An opinion piece by Brian Capitao on behalf of RU Student Life

The words of the ever popular Imagine Dragons song, “I’m breaking in, shaping up, then checking out of the prison bus” is as adequate a quote as any to describe the challenge newly minted graduates must face in the working world.

In my culture, you’re not a man if you don’t have a job. Forget the nihilism of a movie that says it’s first rule is to deny its own existence. You are your job. If you’re not working towards you’re career — you are being useless with your time right now.

You need money to pay off your student loan? Good luck with that. There are those who walk amongst you who are going to medical or law school (hopefully of their own volition) and will have to incur a debt much larger then yours. Invest in yourself and bide yourself some time. Do you know what employers are looking for? You should.

The fact of the matter is, the longer you wait to start your career, the longer you will be at the bottom rung of the ladder. University is the perfect time for you to mess up. Volunteer AND do an unpaid internship, that way when you inevitably cause a mass @##$! up at work, you won’t be legally liable and it will be part of the learning experience.

When you start work, you are being paid for your skills. A very specific set of skills that you have acquired over a long career…um,wait no this isn’t the movie “Taken” and you aren’t an ex-CIA agent but this is pretty sound. Someone who is doing a job as a dedicated specialist is what differentiates someone working in a career as opposed to a job. That means the onus is on you to first figure out what you want to do, research the field and work for free as a pawn until you prove yourself competent enough for you to rise up through the ranks. People respect people who pay dues.

Work smartly. Learn to network. Think ahead. Do you need skills that aren’t being provided by your current education? Go get them. These are your credentials after all.

You need to produce output. If you’re a creative, then you need to create. If you are in business then you need to get serious about your approach to business. People will always put barriers in front of you. You can’t just go through them, you have to leap over them.

It’s a baptism by fire. Your employer has a set of expectations and you won’t necessarily meet all of them so be prepared to fail and fail again. The key here is not to let a setback dismantle your confidence. This isn’t just practical advice. People do not care about your personal problems. Keep your work life and personal life separate.

Think of your employer like your grandmother; you don’t want them finding out things about you that you shouldn’t have been doing, you want to be respectful towards them and you want to make them proud.

The people who are the most successful are excited about the work they do. Gamify your tasks. Impressed in human psychology is the fact that people like to be rewarded, and move through levels of difficulty.

Go out there and get excited about the journey. There’s a lot of potential for creativity. People are either moving towards non-traditional jobs or creating there own jobs; jobs that have never before existed. It’s time to break free from the shackles of the tired routine of working for a company for 20 years in the hopes of retiring comfortably.

Seize the day. Be present in everything you do. Thank me later.