Using Your First Job as a Career Builder – Part 1 of 3

As a college, trade school or high school graduate, you have probably read much about how to land that first entry level job.  You learn about resumes, cover letters and job interviews.  The Internet is ripe with information about how to get you foot in the employment door.  However, just like the Disney fairy tales that all seem to end on the wedding day with the prince and princess riding off into the sunset, much of the advice and many of the stories seem to end once the job as been successfully.

Basic guidelines for turning your first job into an important career building are as follows:

• Listen before you speak. My mother, who was always full of wise sayings handed down from her mother, often told me that I was given one mouth and two ears because I was expected to listen twice as much as I talked.  [Spoken first by the Greek philosopher Epictetus, who said "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."]  In the work place, what this means is that you need to observe and learn much before you earn the right to talk about what you have observed.  New employees need to learn the corporate culture, understand the motivations and goals of their fellow employees, understand the products or services the company offers, and learn about the jobs of others whose jobs are affected by theirs.  You can avoid many costly career blunders, if you learn to withhold comments until you are reasonably confident that you have adequately researched your topic before you speak.

• Make your boss look good. It’s not just a matter of doing a good job; the goal of your efforts should be to help your boss get credit for helping you to do your job well.  Why?  If you make sure that you compliment your boss for training you well and helping you do a good job, you accomplish at least two things.  First, you win the respect and appreciation of someone who can influence your career path, and second, you may be able to contribute to your boss’s promotion, which might leave your boss’s job open for you! 

• Keep notes of accomplishments.  Whenever you do something that will help the company make more money or improve efficiency or contribute positively to the company’s public image – no matter how minor – write it down.  If the accomplishment is major, try to find a way to get it into “the record” by telling someone in a formal memo, making sure it gets into your performance evaluation or even sending an email to your boss.  Not only will this help you remember what you have contributed, it will help you if you are ever asked to write your own performance evaluation (not as uncommon as you may think), it will also serve as content for your resume, in case this is not the last time you ever have to apply for a job – a likely event.

• Keep your eyes open. No matter how lowly your position in the company or how large or organized a company seems to be, there is always something you can notice that could improve the way things are done.  I spent many years working as an operational auditor for a large (26,000 employees), so I speak with some authority when I say that every office, plant or unit has flaws.  I’m not suggesting that you try to change anything, at least not at first; what I am saying is that you should keep a list of ideas and observations.  Wait for an appropriate time and situation to share your ideas and observations.  If the topic is a sensitive one, do not bring it up in a meeting or other “public” place unless you have discussed it with your boss, mentor or trusted co-worker.

I will continue this topic in the coming days.  In the meantime, contributions and personal observations of others are welcomed.  Do you have a “war story” about a personal success or failure from your first job? 

Comments

[Matthew Ayumu Pluznick]

I must say you really have given some very useful pointers there.