Don’t Write Off Gen Z: Ashley Davis on Earning Your Shot at Work

Ashley Davis joins the Caller ID Podcast to share her journey from intern to full-time HR Generalist at School Specialty—and what the transition from college to the professional world actually feels like.

In this conversation, Ashley reflects on how her internship at the Career Center for Life Calling at Ashland University helped shape her direction, the moment she realized HR—and especially recruiting—was the right fit, and how mentorship played a key role in her growth from a quiet freshman into a confident young professional.

We talk about the realities of starting your first full-time job, navigating uncertainty, handling rejection, and building a resume that actually opens doors. Ashley also offers a candid perspective on Gen Z in the workplace and why young professionals deserve opportunity, not stereotypes.

If you’re a student, recent graduate, or someone trying to figure out your next step, this episode will give you both clarity and encouragement.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I think that it's important to kind of reflect and take some time to ask yourself that first of all. And then once you kind of initially have that answer of what you think your calling might be, or even a couple things, I think the next thing is to try to get those experiences aligned with that and try out those things because you're never going to figure it out if you don't try it. I think you know experience is the best way to learn sometimes, and especially with something like this, getting those experiences, even if it's not necessarily an internship or a job, maybe getting that volunteer or that shadowing experience to just you know get in that area wherever it might be.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

I love that. I would add on one thing to say, ask the people closest to you about if that lines up with who they think you are too and if you're gifts and your skills.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I'm Brandon Davis Wells. Let's dig into what we're really doing here.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Some people ease their way into adulthood and others hit the gas and don't look back. Today's guest is Ashley Davis. Ashley and I work together at the Career Center for Life Calling at Ashton University. Me as a full-time employee and Ashley as an intern. Graduated in December, now just kind of months into her very first full-time role, serving as a human resources generalist at school specialty in Ohio. So not long ago, she was sitting on sort of this side of the desk asking questions and figuring out what she wanted to do with herself after graduation. Now she's on the other side, navigating office politics, onboarding paperwork, real deadlines, trying to figure out how to hire people and what to do in the HR world, and the moment when you realize that probably college didn't fully prepare you for what you're doing. So we're talking about the emotional shift from student to professional and maybe the identity shock of your first full nine to five and what that really is like stepping into adult life when the safety net is gone. Ashley, thanks for taking the call.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

All right. On a scale of I totally got this to why did nobody warn me about life and work? How is your first few months of adulting and being in the real world of career going?

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Yeah, I would say most days I'm about probably a seven or an eight. There's definitely some days where I'm like, I have no idea what I'm doing still. But I I've been very fortunate to have a really good team professionally who has helped me out a lot as I've uh transitioned into my first full-time role out of an internship. And personally as well, I have a really good support system of family and friends that have definitely helped with that transition.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

So you served as an intern at school specialty before becoming a full-time employee. What was that like? And how how did you end up getting the internship? And why is that important for maybe students that might be watching or listening, thinking about why they need to get an internship?

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Yeah. So I started as an intern at school specialty in February of 2024, so about two years ago now, and I was an intern there. My intern kind of morphed into a really long internship. Um, it was supposed to be just that first summer of 2024, and then I stayed on part-time for the next school year and then full-time again for last summer in 2025. Then about halfway through the summer in July, I actually transitioned then into my full-time role of HR generalist because for my fall semester in 2025, it was my last semester of my undergrad, and I only had one in-person class. And so luckily they were very willing to kind of be flexible with my schedule, allowing me to work from home some days when I had to go to class. It was one transition initially from okay, intern to full-time and then full-time, but still a student. And now the final transition of you know, actually being done with school and and graduating and being just solely a full-time employee now.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Take me back to the internship and tell me what that was like. What did you learn that you're like, yeah, I definitely want to do this, or were there any moments where you're like, I'm not so sure about this?

