This is a guest post by the daughter of Steve Denning, Stephanie Denning, who writes about leadership issues from a millennial perspective. The views expressed here are her own.

Most of us today, millennials in particular, equate work with meaning. And from afar, it sounds inspirational. But in practice, it’s a lot messier. After graduation, millennials set off to pursue a career that they hope will match their fantasies. The reality they’re faced with is a little less idyllic. Graduation is a daunting thing with the array of career options that await. To navigate a career today, especially since career-switching is so common, is a little like blindfoldedly swinging at a piñata: You’ll have a few hits, and a lot of misses.

I would know. I am, myself, a millennial trying to navigate this new world of career options. In an attempt to understand it better myself, I started to mine my own experience and that of my friends to see if I could learn something, anything, to apply to my career that lies ahead.

1. Your Experience Does Matter

The commonly accepted assumption is that millennials today have more career options available to them than their parents. And that might be true… right after graduation. When you have little to no experience to speak of. Effectively tabula rasa.

Unfortunately, the rest of your career isn’t quite so neat. The dirty little secret of any career trajectory is your experience holds an enormous amount of weight on what you do next. This can be both a blessing, if you have the right experience, or a curse, if you don’t. That first job you take after college — and every subsequent job after it —  increasingly matter.

There is one glaring reason for this: While companies and jobs have evolved, hiring is largely unchanged. Experience is key. But there’s an awful lot of forecasting involved in this formula. Few of us know the person we want to become in our 20s. Tellingly, most of us treat our 20s as a time of discovery. We think, what is it exactly I want to do?

But while you’re busy contemplating this existential question, hiring departments take no notice.

Don’t let your career atrophy while you’re trying to figure out what you want to do. Instead, find work in a growth area, whether it be the industry, the company, the division or your boss. Growth will most always be a good, no matter where you want to go.

2. You Leave A Job Too Soon

Job-hopping has become common practice among millennials. Maybe even falsely advertised as a best practice. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report in September 2014 stating workers 24-34 held a median tenure of three years in 2014 to date.

Take a step back, three years really isn’t a long time. Less time than a college career. Realistically, it takes about a year to truly acclimate to any new job — between culture, politics, proving yourself, getting your bearing on what the work even entails.

People mistakenly assume that a job is fixed; that that first year is reflective of all the future years to come. But jobs evolve as changes take place in any company. Opportunities come and go. And three years is a very small window to see the full range of those opportunities.

Nowhere have I seen more evidence of this phenomenon than in a quick comparison between friends who have left their jobs versus those who have stayed.

That’s not to say the ones with longer tenure love their job every single day. There will be dark days, buoyed by good ones. Job enjoyment is never linear; it takes the shape of a sinusoidal curve, a series of ups and downs.

That’s where most millennials get tripped up. We focus on job enjoyment more than learning opportunities. In the long run though, learning has a higher return on your investment of time than simply pursuing the jobs you enjoy the most. Only leave when you believe you’ve exhausted all the opportunities before you to learn.

3. You Have A Unique Career Trajectory

Because there’s no road map to guide us through our careers, most of us latch on to stories of career success. We study stories of success to try to glean the formula behind that success. And then we begin to emulate it. You think, well if I want to be the bigwig in Silicon Valley, you must drop out of school. Or if you want to work in business, you need an MBA.

What you soon learn is emulating anyone else’s path will only get you so far. At some point you have to venture out on your own and start to follow your own instinct. You are the only one that can truly evaluate an opportunity.

I’ve always admired Michael Lewis. And for a long time I felt I needed to follow suit in his path. But I never much liked finance, and having interned, was fairly sure I had no interest in working in it either. But it took time for me to figure out that while I was trying to become the next Michael Lewis, I was losing sight of becoming myself.

Follow what you find interesting like a dog following that invisible scent. Even if it’s something small and seemingly insignificant, like a side project, follow it, follow it, follow it. Following your interests, no matter how small, no matter how little time you can allocate to it, will eventually lead you to where you want to go.

Some Final Thoughts

I venture to write about career advice because most millennials, unlike many past generations, seek ever-elusive “meaning” in a job. At worst, we want to find a job we really like, and at best, one we love.

It can often feel like a Herculean effort to undertake finding the right job. In an effort to minimize that effort, what I’ve gathered here is the best intel I’ve come across.

These lessons have never failed me in my own experience, and I hope, maybe naively, that they might serve you too.

I still have warm memories of my college graduation. The weather was perfect, my cap stayed on my head and I managed to score a seat near my friends even though the graduating class was huge.

Then came the hammer from our commencement speaker, who told us that because the job market was so bad, we should all take whatever company would hire us. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to live with my parents forever, or maybe it’s because I’m susceptible to anyone speaking into a microphone, but I took that advice to heart and quickly ended up working at a place I didn’t like.

