Jobs and Careers: What You Learn From Your First Job

What you learn from your first job. written by: vez2030

Daunting, I call it! In as much as it is normally one of the greatest days in a person’s life, it normally seems impossible in most cases. For the many people who have passed through the experience first jobs come with, they have learned of the ropes the whole ordeal is tied to. Out of the many experiences, there is however a lot of lessons people get to learn through interaction and various spheres it subjects them to.

The first day at work normally “reveals a lot about” an employee, because of the fact that the employee is new to the place of work is clear evidence that much attention will be drawn towards him or her this normally to some, brings a sense of fear to some extent that it makes them work with naivety while to other new recruits who are overly confident, the case is normally different. Their confidence in some situation does lead to squabbles with the other incumbent employees.

It is therefore advisable that when you have landed a job for the first time, your reporting day, that is the day you are taking your task to practice, you be very humble. A great quality that you will have to possess is humility. However genius you might think you are, your level of knowledge won’t be realized as you befall a situation where you will subject yourself to rubbing “shoulders with the other” employees. It is very important that you get to learn from the incumbent employees as they are the ones who have more knowledge and experience than you, and may lead you better that you may lead yourself.

It is also of great importance that you get to inquire from them things that you are not quite sure of and at the same time you be observant on how they operate. This should apply to even employees who have the opportunity of landing to high positions where their main mandate is to lead junior but older employees.

It is very important to grasp the fact that there will always be a lot to learn before you are fully enriched and fit to work effectively without supervision.

You will also have to show that you posses “some knowledge about the” job, that is whenever you will be asking questions through interactions with your colleagues. Remember to also not underrate any of your work-mates, and for the fact that respect is earned, one should ensure that he or she gives it first.

The other factor to take note of is that when starting your first job, that is if you are fresh from school, it will be very important that you create a lot of time learning first. This is because application of knowledge learnt from school requires a lot of experience. What is learnt from school does hold about 10% of all the 100% required in the field of work. The other 90% one has to learn through observation and experience.

A first job requires that you always be on toes. For you to catch-up with the other employees rapidly, your anticipation should be to stay two steps or more in absorption of what is required of you. This will also boost your rapport with your employer. Assumption should never be the case for you to accomplish the success required of you.

Humans are prone to mistakes; first jobs will put in a situation where at some early stages of work, you might find yourself falling to making mistakes. It is however important to understand that you should not be afraid of such situations. Human beings do learn from their mistakes and it is from such shortcomings that you grow to know how certain tasks are tackled. When it comes to performing first jobs, I can guarantee you that at some point in time you will tend to slip up, this is where the learning curve leading to perfection is all about. You will note that your boss will be in consensus with you that you are still in the process of learning of how thing work well.

One might have been used being lively life and of no monotony but then finds themselves landing their first jobs in a very dull offices. Yes it is very true that most jobs out there almost next to being painfully dull, more so they are jobs that involve doing the same thing day in day out. With this kind of situation, you’ll be the one to turn things up from time to time and don’t forget to create a little bit of varieties in your work during working hours as this will help you find ways of improving your work.

First jobs also do come with very unfortunate experiences. Not each and everyone you will be working with will be a friend to you. Note that some of your colleagues won’t be in good terms with you; this is a very common in working environments. You should never have the notion that whenever one gets a job, then he or she will only meet like-minded individuals at the work place. That is not the case; it might even reach a point where you will feel like owning some human repellant gas to push some people away. You however must learn that people have different behaviors and personalities and that you should not expect them to be the same as you. From that understanding you should just take-heart work but limit your relations with them to only what takes you to for work that.

Lastly, remember to note force yourself to be loved by your colleagues on your first job. It is something that takes time, forcing yourself to fit with others is normally a very risky action to take. You however will find who will on your first day be very welcoming and close to you. So be very careful and always learn before acting in a way that might help.

Yuri Khlystov

CEO and Co-Founder of LaowaiCareer. Originally from Belarus, Yuri has been living in Beijing for the past ten years where he has turned his passion for helping foreigners into a successful business. He enjoys football and once had a pet pig when Beijing was less of a modern city than it is today.