5 Important things your first job teaches you

The big graduation day. You have a job letter in hand, or waiting for it. With your degree it doesn’t seem tough anyway. You’ve reached your ‘goal’ in a life. Finally you’ll be a ‘working’ man/woman. It’s a badge of honor. It’s the result of your parents’ hard earned money and your late nights in the study. You can’t wait for your first salary, splurge it on , or that smartphone you’ve salivated at for ages.

However, once you shift to a new city and start working you realize it’s not all you expected it to be. They say your first job is as important as your first love. That’s not without reason. Whether it works out or not, you’ll never forget it.

Here are the 5 most important lessons your first job teaches you.

Prove yourself
All your life you’ve nurtured a sense of entitlement. Your first job crushes this privilege. Here you a resource, a tiny particle in the giant organization. You say you’re worth it? Prove it. You’ll start at the bottom, and work your way to the top. You’ll be questioned, doubted, and pushed back. There’s no use being Dad’s darling daughter or a mama’s boy. Shit just got real. It’s time you grow up.

Networking is critical
An indispensable part of your work life would be creating a nexus of colleagues and clients you can turn to. People skills are critical. That means you’ve to be more approachable, more social and be adept at make contacts. The first job teaches you the importance of having a solid network you can bank on. You’d notice how easy it is to get your hands on new information and get things done that way, and hopefully you’ll soon start building yours.

Success is relative
When we’re young we think success is a big mansion, a fancy car and lots of cash. Your first job shatters that notion. Every time your proposal gets accepted, your experiments work or your work gets appreciated you’ll fist pump, jump in joy, throw a treat and pat yourself on the back.

Money isn’t success.
Chances are slim that you’ll be rolling in cash in your first job. However, you’ll soon realize money is not the final measure of success. There’s more to life. The high you’ll feel every time you get your paycheck or every time you realize you can take care of yourself, it’s unbelievable.

Accept adversities
You can choose your buddies. However, you can’t choose your colleagues. Chances are there would be people at work you’ll hate.

Your first job teaches you how to maintain distance from such people, accept your differences and still work towards a common goal. That is a critical life skill. The routine of waking up, getting ready, work, and come back and sleeping late would also take a while to sink in. While your first job may not be the most exciting, but it’ll beat you into shape.

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