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Yeah, the biggest thing that I learned in my internship that I found I really loved is recruiting, and that's still a really big part of my role now. And if you had told me before that internship or anytime throughout college or even high school, that my one of my favorite things about my job is talking to people on the phone and interviewing people and stuff like that. I would have thought you were crazy because that was definitely not who I was at the beginning of college. Um, but that internship was definitely one of the biggest parts of college that really shaped me as a person, both personally and professionally. I had the opportunity to learn a lot. It was my first um more professional job or, you know, in that corporate setting. And so I definitely learned a lot just about professionalism and how to interact with different types of people. And then again, recruiting was definitely my favorite thing about my internship and is still probably my favorite thing about my job today. I learned one thing in my internship that I didn't love as much was all of the um filing and paperwork that is associated with HR. One of my projects uh for my first kind of couple months as an intern was going through two giant boxes full of files from the 90s and early 2000s of employees that are still with us that needed to be filed. So I was doing a lot of scanning and entering those into our online system. Definitely not the most fun or the most entertaining, but it is something that needed to be done and I was happy to help. So that was a good lesson in itself, too.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

You must have done it really well, or at least given it full effort, right? Because otherwise they wouldn't have brought you back. When did you start to have a sense of like, I think they might want me to work here actually when I'm done?

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Honestly, it was pretty early on. So I would say by the end of that first summer I was with them. I had had a couple conversations, theoretical conversations with um my supervisors. And it was definitely a very, and it continues to be a great relationship there with um my direct team in Mansfield as well as my greater HR team throughout the country. But specifically with my team in Mansfield, had had a couple hypothetical conversations that started out with they wanted me to at least stay on part-time, you know, that fall and into that spring, and then see what the next summer might hold. As far as um that conversation becoming a little bit more real and a little bit more serious, that started last summer. So, right before they did end up offering me just asking if that if that's something that I would be interested in, um, and kind of having that conversation, you know, pretty early on and then continuing that throughout my internship.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Did you give any thought to the rest of the landscape of like maybe I want to play the field and see what else is out there? Or were you like, no, this is great. I love this.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yeah, I had definitely thought about it. And, you know, I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket and not at least look. So I did, I looked a little bit, but I felt that the opportunity that I had been given was, you know, not only staying at a company that I really do enjoy being at, working with a team that I love working with and doing things that I enjoy doing, you know, even just outside of that recruiting piece. I did look around a little bit, but I didn't really think that there was anything that was gonna outweigh that.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah. The team element is so big, right? Like I always tell students and I tell my friends, hey, if you find the right team in the right chemistry, don't undersell or undervalue that because, like you said, you found some folks in that office, in that, in that place of work of work that you know, you fit in, you feel like you you get along well with people, they're giving you respect. Um, what was the negotiation like? Was there a negotiation on salary? Because people out there coming out of college, they want to know what that's like right now. Um I've had a few of those negotiations with folks, and it's always just a little bit different.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Yeah, that's a great question. There wasn't much of a negotiation, to be honest. I was first of all really excited to receive a full-time offer, especially before even being done with school officially. Um, I did take it home and talk with my parents about it and everything, but um, it was a competitive offer. And again, that team piece is something that is really important for me. And I think, especially working in HR and being so young in my career, I knew that I was going to need that team and I was gonna need to have people to be able to lean on a little bit and ask those questions. And I had already developed that great relationship with a lot of those team members, and so you know, all in all, it was a good offer at a good company with a great team, and so I decided to decided to accept it.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

I think that's why sometimes, you know, a couple extra thousand dollars isn't necessarily worth the trouble of sort of what that creates on occasion, and to be honest, like in a way, they I wouldn't say they took a chance on you. It was a calculated gamble, right? Because they had seen your work ethic and they had seen you work, but you still hadn't graduated, right? So I I think that was probably a you know a pretty good way to to go about it. Now you've been in the real world, as people say, for a few months now, really more than more than most that graduated in December. What's one thing that has really surprised you about the real world workforce or or the balance of home and work?

