Yanique Brevett: Helping professionals Get a Grip of Adulting
WHEN life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and that’s exactly what Yanique Brevett did. The Meadowbrook High School alumna, who hails from the inner-city community of Rema, notes that the keys to her success so far have been her faith in herself and her solution-oriented nature.
Brevett’s childhood ambition was to become a lawyer, since she had a love for investigative dramas like Law and Order. Law was also her mother’s dream for her. But her exposure to the real world of studying law during sixth form made her abandon that path as she realised that the intricacies of the career no longer appealed to her.
Without a clear path of what was next, she applied to read for a degree in media and communication in a bid to silence classmates about university applications and on the whim of seeing her friend applying for the same major. But although boasting an honours degree and having been involved in several extracurricular activities during her university and secondary years, Brevett was unable to land a job in her chosen field. With an interest in being a part of the dynamic marketing team that produced standout campaigns, she applied and got accepted to work with Digicel in its Client Care Department as a way to get her foot in the door. However, three years later and now a boy mom, she decided to take a leap of faith to get her career on track in media and communication and gain clarity on her next step.
As faith would have it, “that’s how I landed in HR [human resources] at DOS 2009 Limited. This is probably one of my best career opportunities so far. There were a lot of expectations of me, but also a lot of leverage to grow and I developed a love for the field there”, she told All Woman.
At DOS 2009, she was quickly promoted from receptionist to an office administrator with responsibility for general human resource management, leading a small team of bearers and other junior support staff, in addition to managing other aspects of another subsidiary. This was a pivotal time in her career.
“This additional responsibility helped me to be more strategic in my thinking and changed my perspective,” she shared.
She later did a stint at KPMG before joining the JMMB Group-Jamaica team. In her role as a talent management associate, she now has insight into the recruitment process and strategic talent management of the organisation, interviewing, and résumé writing. Bringing all her skills to bear from sitting across the table as a recruiter and also successfully navigating the job hunting space, the career coach and author shares this knowledge in her book Getting a Grip of Adulting: 5 Things We Should Have Learnt in School But Didn’t.
The book, which started as a blog article idea, chronicles aspects of Brevett’s journey and practically advises how to navigate this life with the tools and knowledge she gained along the way, even though she would be the first to admit that she, too, is still learning.
In encouraging other professionals how to get a grip on “adulting”, Brevett shares tidbits, including how not to be a slave to your degree, building your digital presence, and using social media to advance your career.
This young professional has sought to share some great insights from her own experience, having navigated the uncertainties that await freshly minted adults. She hopes to help young professionals, who are trying to figure out their careers, to just make the best of this journey called life.
Sometimes the path to finding your purpose and passion is not a linear one; instead, it is made up of seemingly unplanned stops and detours that lead you to exactly where you ought to be. Brevett knows this all too well and now has found a home as a talent management associate, CEO of YSB Creations – a career coaching consultancy, and author, with plans to do a follow-up book while balancing motherhood.
