I wish I knew this at my first job ! Top 5 mistakes on your first Job!
This article is more catered towards people starting off their career journey and looking to understand the common mistakes to avoid at their first Job.
This article provides a comprehensive list of common mistakes by freshers at their first jobs
❌MISTAKE 1 : DO NOT PRESS PAUSE, ANALYSE THE CONTRIBUTION OF YOUR WORK
Most common mistake is if you get a work, you just finish the work and assume that you have done your part of the job.
Always press pause and ask yourself, these 3 Questions :
- Why was I chosen for that work ?
- What will be achieved because of my work ?
- When & How will it be achieved ?
If you don’t ask what difference your work is making, then you are only and only doing your work which means if any person or machine in the world offers to do that work in a faster, cheaper and better manner then you’ll be replaced by that person or machine.
✅DON’T FOCUS ON THE OUTPUT, INSTEAD FOCUS ON THE OUTCOME
❌MISTAKE 2: GOOD WORK == PROMOTION (THINKING GOOD WORK EQUALS PROMOTION)
Many people think that if you do your work properly then you will be promoted automatically, But that’s not TRUE.
When you get promoted, you get an additional responsibility, and the question to ask is “Am I ready for this responsibility ?” — Responsibility can be a big target, big budget or manage a larger team.
✅ Ask for feedback from your manager and senior management — “What do I have to do to get ready for that responsibility ?”
Don’t assume that just because you are doing your work properly and you are getting good appraisals and ratings so you will automatically get promotion. This is not a “TENURED SYSTEM” , it is a “SKILL-BASED SYSTEM”.
Ideally your promotion should happen only when you have the skills required for that next level. Till the time you don’t have the skill, you will have to stay at the level you are getting ready for the next level.
Once you are ready for the next level, you will be promoted and it has nothing to do with how well you are doing at your current level or how long have you been with the organization.
❌MISTAKE 3: Never Ask Feedback from Managers or Colleagues
It’s not your manager’s responsibility to share your feedback to you, but it’s your responsibility to take the feedback from your managers, experienced colleagues or senior management in a periodic manner.
✅ Ask them, feedback for your work, understand if your work meets the set standards and how you can improve your work.
Some Questions to Ask :
- How am I doing at work ?
- What is it that I can do better ?
If you don’t ask, they may never share it with you and you might not be able to grow or unlock your full potential
❌MISTAKE 4: You Always Hangout only with your Team.
If you have a team of 5–6 people, you only hangout with them in office. You only go for lunch together with those 5–6 people and make your own small office world which only revolves around those people. It is a good way to bond with your team but not bonding with other teams (across departments) of the office is a biggest mistake.
Do not think in terms of “MY TEAM” and “OTHER TEAM” (or THEM vs US).
Always try to have inclusive approach and network with people in other teams, by doing this you will not only learn about your company and your work but if someday in future your team and other teams might have to collaborate on the same project you might drive the communication and project since you will be the common link between the two teams, thus enabling you to automatically operate on higher role than what you currently have.
✅Meet, spend time and understand perspectives of people outside of your team or department.
❌MISTAKE 5: SPEED == SUCCESS (SPEED equals SUCCESS)
On our first jobs, we tend to think that if we try to submit the work way before the deadline then we will be considered smart and will be presented by much more opportunities, but that’s NOT TRUE.
In reality, your senior management or your manager knows what the average amount of time required for that job to be done in effective manner and sets the deadline accordingly, if you try to rush things in order to impress people around, you might end up making some silly mistakes which could in return hurt you at work.
The right thing to do is taking your time to do the work with accuracy and review your work before submitting.
✅ Always remember that you get the salary to do the work EFFECTIVELY and NOT QUICKLY.