SPEAKER_02 9:24

To be honest, I I still don't really feel like I'm kind of a unique situation because for me, a lot really hasn't changed. I went through a lot of those transitions over the summer and into the fall. I, you know, I accepted that full-time job. I also moved out and into an apartment with one of my best friends for the first time. So no more living at home, no more living in a dorm. So I feel like I really went through a lot of those transitions a couple months ago rather than or more than a couple months ago now, but rather than right after I graduated. So I feel like I have a unique perspective on that where it was definitely a lot then, and especially I wasn't even technically done with school yet. I was still finishing up my last couple of classes. So that was a little bit hard to process like, is this really what I'm supposed to be doing? And making sure like I'm not just rushing through things because I really didn't love my time in college and and loved all of that. And I wanted to like not feel like I was forcing myself to be done with that part of my life early, but but really it was what was supposed to happen. And and um, I have a lot of peace with that decision as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

What were your biggest fears about being done with college and what were they? Were there any at all? Because you said you're at peace now, which is awesome. But were did were there any fears that you're like, I don't know how this is gonna go with whatever?

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Yeah, definitely. I had a lot of fears, um, especially with my last semester this past fall, with working full time, and that meant I'm not gonna just be on campus and have all of this free time to go hang out with my friends and and spend that time with them. And we definitely still did and made that time at other times when it was a little bit more difficult than just being like, hey, you want to go to the dining hall? You know, we're both free in between our classes. There was a lot of times where I was very scared about that and and nervous about that. But I'm really fortunate to have people in my life that also put in that effort to, you know, want to intentionally set that time apart. So I think once I got used to that new schedule and that new lifestyle a little bit and learned like these people are always gonna be here for me. Like my friends are still my friends. It doesn't matter that we're not living two feet down the hall from each other anymore. They're still gonna make time for me and I'm gonna make time for them. Once I got kind of past that initial fear, I think it was a lot easier to live with that then.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Two of my college roommates, uh, I are still two of my closest friends, one who lives in Boston and one who lives in Cleveland or Akron rather, and I text with them every day. So, like I'll tell you at 48, you know, we graduated 25 years ago, and I've seen them a handful of times since then, but not that much, but we still communicate all the time. And there's still a pretty good support group for things when we talk about real life. So, um, but it takes work. I'll tell you that, as somebody who's gone through it, like there are a lot of my other friends who are like, I, you know, I don't talk to anybody I went to college with, like, or went to high school with. So I would just encourage you and folks out there to say, hey, you know, it takes work to continue to communicate with those people, but those people know who you are at your core, right? Like you're in a bunker with them when you go into college, and and even the high school friends for some of them, it's the same thing. When you went to AU and then when you were done, like how much did you change? What changed? Why did you know what did that look like from the time you're 18 to to graduation?

SPEAKER_02 12:45

I love talking about this because really I was a completely different person when I started college. And even from the time I started college and then we met my sophomore year, and I think even just between that time and when we met, I I changed a lot. I used to really not like talk to anybody. And I'm I'm still a naturally more introverted person, but I mean, like the idea of doing something like this and and having this conversation with you would have terrified me my freshman year when I first started. And and I really do have a lot of that to owe to working at the career center and and really meeting one of my first um true mentors in my life with with Courtney and really getting to learn so much from her. And she really brought me out of my shell personally and professionally. I learned a ton from her. Flash forward now to to being done. I think that that growth has has increased a ton as well. From continuing to work there with the Career Center and work very closely with her, and then also starting my internship at school specialty. I have another really great mentor there who's my boss now. And I work very closely with her, and she's done so much again to help me grow both personally and professionally. And so I really think that if you had told me this is what my life was going to look like when I started college, I would have been like, there's just no way this is what I'm doing. And the confidence that I have in myself now, professionally, especially because I had not really had any of those professional experiences before. I just, there's so much growth when I look back on that time.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

And I think you you touch on something that's important for folks out there that might be either in college or getting ready to go to college, or not necessarily going to college, but in that age range, to think about how to not just go to class or go to work and go home, but to find those people and to find those spaces like a Courtney Farver and like the person at school specialty, you know, that that are gonna that you know are gonna pour into you and being open to that. Like that's something that I think Gen X, my generation, did not have a ton of people that were willing to mentor us. It was like, good luck, kid, you're on your own. But but what you what you also have to offer now, Ashley, is like you also now going forward, you know, in two years, three years, or whatever, when somebody comes on underneath you, you'll be like, Hey, I have an idea how to help that person, and then to sort of pass that, you know, pay that forward with that mentor-mentee relationship. But you know, people like Courtney Farver don't come along too often. So, you know, you you spent some you've spent time there, um, you know, you you've grown in confidence. What are the like sort of long-term hopes that you have? Do you want to, do you want to be a director of HR? Do you want to, you know, what do you think you want to do in five or ten years? I know it's a cliched trite question to ask. And they might have asked you in your interview, right? Like I always told students, be prepared. They're gonna ask you, where do you see yourself in five to ten years? And you're not supposed to say, you know, oh, I'm I want to have a family and I wanna, you know, like I want to have two dogs in a house. It's the no, no, no. Professionally, I know you know that, but I'm just telling people out there, that's what we always were teaching people. You were teaching people that too. So now what so what do you see yourself in five, 10 years? What are you hoping for professionally?

