What new professionals need to know
Starting out as a new professional in your chosen field can be overwhelming. Your days on campus are over, and now you are in the real world. What you do in the early stages of your career can significantly impact your career journey in a positive (or negative) way. Here’s our advice for new professionals when it comes to the reality of “dream” jobs, employer feedback, and building mutually beneficial relationships.
Landing what you perceive to be your “dream” job early in your career can be a challenge. In a commencement speech she gave at Barnard College, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg stated, “It is the ultimate luxury to combine passion and contribution.” While you may strive to secure a job early in your career that allows you to synchronize your skills, experience, and passions, know that it may be more difficult than you anticipated. Don’t immediately reject a job if it’s not what you consider to be ideal. Consider the skills you will learn, network you can build, and knowledge you can obtain through the position. What you experience in jobs during the early stages of your career may surprise you, and those things you learn will allow you to actively identify or adjust what your actual “dream” job is so that when you find it you’ll be ready.
Employer feedback can be very different from the criticism or advice you’ve obtained from classmates or professors. It’s not just about a grade. When you receive feedback from a boss or employer, whether it’s positive or negative, don’t take it too personally or let your emotions get the best of you. Process the feedback you received, engage in follow-up conversation to clarify understanding or next steps, and then implement a plan to learn and grow from the experience. Don’t be afraid of professional feedback; seek it out! The lessons you learn early in your career through employer feedback will pay dividends as you gain advanced knowledge and responsibility.
While it’s critical to network with experienced professionals in your chosen career field, there are other important relationships you can build with college classmates, connections you make through young professional associations and organizations, and other new colleagues just starting out at your company. Together you can learn, grow, and gain critical professional perspective as you build mutually beneficial relationships and share early career experiences. That classmate you worked with on a group project might be looking for someone just like you to head a new division at her company in ten years. Will she be able to find you? Get connected, stay in touch, and help each other!
Examining the concept and reality of a “dream” job, seeking and managing feedback, and identifying ways to maximize the potential of your professional network early in your career are all things you can do to build a great career foundation. Why is it all so important? Because the stronger your foundation, the further you can go!
