1. Don’t expect to have any earth shattering responsibility in your first position.
2. Whatever you think your going to earn, reduce it by 30%.
3. When you make a big mistake it looks bad. There is no making it up later in the semester.
4. Where you went to school will help get your foot in the door, but after that it won’t mean much.
5. There is a time and place for your thoughts on improving the company. Your first week isn’t it.
6. Don’t even think of ever involving your parents in the workplace in any way, shape, or form.
7. It possibly may take a really long time to find the “right” job.
8. Don’t count on you job to make you happy.
I think #3 is just plain wrong to think as a candidate. If plan on making $50,000 as a finance major out of college, I should reduce it by 30% to $35,000? A job is about investing in eachother, the company, and the candidate. If the company is not willing to make an investment and the candidate takes less than s/he is worth, that just becomes a slippery slope down the road when the candidate thinks s/he is being taken advantage of.
Thanks for commenting Sung Ko. While I agree that companies should invest in their employees and compensate them fairly, the point I was making is that often times undergrads/recent grads tend to set salary expectations abnormally high.
Great list! Please do not forget #6. I can’t stand when graduate, adults, rely on their parents to make their calls for info or better yet, call them in sick!
#8 makes me kinda sad. Yes, it is tough out there…but I always try to encourage my students/clients to do work they love. Maybe this doesn’t come in the form of a full-time position, becuase of the “need” to pay the bills. Maybe it is a freelance opportunity, project, or side business in which extra $ can be made while doing something you love.
Great list Paul, I think a lot of those are great.
#8 is sad and has some truth to it. Could you clarify a bit more what you mean?
Are you suggesting that young people should work jobs that are unfulfilling and stick with them because that is all that is out there?