SPEAKER_02 15:54

It's still a little bit up in the air. I'm still kind of figuring out where I want this career in HR to take me. Right now, I am pursuing my MBA in human resources management and taking classes now. So I I started that actually during my um last semester of undergrad, I was able to start taking a couple MBA classes early and get a little bit of a head start on that. So that's my you know, next couple years immediate plan is to finish that out. And honestly, after that, I don't really know. I would like to continue advancing into maybe uh more of an HR business partner role in the future and then kind of move on from there. I have always kind of seen myself eventually stepping into a leadership role or um more of an elevated role like that. And so I would say just, you know, whatever the next steps are to get me there is what I'm gonna be focused on.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

I think that's fair. I think I, you know, one of the things that my dad taught me when I was younger was, and this is no reflection on the university or or school specialty, it's just in life, you only owe the place you're at the best possible job you can do while you're there, right? And and so you you ultimately have to do what's best for you and what you feel like is best for your career and your family and all those things and what you want to do. So, you know, I tell people that all the time of like you know, you might feel like, oh man, this was great. I hate to leave. Sometimes, sometimes that time comes and you never burn bridges, right? You always leave places well. Um, but leadership is is hard. Let me ask you a question about what you've seen in good leaders. What do you think defines a good leader? You've seen some at the university, you've seen some uh at school specialty. What are a couple characteristics you think um that you want to take on and be part of that as a good leader?

SPEAKER_02 17:39

I think first and foremost, the one of the most important things that I've seen and also not seen in leaders is is really having that open communication and that availability to hear people out. I know we've had conversations about this. As a leader, you need to be available to your team and you need to be able to not only be willing to listen to them, but also be willing to take their feedback and put it into action at least the best that you can or the what's feasible at that moment. So I would say that's one thing that I've definitely picked up on from um different leaders that I've been able to be around and watch, even if I didn't work there, just picking up on things is really being available to them and and having that communication and that sight with them. I would say other than that, just someone, something that I would like to embody too is looking for how can we make this better and how can we improve. I don't think that there's any one best way to do things. And I also am not a fan when people just sit with with a process or a task that, you know, this is the way we've always done it, this is this is how it has to be. I don't think there's much value in that. No. So one thing that I would I would strive to embody is is how can we be better, you know, personally, professionally, as a team, as an organization.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

All right, I'll ask you a deep question. How do you think about purpose and calling at this stage of your career and your life? Because I know we've had some faith conversations, but you know, how do you look at that as far as career, you know, at 23? What does that look like to you?

SPEAKER_02 19:14

I think I'm in a really unique part of my life where, you know, you think about in high school when you're getting ready to graduate, there's kind of that first, at least for me, that was the first thought I had about what am I supposed to do and what do I want to do and where can I find this? And so, you know, that's so early on in life that I think it is really hard to figure that out. Now, luckily, I was able to decide like I think Ashland University is the place for me. And it really, it truly was, but I really didn't know what I wanted to do. I was just studying business, not sure where that was gonna take me. And so um, I think now, you know, having the experience that I have, it's still a very unique spot because, like I just said, I I don't know what those next five to 10 years look like. I have an idea of what I might want them to look like, but but really I'm I am still figuring it out. And this is my first professional role and kind of that first step in my career. Um, and it's a really exciting time too. You know, it is definitely scary. I'm I'm more of a person who likes to have things planned and likes to know things and very type A in that respect. So it is a little bit scary and uh a little bit nerve-wracking to not know, but I think that I'm able to accept the fact that I don't know, but also accept the fact that I'm gonna be able to figure it out. I think one thing that college has taught me is that even if I am scared and and like I said, I used to not have a ton of confidence in myself professionally. I think one thing that I've learned is that I'm going to be able to figure it out and I'm going to be able to find that next, that next step up for myself.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

