work day wondering what you actually accomplished? And was it supposed to be the things you are supposed to be doing? Know your core will remind you of the 1-3 most important aspects of your job... and go do those! Do you have a topic for this Back to Basic series you want to learn more about? Share your comments HERE Be sure to share this episode with another young professional in your network and don’t forget that college students, especially seniors, are great people to share Sharpen episodes with as they prepare for the next phase in life.