The Four Most Important Skills Your First Job Teaches You
We often think of our first job as nothing more than a temporary means to an end. However, whether it’s a paid or unpaid internship or part-time work at a restaurant, there is more value in your first job than may appear at a surface level.
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There are reasons to appreciate it as more than a way to make money pay your rent, student loans or other bills. It’s important to appreciate that your first job teaches you important skills that benefit your entire career.
Setting Your Trajectory
Having the right trajectory is important, as a surprisingly large portion of college graduates end up in positions that don’t require their degrees. Having a degree can boost your earnings in jobs that don’t require it, but the increase is far less substantial than that of a job where your degree is necessary and the skills you learned are key. Furthermore, there are industry-specific skills you don’t learn in university; these you get from established leaders.
If you don’t treat your first job with the right mindset, you’ll miss out on important teachings you can’t receive in a class. Not only that, if you start off in a less optimal job, either because you jumped at the wrong opportunity or didn’t present yourself confidently enough, you’ll make less income in addition to missing out on relevant skills. Learning to set your trajectory can result in you taking less time to fulfill your ambitions than you would have otherwise.
Preparation for Your Next Job
Your first job is a gateway you walk through slowly so that when you’re at your second job, you’ve already progressed to an optimal level. If you’ve learned as much as possible from your previous boss, they’re more likely to recommend you highly to future employers.
Whether it was sales, research or engineering, your skills will have grown, enabling you to pick up speed through your second and subsequent positions to get where you want to be in your career. Learning to use your current job as the gateway to your next job is essential.
Communication and Networking
Not all colleges require communications courses, and high school isn’t exactly a place known for its lessons in professional interpersonal skills. At your first job, you’ll speak to a manager, perhaps multiple managers, and a number of coworkers. The higher-ups won’t just provide you with industry-related skills, they’ll also teach you about navigating the workplace in general. For instance, they can impart how to effectively move up in the field (even branch out into a different field).
Your boss has a stronger understanding of the ins and outs of the work, and building a healthy rapport with them is key to growth. Your coworkers are also able to provide insight into things like how long you can expect to wait for a raise or ways to improve your chances of a promotion. Your colleagues may very well be like-minded individuals with whom you could build lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.
As you connect with people, your network expands, thus increasing the likelihood that a fortuitous opportunity will find its way to you — rather than to someone who doesn’t put stock into networking. Learning to communicate effectively in the workplace is an essential skill.
Recognizing Wider Options
In this sense, you don’t want to only focus on what gets you the highest salary. Instead aim for a balance of ambition and practicality.
Industries and the job market aren’t static, so you always need to remain adaptable. Because continual growth is important, you might find that an internship isn’t only valuable during your education but it also can prove worthwhile even after graduation. You might end up better off prioritizing an intern position to hone your craft, after which you could potentially skip an entry-level position. This is particularly beneficial to those who are entering the workforce without a degree.
Ultimately, no matter your education, you’ll want to evaluate a job opportunity based on how relevant it is to your career, how it affects your trajectory and how it fits with your greater understanding of the options available to you. Learning to recognize wider options will take you far.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: The Four Most Important Skills Your First Job Teaches You