I think, you know, it when you work in HR, you you have um a natural opportunity to work with a lot of people and you have an opportunity to encourage people, you have an opportunity to really be a servant leader, and you have an opportunity to, in many ways, to set the tone for a company, right? Like you have the opportunity to set culture, and even on the entry level, HR generalist role, like those roles are important to how you attract people to come in and trying to figure out like there's a level of discernment that comes with being in HR. Have you seen that from you know your staff, the people you're with, and what that looks like in the interview process? And you know, what is that like to be a part of that group when you're trying to attract talent to your guys' group?

SPEAKER_02 21:34

I think I have learned a lot about that, working specifically with recruiting, um, as well as my general HR functions too. I am really lucky to have a great team, both um on site in the office I'm at, but then also we have offices and teams across the country too. And so I've learned so much, you know. Coming out of college, I I really had only taken a handful of HR classes, and you know, my internship opened my eyes to a lot of things. But then stepping into that full-time role, I learned just how much really there is behind the scenes that I don't think I had ever really thought about before. You know, starting other jobs and doing the onboarding and new higher paperwork and stuff. That was kind of my perception of HR for a long time. But being in it and being part of it, like there is so much that I don't think anybody really knows, like to get paid or to get trained, and in really everything that makes your job be able to happen comes from HR. And that is a really cool thing that I enjoy being a part of. I enjoy kind of getting to see the but the behind the scenes of um like job benchmarking and grading and um then being with recruitment. I really do enjoy that. I enjoy it's kind of like a puzzle to me, like finding the right piece and the right person to fit with that team or for this role and helping to be a part of that. It is also really cool to get to be a part of somebody's next step. Like I was talking about, you know, finding that next step a little bit ago. It's cool to be a part of that and to see how excited people are, like when we get that offer for them or when they start and getting to see them in the hallway. Like it is just a super cool and really rewarding part of my job.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

That's awesome. Now, you will, if you haven't already, as somebody who's done some HR, you'll have some, you'll have to have some really incredibly difficult conversations. And you know, I I I go with what Brene Brown talks about in Dare to Lead, which is clear is kind, right? And sometimes you have to be as clear as a bell and direct as possible, particularly when it comes to people that are underperforming. When you're in the HR, you know, realm and you have to tell people, hey, we're we're either putting you on a performance improvement plan or or we're letting you go for whatever reason it is, um, I'm sure you're gonna be a part of those conversations if you haven't been at some point. They're hard, right? I mean, and you know, they're just they're a challenging part of HR. Um, but you know, you got this. You'll be fine with that stuff if you haven't been uh a part of it already. Let me ask you, what do college students maybe misunderstand or not get right about approaching the job market as they're nearing graduation? You know, you've seen students, I'm sure, at this point applying for jobs with you guys. What do they not get? What do they not understand? What advice do you have for them?

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Yeah, that's a great question. I I look at you know applications and resumes all day long. And I think one thing uh as it relates to maybe a resume or that application is underestimating how important that that good appearance of a resume is. There's some that I open where it's almost impossible to read, everything is all jumbled. And I know this is something we are both familiar with, having worked in the career center. Um, but it it has been cool to kind of, I think I have a unique perspective having been a student, applying for internships, and then also working in the career center and having some training on what that best practice for that resume is. And then now being in recruiting, getting to see kind of the other end of that. And so um, I think one thing that students maybe not maybe don't understand or underestimate is how important that actually is. I know that's something that is told to them and maybe they don't really pay attention to it. I know so there's times I was like, oh, I don't, I think mine's fine, like you know, whatever. But it actually really is important because even if you have that experience, if I can't read it on the other end, then it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Yeah, I I I remember seeing some terrible resumes from students that were made on Canva or a bad Microsoft template, or and you're like, oh Lord help me. I I and but sometimes you know you can't sometimes you can't tell people anything, they don't want to hear it. Have you had a candidate who was declined like circle back and ask you why yet, or or like ask for feedback? And how do you handle that if so?