Sure, I made just enough money to move out on my own, but I quickly learned that “take what you can get” is really bad job advice. And because I’d hate for you to settle so fast, here are three reasons why I think you should wait for the right position, even when it feels like your search has taken forever, even when you hate your current position and even when you’ve been laid off.

1. You’ll Rush Every Part Of The Job Search

Sometimes, things fall into place, and your dream gig will just land in your lap. But if you’re anything like me, your job search will take a little while. And that’s OK, which is hard to believe when everyone around you is resigned to the idea that you should just take whatever you can get. I fell into this trap, too. In fact, I fell so hard into this trap that I sped up my first search out of college and accepted a position of in the middle of an interview, didn’t negotiate salary and worst of all I left that day knowing I’d probably hate it.

What To Do Instead

Aside from taking a deep breath and thinking carefully about each offer you get, it’s important to ask yourself a few questions before you dive into your search. Maybe there’s an industry you want to break into, or maybe you’ll discover you still don’t know what you want to do with your life. The good news is that there are no wrong answers, but when you do figure out where you currently stand, you’ll be able to create a plan that’ll help you avoid applying for jobs that you might feel pressured to accept, even though you know you wouldn’t enjoy the work.

2. You’ll Take Some Bad Advice Along The Way

There’s one universal truth about every single person you’ll ever meet: They all have an opinion on your choices. Some will offer good suggestions, and some will tell you that you jump into a career in finance even though you want to be a writer. It’s OK to listen to the advice people give you, but you should also listen to your gut. You know what’s best for you (at least, most of the time).

What To Do Instead

Here’s something I found to be helpful during my last hunt: Bring a notepad with you whenever you attend a networking event, job fair or even meet someone in your network for coffee and jot down whatever advice you want to consider later. When you get home, go back to the notepad and reevaluate the tips you received. You’ll find that some make sense, and some should be crossed out with the thickest Sharpie pen you have on your desk. Best of all, you’ll get in the habit of not acting on any bad advice you receive on the spot.

3. You Could End Up Doing Something You Hate For A Long Time

I learned very early in my career that saying “at least I’m getting a paycheck” is an excellent sign that you should start looking for a new job. And yet, even though I was in a position I didn’t enjoy, I stayed for a few years. Why? Because I had moved out of my house to pursue a career I didn’t love, and suddenly I had bills to pay. And because schlepping all my things back to my parents’ house wasn’t an option, those responsibilities weren’t going away.

What To Do Instead

Whenever you’re offered a gig, graciously accept and ask for some time to consider the whole package. And in that time, don’t be afraid to run your list of pros and cons by people you trust (as long as they’re not the same people telling you to take what you can get). Often, even saying the things you’re thinking can shed a lot of light on whether or not you should accept it.

It’s tough not to listen to people who are telling you that no job offer is a bad job offer. After all, it comes from a good place. Those people are just trying to make sure you don’t starve, which is obviously a nice sentiment. However, just because the search might be tricky at times doesn’t mean you should feel obligated to jump at the first opportunity. You know what you’re looking for in your next (or even first) job, so trust yourself and don’t be afraid to wait for the right opportunity.

Spring arrived last week, and if you’re a job seeker, your spring cleaning assignment should be your job search. Forget dusting and scrubbing your house, when you are searching for a job, your biggest priority is that search. We especially love job search spring cleaning because it gives us a good excuse to avoid dusting and scrubbing our houses! So without further hesitation, follow these steps to spring clean your job search.

Shake out your resume and cover letters. You shouldn’t be sending the same stale resume and letters for each job application. Take a little time to update your resume, including any new accomplishments, skills, etc. Remove old, outdated, or irrelevant information. And create a few resumes to match the different types of jobs or industries you’re searching for. Having customized resumes goes a long way to show an employer why you’re the candidate they’ve been hoping for.

Dust off your professional network. It might have been a while since you were in touch with your professional contacts, but spring is a great excuse to say hello. Your get-back-in-touch email or phone call can simply be to say hello, see how their winter went, and wish them a Happy Spring. A good excuse as any to reconnect with helpful people. And don’t forget — the biggest rule for networking is that the more you give, the more you get. Before you ask for people’s help, ask them if they could use any of yours.

Shine up your interview wardrobe. Has it been a while since you had your suits laundered? Or polished your shoes? Tackle those activities now, before you are rushing to attend a hastily scheduled job interview, and while you’re at it, spiff up your interview skills as well. Practice answering interview questions out-loud in front of a mirror. Or ask a friend to interview you and give you feedback. Read up on our tips for interviewing:

Organize your job search tactics. Job searching can take up a lot of time, and it’s important that you use your time wisely. Make a schedule for yourself so that you’re spending time on all the important job search tactics: job searching, resume and cover letter writing, company research, networking, and application follow up. By organizing your job search now, you’ll set yourself up for success.

Contributor- Brie Weiler Reynolds