Things to know before entering the job market as college grad

This article is dedicated to everyone who just graduated and is taking their first steps into the job market. Especially it is dedicated to my current and future mentees from LT Big brother project. This article will give you 20 insights about employment.

In summer of 2017, I had an honest conversation with one of my childhood friends, John, with whom I hadn’t talked for years since he and I went abroad to pursue our careers in different countries.

We met in our hometown Vilnius, sat in a local hipster bar, where waiters talk to you like you know them for ages, i.e., uncomfortably informal. Our freshly poured craft beer pints seduced us for a sip, and we started talking. After a couple of pints, John opened his heart and shared his career experience:

“Sometimes I don’t understand how companies make decisions.”

“For example, I don’t get why my company made such a stupid decision and put that giant pink teddy bear as the logo of our new line of high-tech products.”

“Sometimes I don’t understand why I have to wait a whole year for an annual performance review in order I could learn my strengths and weaknesses”

“Why each time my supervisor evaluates me, but I never evaluate him?”

“I don’t understand why some colleagues mandate such long useless meetings that never ever start on time.”

“Sometimes I start to think that people are paid based on how much coffee they drink and with how many colleagues they talk during the day.”

“Sometimes I’m not happy at my job.”

“How about you…?” And he went silent. His honesty and question confused me.

I thought about our conversation for a while.

But should we be happy? Perhaps work is not a place of happiness, we are all there just to work.

When I graduated and started my career, I was full of naivety and illusions about how things work in companies.

I imagined that companies have inspiring visions or at least short-term goals, I thought that most of the people are ambitious achievers with a singular professional goal to succeed. I thought that all managers are inspiring leaders worth following. I imagined that I could totally rely on colleagues I work with. I imagined I could rely on myself and that I could achieve everything in months if not in weeks.

Unfortunately, this was not the reality.

Sometimes our Mount Everest altitude expectations for leadership, organizational culture, colleagues behavior, and our own abilities are a bit out of the scope of reality.

We are just imperfect humans after all.

Failing to accept reality as it is and not managing our own expectations can create frustration and block the joy of life outside of office walls.

I can confidently tell you that formula: Happiness = Reality — Expectations seems to be so true.

Reality depends on where you live and who are you working for. I strongly believe that “reality” in the company is created by the management/ manager. Have a look at one big company but in a different department and you’ll see totally different atmosphere, values, and team behavior. So, managers have the power to define the rules and shape the reality.

The truth is that only a few managers take action, constantly adapting and changing the reality, i.e., company culture, leadership, engagement system, etc.

So key to happiness purely depends on how we manage our own expectations.

Believe me, not a single company will manage your expectations for you; no one will offer their full support to nurture your talents and take care of your growth. You are solely responsible for that.

I love the saying, “If you don’t have a plan, you become part of somebody else’s plan.”

I have condensed my own and my friends’ career experiences and made a list of things to know before you enter the job market. To be honest, my advice is simple; keep your expectations as low as possible.

1. Fulfillment

Not every task in your job will bring you joy, purpose, and fulfillment. My grandpa used to be a farmer and he had a great saying: “At first you have to walk enough with your own feet in the fields full of shit before you get to drive a tractor.”

2. Vision, mission, and other bla bla

Reality is that 80% of the companies have no vision, mission or significant goals that inspire and empower their employees. The main and the only goal of companies is to make money. While your goal at the beginning is to get the experience.

3. Trust

The first thing after you step on board is to gain the trust of your boss and colleagues. Trust is the most valuable currency in the business world. Without it you are nobody. Trust is gained out of thin air by being extremely specific and delivering quality on time. Simple as that.

4. Uselessness

At the very beginning, you are just useless. It’s not a secret, each company knows exactly how long it takes to train a newbie and what is the cost of that. You are different? You say you deliver value from the beginning? BS. Each company has its own special way of making money, thus you have to learn that way, and it takes time. Depending on the industry and position, the ROI in you should be around 3–12 months.

5. Responsibility & Autonomy

At the very beginning, you will get to do simple tasks with almost no autonomy. Later on, you should gain more trust and your autonomy should increase. The worst thing that could happen to you would be to work for a company where micromanagement is widely exercised. When things are micromanaged your growth is completely blocked and you will just become a zombie of commands not capable of making decisions or taking responsibility.

6. Basic Training and Survival

Eighty percent of companies have no mentors, coaches or dedicated colleagues who will look after you in the first few months after they gave you a brief and basic training i.e. showing you where is the coffee machine and WC. The majority of managers/ supervisors are just too busy, so they apply a technique called “throw him/her in” meaning they will throw you straight into action and watch if you will “dive out of it” i.e., navigate your way and manage the tasks that are given to you.

7. Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes, especially at the beginning. It’s not possible to be 100% perfect and produce no mistakes, but it is possible to reduce them to a minimum. Depending on the company type and culture, it could be they are mistake tolerant, mistake allergic or mistake neutral. Try to note what type your company is.