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Yeah, I definitely have had that happen. I've had that happen after I speak to them and and decide that they might not be a fit, but then also there's times where they meet with the hiring manager or do a panel interview and ask for feedback. So um, if it was with somebody else and I don't have that feedback already, I'll reach out and then you know they normally give me the feedback and say, can you please make this pretty and HR HR speak? Which is my job to do that. So um, but if if it's feedback coming directly from me, I try to at least recognize at least one thing that they did well or something that I did enjoy about speaking to them, whether they were very professional or had great communication skills, if I enjoyed a specific story or example they told me, I try to at least recognize one thing at minimum that they're doing right, even if I have to creatively word that, if there's maybe not really anything that they did for a while. I don't want that one it to be an entirely negative experience for them. And so then trying to frame the helpful feedback in the most helpful and positive-ish way that I can is what I normally do.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Is it is it okay? Is it is it okay that somebody does that and asks you? Like, what's the sort of rule for that? Is there a rule, is there a hard and fast rule, or is it like, I don't know?

SPEAKER_02 27:21

I don't know that there's a hard and fast rule. I personally I think it's great when people reach out because that's really the only way you're gonna learn. I mean, when they when someone is rejected from a role, there you you don't really know why, or maybe you do if you know you you failed the interview.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Yeah, but but really how else are you gonna learn from that situation and experience and better prepare for the next interview if you don't ask for that feedback? So I think that that that's something that you know, if you if you're really not sure why you didn't get the job, I think it's great to reach out and ask for that because the worst they can say is no, we don't have anything to share with you, which is fine, I guess. You just have to move on and try to figure it out on your own. But I do enjoy giving people feedback when they ask for it regarding that interview so they can better prepare and get that next one.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

What was your first job? Your very first job.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

My first job was my sophomore year of high school. I walked dogs for um someone in my community who I was connected with by one of my teachers in high school. She asked our class if anybody would be interested in. She had a friend that needed, he has two, he had two dogs that needed to be walked after school. So that was my first like real official job.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Yeah, that's a good one, right? That's a good it would have you ever quit a job? Did you ever like go to a job that you had for like a day or week and you're like, this wasn't for me?

SPEAKER_02 28:45

No, I I haven't. I've I've been fortunate to have pretty good places to work at, even in high school, you know, summer jobs and things like that. There hasn't so far been anything that I tried out uh job wise and thought I just can't do this. I've I've been pretty lucky with that.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

What do you do for fun?

SPEAKER_02 29:04

I recently started playing pickleball. Yes, nice taught me how to play pickleball this summer. It's still very much a work in progress, but I'm really excited for it to get warmer so we can go play again. Yeah, um, other than that, I love to bake. That's like my favorite thing to do.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

And Ashley can bake. She used to bring things into the office at the career center, and and it was so, so good. We do miss it. After Vine's closed, it was like, well, we need Ashley to be bringing in some stuff.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

I know, and now I have an apartment, so I even have like a full kitchen and everything. So you're really missing out now that you're not in the area anymore.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

All right. So a couple couple more questions for you. Um, what should a senior or a junior in college stop doing and start doing right now?

SPEAKER_02 29:50

They should stop putting it off. And even if you're scared of that job search and and those next steps, you have to stop putting it off. I've seen um some of my friends wait a little bit too long to start, you know, looking for that next step and figuring out what's next. And I would say, even if you're scared and nervous and anxious about what life looks like after college, I think just you have to stop putting it off and start doing it. Do it, do it scared and do it nervous and do it unsure of what that's gonna look like because I think the worst thing that you can do is is put it off and and ignore it because you're scared of it. And then, you know, the time is gonna pass regardless of the steps that you take. And so I think they should start, you know, making the most of that time that they have.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

All right, let's do a quick word association. All right. So I'll give you a word and you can fire back a word or phrase that comes to mind.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Career.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Exciting. I'm I'm really excited about my career and where it's gonna go next.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

I love that answer. Calling.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Important. I think it's really important to find your calling and and figure out how you can get there and and put that into action.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Oh, okay. So I have a follow-up to that. That's not word association.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

How would you encourage people to figure out what that is?

