Congratulations on your recent hiring! If you have some pressing concerns about the interview process or your current position at work, but you haven’t been able to obtain satisfactory answers, either because you haven’t asked the correct person or because they haven’t given you the whole truth.
I’m not a recruiter by trade, but I also can’t say whether or not they’ll be able to answer your queries. After all, their loyalty lies with their company patrons. But stay with me because I’m going to talk about problems that often crop up for those who are just starting out in the workforce.
Everyone here is dealing with their own issues, so it’s possible you won’t find solutions here. Nonetheless, hopefully you’ve gained some insight from this piece that will help you make a decision that you won’t come to deeply regret.
Here are five dilemmas you’d probably face as a first-time employee.
- Negotiating Your Salary
- Find The Range
Some businesses go above and beyond for their customers, while others would rather take advantage of the upstart. You just need to do some investigating to see what that sweet spot is.
Secondly, decide how much money you can live with minimal comfort. Then, within the specified range, ask for that amount or more. How? With a simple and courteous request. While you do so, don’t forget to consider the advantages they provide for you.
Although the base salary is low, you may be compensated with a fair overtime rate, a comprehensive benefits package, and other financial incentives. The term “may” is crucial to understand this context.
If you’ve done your homework, you’ll recognize when the other party is trying to cheat you by giving you the very minimum they can get away with. Reject the offer and walk on if you really can’t bring yourself to accept the final amount. Stop being so hard on yourself.
- The Deal-Breaker
Consider the value of the experience you will gain from taking the job, especially if you won’t starve on the “paltry sum” they are providing you. What you learn could be more useful to you than any money you could make under the correct conditions.
2. Settling for a Second-hand Offer
- The two-bird Killer
- The Deal-Breaker
The offer may not be exactly what you were hoping for, but given your lack of experience, it all comes down to how much you need the job. And having a profession where you get to do what you love is a lot less common than having to settle for second best. You can verify this with anybody.
3. Nobody Is Perfect
Well, so you’ve landed your first professional gig, and you’re eager to create a great first impression by acting in a respectable and dignified manner at all times. You probably wouldn’t expect to be making a fool of yourself right now.
- The Lesser of Two Evils
You’re a newbie, thus your job is to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. You heard it here first: the only time you can really mess up in your career is when you’re a newbie (and still escape unscathed).
And that’s just OK. Companies are more forgiving of rookie errors because they understand the need of training new hires before they can replace departing veterans. What this means is that they allowed them to make mistakes. However, making egregious errors the first time around is the surest way to learn from them and improve for the future.
Additionally, you want to make a mistake while your boss is monitoring your every move, not when you’re twenty years into your career and making important choices on behalf of your firm.
- The Deal-Breaker
In addition, when you’re lower on the totem pole, it’s less difficult to bounce back from setbacks and mistakes, and it’s the lessons you take away from those experiences that will ultimately determine whether you maintain your job or not.
4. In the Battling Arena
Politics in the workplace may be unpleasant (just like politics outside the workplace), but it’s probably simply part of human nature to want to rise to the top of the food chain. Why I’m utilizing so many doggie idiosyncrasies is because…
- Pick A Pack
- The Deal-Breaker
When office politics become more important than your real job duties, it may be time to look for greener pastures (or start your own business).
5. Pack Up And Leave
At some point, you may decide that it’s time to move on. You can feel that you don’t belong here, or that doing something you despise over and over again with no end in sight is hell. And then it occurs.
- Say Your Goodbyes
Your financial woes are solved when a competitor or headhunter approaches you, extolling your talents and offering you a better salary. Or maybe you finally hit rock bottom when your boss had you work on a Saturday for the umpteenth time because he has kids and you don’t.
The day will come when you feel the pull to go, but you should only do so if you are absolutely certain that you would be better off elsewhere.
So if you aren’t sure but you still want to leave, do it on the best possible terms. It’s best to clear the air and say your goodbyes by apologizing to those you need to. If the harm isn’t too severe, maintain communication with the firm and its employees; you never forget your first job, no matter how many others you have.
- The Deal-Breaker
You’ll always have a special connection to the coworkers who saw you develop throughout your first employment, and you never know when you might want to reach back out to them again. Leaving on amicable terms makes it possible to return if better possibilities arise in the future.
Conclusion
I may not be able to let you in on any secrets about the hiring and promotion processes, but I can tell you that any firm serious about growth is constantly on the lookout for good employees who are curious, patient, and not afraid to ask questions.
On the other hand, not every employer will go out of its way to show you the ropes if this is your first job, and you shouldn’t feel pressured to learn everything from scratch. But use it as motivation to develop yourself independently; you never know when the day could come when you’re in charge of a business governed by your own standards.