What To Expect At Your First Job

The career path for no two students is ever the same. Each one requires individualised Goal Mapping and Career Planning for his or her development and Growth. The need is for the advice and mentoring to reach their maximal potential, discover and develop their passion, and enjoy their journey through school and college with smart career options.

Finding a job is a job in itself, time consuming, stressful and a big task of demonstrating your skills and mettle to others. It’s not about just getting a job but to have a dream career path   which will make you happy and grow in life. Today there are so many career options and one could have a difficult time in deciding which one to take. The more effort you will put in to search for the right career the better result you will get out of it.  Except there are a few things that no one is going to tell you about starting out in the working world. What you need to know is what you are getting into.  So let’s talk about something about your first job to look forward to.

It’s no Longer enough to be just smart and having potential

It’s your job now and you are going to get paid for it. What will now matter is your actual results. Teachers in school favour the students who are the most respectful and seem to be working hard. This will be the real working world where reputations and careers are built on what you achieve. Just being smart won't work if you miss deadlines, aren't prepared for meetings or don’t meet your targets.

It’s your attitude that matters.

You can be great at work but you will find it hard to survive if you appear unfriendly, rude, disinterested in others or defensive. Being polite and cheerful isn't optional if you want to thrive in most workplaces. Negativity will only sometimes make you lose your job.

You won’t get a salary hike for at least one Year.

 It’s a common practice that you will not get a salary increase unless you have done a minimum of one year at the job. People new to the professional world do not always realize this and think they can negotiate a raise say, three or six months. This does not happen with most employers. 

What will matter the most is the errors you make.

In school an error you made in your class or test only affected your results. The late submission of your assignments only impacted your grades. But at work, your mistakes can have an impact on your boss, your co-workers and your company. Many a times people might end up staying late to fix your work miss their own deadlines or lose important business just because of an error you created and made a mess with the customer. 

It’s no more Holiday time

It's not like school, where you are used to week long holidays for every religious occasion and national events. Many work places open the next day after every such occasion and some even do not close. Long vacations are non-existent in the corporate world. Despite what school schedules might have led you to expect you will need to get used to the working life from day one.

You need to be polite and show your interest.

Yes, you might see seniors looking bored in meetings or checking on their phones while at work. Please do not follow their acts. As a fresher you are expected to look attentive and show your interest. There would always be eyes watching you. 

Just getting a task done is not considered great achievement.

Take the first step to do things in your department.  You might not get much done if you keep waiting for instructions from someone for every small task. Be creative and the sooner you get out of your school or college mode the better it would be for you. That said, you also need to know the parameters of where you can take initiative and where you can't, which isn't always spelled out explicitly and can be very confusing and frustrating. 

30 minutes. That’s your Lunch time.

In many workplaces, 30 minutes is the maximum lunch time and sometimes you don’t even get that and would have to rush to complete your tasks. Get away with the habit of the sound of the lunch hour break.

Get to the point with your boss.

In school, you might have learned to discuss every aspect and detail of the subject. But most managers want you to be to the point and then decide whether or not to ask for more background. This is true in face-to-face conversations, but it's especially true in writing. Few managers have the time or inclination to read multiple-page memos or lengthy emails. Short summaries with bullet points will be generally preferred.

You will make new friends

Fortunately, you are unlikely to be alone.  Either you will have co-workers at your level, or immediate supervisors who will empathise with you.  You are likely to work with these people for almost one or two years minimum and see them more than you see your friends or your family.  Almost inevitably, you will become friends with one or two of them and that will be one of the few bright spots during your first job. 

The key challenges at your first job will be the goals, performance assessment, relationships, the way of learning and the culture of the organization. Awareness of these changes can let you have realistic expectations from your work life.   Be prepared and expect to work hard by maintaining interest and enthusiasm at your first job to set yourself apart.