SPEAKER_02 31:11

I think that it's important to kind of reflect and and take some time to ask yourself that first of all. And then once you kind of initially have that answer of what you think your calling might be, or even a couple things, I think the next thing is to try to get those experiences that align with that and try out those things because you're never going to figure it out if you don't try it. I think you know, experience is the best way to learn sometimes, and especially with something like this. So getting those experiences, even if it's not necessarily an internship or a job, um, maybe getting that volunteer or that shadowing experience to just, you know, get in that area wherever it might be.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

I love that. I would add on one thing to say ask the people closest to you about if that lines up with who they think you are too, and and your gifts and your skills. Uh success.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Earned. I think you know, you have to work hard for it's a cliche answer, but you know such a Midwest answer, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Yeah, I know. You're not wrong. I'm not saying you're wrong.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Your your life and the success that you have is is gonna be a direct result of the work that you put into it. That's something that my parents really, you know, taught me and instilled in me very early on. I played sports my whole life. I've always wanted to succeed in school and work and things like that. And so I think, you know, definitely that's something you have to work for and something you have to earn.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Failure.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

Learning. I think kind of like I was talking about with the interview and the feedback, um, you know, failure, you know, it it's it sucks and it's hard, but it is really it the almost the best way you can learn. Like, okay, I did fail, and you have to accept that and sit with that. But what can I learn from this failure or this experience and improve so I don't fail again?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

I love that answer too, because as somebody who coached basketball and baseball, especially basketball, right? I would look back and we would watch film after losses, and we you watch film after wins or losses, but I always felt like people paid more attention after a loss. And I know it's cliche again to say, like, oh, you learn more from losing, but you generally do because people are more receptive if they hate losing and they hate failing. They're more receptive to feedback, and as a coach, you're also probably a little more prone to like breaking down why you lost versus why you might not have played well and won, because that still can happen. Um, identity.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

Hmm, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

That's a tough one, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:44

I think exposure. I think being exposed to all of the things I was in college, good and bad, and you know, different experiences and classes and people that I met really did help to shape my identity and and kind of form that. You know, coming out of high school, yeah, I I had an identity, but what that was then and what it is now is completely different. And I think that, you know, even if you're not in college, whatever stage of life you're in, you know, I think your identity is something that can continue to change and evolve based on those exposures and experiences that you have.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

I think that's a great answer too, because I your identity changes and evolves and who you are a little bit. Um, you can still be the same deep at your core, but like that expression of how you put it out there can definitely change. All right, last one. Money.

SPEAKER_02 34:34

The first word that came to mind was irrelevant, which it's not obviously money's relevant, it's just part of living. But I think as far as happiness and success, I think I don't think that money really has to necessarily be a part of those things. And even thinking about your identity and your calling, I don't I don't think money should be the most important thing on your mind for those, because you could be making a million dollars, but be really deeply unhappy with what you're doing and who you are as a person. And I think that you know, those other things should should definitely come first as you're figuring out what that looks like.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

So, as a Gen Zer, what does your generation need from the millennials and the Xers as far as pouring into your generation? What do what do you guys need from us?

SPEAKER_02 35:26

That's a great question. I think not being written off and being given a chance or an opportunity to step into your career for the first time. I think that um there's a lot of stereotypes about any generation, but with mine, it's you know tied to technology and we can't do things on our own and and things like that. And I think that that's not fair. You know, there's definitely some people that I've I've seen and interacted with that that are like that and they fit that stereotype. But I think that there are so many good um hard workers and and good resources in my generation that really just need a chance and need to not be written off or ignored because of our youth, first of all, but also because of some of those negative stereotypes. I think um having that support and and being given that opportunity and that trust to step into a role or an opportunity is is huge.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

The Apostle Paul said to Timothy, do not let anyone look down upon you because of your youth. I will leave us with that. Thank you very much, Ashley.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Yeah, thank you for having me. It was such a great conversation and great catching up with you.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Thanks for listening to the Caller ID podcast. Please don't forget to like, share, and subscribe with all of your friends and all of your social media platforms. Thanks again.