Fake It ’Til You Make It: Tips for Early Career Success
The transition from the world of school, where you’re graded, reviewed, and if you do as you’re told, you succeed, to the professional world can be a whiplash experience for many college graduates. This is due in part to the fact that you’re embarking on something you’ve never done before.
Many college students have misconceptions about entering the professional world that cause them to stumble along the journey, and the vast majority of young professionals experience “imposter syndrome,” or the fear that they’re not worthy or couldn’t be qualified for the job they’re hired for.
The truth is that new graduates are imposters because they’re doing something they’ve never done before by leading, solving interesting problems, or leveraging new skills. But how do you build early career success when you have exactly zero years of professional experience under your belt and are new to the workforce? We’re sharing our take below.
Confidence Doesn’t Require Experience
College graduates in new roles who are nervous or question themselves typically feel this way because they’re actually leaning into the work and trying hard things. The willingness to do this comes from a confidence, not in that they’ve solved this exact problem or done that exact job in the past, but that they’ve tried and succeeded in the past, even if the road was peppered with failures.
To boost your confidence early in your career, draw from your experiences and recall projects you proudly completed, areas of academia where you noticed you had a special gifting or received compliments from professors, or times you failed and learned something new.
Keep in mind that confidence isn’t synonymous with arrogance. You can be both a hard worker and a generous learner. Focus less on impressing others with your title or pay, or seeking early career success at all. Instead, focus on what you can learn, who you can help, and what habits and skills you can develop to do what you do better.
Learn as Much as You Can
Identifying your strengths and capitalizing on them is key to building confidence and early career success. Get clear on what your strengths are and try to incorporate those into what you do every day. This will bring about a sense of energy, engagement, and self-assurance. On the other side of the same coin, identify your weaknesses. This might feel uncomfortable at first, but knowing what they are provides clarity so that you can make a diligent effort to improve in those areas.
One way to enhance strengths and dull weaknesses at home or before you have a job is to learn on your own through books, educational websites, and online courses. Consider joining a mentorship program, which can give you a behind-the-scenes look at your industry, attending networking events, taking online classes, following company leaders you admire on social media, or signing up for workshops. Podcasts are typically free and can make good use of the time you spend commuting, shopping for groceries, or exercising. Some of our favorite websites for online courses include Lynda.com and Coursera.com.
Seek Out Advice from Those You Admire
Like we’ve mentioned, confidence and humility go hand in hand. When you realize you still have a lot to learn, you’ll be open to asking people you respect for advice, feedback, and insight. If you’re already working at your first job, make sure you’re establishing connections with your peers and leaders.
Make note of the individuals who impress you or who you want to emulate, and ask them for 15 minutes of their time for a coffee or a walk. The hardworking usually respect and see drive in young professionals who humbly ask for their time, making them more willing to devote a sliver of their busy day to you.
Speaking of humility, one of the greatest and most overlooked ways to boost confidence in the workplace is to turn on your emotional radar. Oftentimes, comments, feedback, and actions from a boss or co-worker can affect self-confidence and negatively influence our reactions and actions. If you understand early in your career that we’re all capable of acting out under stress and frustration, protecting our ego, and wanting praise and respect, you’ll be able to decouple harsh words, for example, from your own self-esteem and respond without your own emotional flare. This is essential to long-term success and fostering positive relationships with your team, leaders, and cross-functional partners in the workplace.
Consider a Dedicated Mentor
Growing up, we almost always had someone at our side to guide us and help us make difficult decisions: parents, coaches, and teachers, to name a few. Once you graduate from college, you’ll face new experiences and situations in the workplace and may be left asking yourself, “Who can guide me now?”
Luckily, there are many industry experts and professionals several steps ahead of you who are willing to offer a helping hand. They’re often referred to as mentors. If you’ve taken our hint from the previous point and sought advice from several professionals you admire, you may notice that one of those individuals has insight and feedback that’s particularly helpful to you.
If this is true, consider developing a dedicated mentor-mentee relationship with that person. Rather than formally asking the individual to be your mentor, simply ask if they have time to meet on a regular basis. This will help the relationship feel more organic and less like an obligation to the individual, making them more likely to say “yes.”
A mentor can have an incredible impact on your life as a young professional, especially if they work at the same company or are in the same industry. Your mentor will have gone through similar stages to those that you’re currently encountering and can offer advice about what worked, what didn’t, and what he or she would have done differently.
We recommend looking for mentors who are established and respected in their field (ideally the field you want to pursue a career in). A supervisory level role or higher is best, and you should feel comfortable having a conversation with them.
Network Digitally
While networking is key to success early in your career, doing so digitally can soften the blow of what may feel like awkward exchanges with strangers, especially for the introverted out there. This is where websites and apps devoted to helping professionals develop online, like Hallo, can help.
One of the greatest benefits of using Hallo to network is that it can be done from the comfort of your dorm room or apartment but may build just as much confidence as an in-person interaction. Whether you’re new to an industry, switching industries, or looking for a job out of college, Hallo is a place where all young professionals have access to top brands.
This can boost your early career success in a few ways. You’ll get noticed by recruiters from companies at Live Q&A Hiring Events, which are hosted on Hallo several times per month. Getting hired by a top-tier company is a huge step in increasing your confidence level early in your career because it makes you feel valued, skilled, and motivated.
Even if you don’t have the opportunity to work for one of the companies you interact with on the platform, Hallo can still give you a legup on the competition as you look for your first job. In our Live Q&A Events, you can ask recruiters at well-known companies about the company, the industry, and the candidates they’re looking for. Through these sessions, you may learn what’s hot and what’s not in a given industry, the top skills they’re looking for in candidates, and what you should be focusing on with regard to your own learning and development. Plus, it’s completely free!
Leave the Pride at the Door
We’ve mentioned this several times, but it bears repeating. As a young professional at your first job, you are a newbie. You’re doing something you’ve never done before while surrounded by people who’ve been doing it for years or decades.
We’re not trying to burst your bubble. In simple terms, be humble. The professional world and business doesn’t have to be a selfish scam, if you don’t allow it to be. Focus on doing work that matters for people who care, leveraging your gifting and skillset to learn and do work without permission or authority. If you put your attention on showing up and making things better rather than proving something to those in charge, you’ll probably do the latter naturally anyway.
Conclusion
It takes courage to apply for a job, negotiate your salary, and attend your first day of work feeling like a newcomer among a sea of the experienced. We’re here to tell you that that feeling is completely normal, and it will pass as you have more experience under your belt.
In the meantime, remain positive, continue learning, make connections by networking, and be patient with yourself as you develop into the professional and person you dream of being. Oh, and don’t forget to check out Hallo, which can provide you with some of the early career success tools we’ve listed in this article.
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