8. Manager in 6 months

After 6 months, you think that your tasks are easy and you perform them well? Go and ask for feedback from your supervisor. Still great job? Forget! You can’t be a manager of this project, you just arrived at the company. Besides the corporate world doesn’t function like that. Instead, you need to ask for more responsibility and for more complex tasks to gain more trust.

9. Socializing after office hours

Drinking beer in the office on Friday after office hours? Dinner in a restaurant with colleagues? Christmas party? You have to be all in. Don’t like it? Sorry, but look at it as part of your job. First of all, it’s a great way to establish bonds with your colleagues. Second, all deals and “secret” information will be revealed after a few glasses of wine.

10. Be proactive — give

The majority of newbies ask the question, “What can you as an employer offer to me?” They do it totally wrong. Instead, you should formulate this question in the following way, “What can I offer to this employer?” The advice here is simple: give something before you ask, show them what you have. Perhaps at the beginning you have only time, attitude, ideas, fresh look, and positivity, no worries with time your value goes up.

11. Circles of wolfs and mice

Each company has circles of people with different goals. I tend to split them into “mice” and “wolves” circles. Mice are there just to get their monthly paycheck and if there is enough “cheese,” they enjoy their life as it is. While wolves are there for something bigger, in other words, they have goals and work there to reach them and progress. Choose your circles wisely. The impact could be tremendous.

12. Senior colleagues

Senior colleagues are those who work at the same company for 10, 15 or 25+ years. Imagine Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. They are the best source of knowledge. They are always happy to answer your questions or give smart advice about any professional topic. Listen to them carefully and if you have a problem you can’t solve, go see them first, they will likely remember a project in the past where a similar situation occurred.

13. Performers

Each company has at least a few performers. Performers never complain, they always find a solution, they never burn out, they constantly take action, and they are very results-oriented people. They are like combat tanks that move forward while all the obstacles in front are crushed or destroyed. They climb the career ladder quickly. Carefully analyze their behavior, routine, and work methods, you might want to reuse the same principles and get similar results.

14. Zone of Comfort

Forget the university where you sit in your chair comfortably and listen to the professor. In a company you are asked to take action, do things which you have never done before and do it right. Thus some find it stressful and others enjoy it. The only way to grow is to do things you have never done before. Look for companies where you can grow and collect experience. Money will follow as soon as you have the experience.

15. Corporate game

I’m sure you have heard this term. “Corporate game” means people in companies not only work but also play a game to achieve their goals. The goal is simple: pay raise, promotion, more benefits, etc. What are the rules? That’s the thing, there are no rules! Thus, you might see strange behavior of your colleagues, lack of common sense, wrongdoing, double standards, and protégé brotherhoods/sisterhoods. Players define their own rules based on their personal moral and ethical standards. In a big companies you are forced to play the game, but please keep high moral and ethical standards as they will help you in the long run.

16. Your boss is not Tony Robbins

Don’t be naïve, forget the positive feedback, motivation, encouragement, and inspiration. In the majority of situations, your boss will criticize you, will point out your mistakes, and will kick your ass. Look at it purely from a professional point of view, because they talk about your job not who you are as a person. Try to reflect on the situations later to internalize what you learned about yourself and/or your boss in this interaction.

17. Ask and fight for yourself

There is a saying “Life Will Give You Exactly What You Ask of It.” Well, it’s the same in a job. Want a new position, higher salary, work in another department, etc. Ask for it! Not satisfied with your current situation, talk about it. Your boss is not a magician, he/she cannot know how well you are in the company if you don’t talk about it.

18. Incentives and Reward system

There are some companies which I call “communistic,” which are so because there are no metrics and no incentive/ reward systems in place to encourage employees to reach higher goals. Salaries are based on your age and experience. They think that everyone has to love their job and be happy to do the same job for ages. Meanwhile, up-to-date companies have motivational systems and key metrics in place. They apply completely different philosophy: “I will show you how I will measure and incentivize your performance and you will show me what you are able to deliver.”

19. Feedback

In the corporate world, there is this magical ritual of yearly performance review. There you sit down with your boss and talk through what you did well and what could be improved. There are two problems with that. First, it happens only once a year! Second, strangely most of the time it is only one-way feedback, i.e., manager gives it to you, but they are rarely interested in your opinion how they are doing their job and what could be improved. More feedback you get, the more you can improve. So ask for feedback on weekly, monthly or on a per project basis.

20. Eject when needed

There will be times when you will encounter tough situations. First, natural human reaction is to run away, i.e., @*#! them all I quit. It is the easiest solution and anyone can do it. But I would propose different approach. Just bear it and learn something from it. And only then take action.

Remember your job is not your life and the position you hold at the moment is not who you are.

Get experience, learn something new, make connections and have FUN!