Slate: “What Mistakes do Graduates Make…”
By Kurt Schmidt In Blog, News On April 1, 2014
This is a thoughtful Q&A on mistakes graduates make in their first jobs with answers by Jason Ewing and Carson Tang from Quora and re-posted by Slate. I think I made a couple of these myself way back when.
One thing I like is that beyond just explaining the “mistakes” as the contributors saw them, there are also suggestions on how to improve your performance, above and beyond the common errors.
However, the recurring theme that is overlooked in both answers is that all employees, whether they are recent graduates or have more experience, need to take control over their careers. This can mean, as Jason Ewing says, “engaging your manager” about career growth opportunities and simply paying to attention to who gets promoted around you (okay advice); or, as Carson Tang, implies, becoming the valued as the go-to person for your set of tasks (better).
The key thing to making sure that you’re work counts is understanding how your role adds value to the team, unit or company and doing your best to maximize that value. It is also crucial to think strategically and pay attention to the overall health of your employer and the other employers in your industry. You don’t want to be promoted to captain on a sinking ship. No matter what though, retaining a good job and identifying opportunities for growth is your responsibility.
Businesses are in the business of making money. Jobs at companies exist only if they are profitable for the company. Good companies are constantly reviewing who and how they hire in order to try to create the most value and profitability for the least cost. Conversely, they are also always looking at how to eliminate positions in order to save money and, again, increase value. This is not a moral issue; jobs at any organization only exist as long as they contribute to the goals of the organization. To get and keep a good job it is important to understand the value the job creates as it pertains to these goals. Or, put another way, if you can’t clearly discern the value that your job creates for the organization that employs you then you better start looking for a new one! Being aware of this relationship and being proactive about your state of employment and future prospects is part of the “contract” we accept when we become employees.
