5 Things [Gen Y/ Millennials] Need to be Prepared for upon Entering the Industry

"Today’s workplace doesn’t tolerate slackers,” says Gen Y career expert Dan Schawbel in his new book "Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success."

As a recent graduate, you might not have had any experience working in a real-world workplace. As you probably know, there is a huge distinction between college life and work life.

In a rapidly changing economy, young people either rise to the top or don’t survive. To navigate the new workplace, [Gen Y/ millennials] need to master a new set of rules that aren’t taught in school.

Here are five things you need to prepare upon entering the industry.

 1.         Be Prepared to Learn More

What you have learned in school and college is not enough. Your university of life is just about to begin. You need to understand that you are going to require more skills than you probably have right now to be able to handle and maintain your job.

A recent U.S Department of Education study shows that companies are having trouble finding and retaining the right talent. Interpersonal skills have become more important than technical skills. It’s never been easier to acquire technical skills — and those skills will only get you so far.

Companies are now looking for individuals with top leadership, listening, organizational, and coaching skills. With these skills, you have a higher chance to go for in your career.

With the amount of competition, you must possess those skills targeted by employers. People with more significant interpersonal skills have a better chance to get and retain the career.

2.          Be a Problem Solver

Rather than just come in and take orders, you need to start thinking like a problem solver. Always look for ways to make things better, or find ways on how to do things better.

One primary skill that every employee should have is problem-solving and critical thinking — an ability to make concrete decisions.

Being an active problem solver allows you to analyze problems, assess their impact, and come up with right solutions. As a young employee, problem-solving will enable you to work efficiently with your co-workers, partners, customers, and vendors.

Managers don’t want to micromanage employees who show a lack of critical thinking skills. Instead, they want to have employees that can make sound decisions for the business.

If you, as an employee can identify problems and come up with solutions, you can help your company save a lot of time, expenses, and effort. The company will want to retain you in case of potential issues in the future, and you’ll have a higher chance to be promoted faster.

3.          Learn and Understand How Your Employer Generates Revenue

Learning how a company is run allows you to know exactly what it takes to make it a success. As a good employee, you ought to understand the goals and objectives of the organization so that you can work hard towards achieving them.

It is also good to know how you can help the company generate more revenue while reducing costs at the same time. 

Furthermore, if your employer is unsuccessful, their frustrations will undoubtedly rub off on you, and the chances you’ll ever get a promotion are pretty slim.

But if you support your employer, make their life easier, and earn their trust, they will take you with them as they climb the industry ladder.

As an employee, it is your responsibility, to work hard towards making the business a success. Either way, if the company fails, you will lose your job too.

4.          Learn How to Juggle More than 1 Thing

Another important thing that you need to master is a work-life balance. You are now fully accountable for your own life. From health, finances, family relationship, career responsibilities, as well as your responsibility as a member of the community. No one will tell you exactly what to do; you need to decide and manage it on your own.

Being able to balance between these helps to boost your productivity, increase your competitiveness, and makes you happier and less stressed about work.

Work-life balance is crucial as it allows you to separate work and home, meaning that the stress of job should stay at work, and not follow you outside of office hours. Allowing work stress to infiltrate your home life is one of the primary indicators that you are not achieving a work-life balance.

5.          Be Prepared to Work Hard

You are paid to be part of the team and work hard together with the rest to achieve a common goal. Employers are not burning their money to give you a good time at the workplace.

Accomplishments matter. If you want to keep your job and move up, stop thinking that you have to put in a ridiculous number of hours per week. Instead, realize your value, deliver on it, measure your successes, and then promote yourself.

Working hard allows you to test your ability, allowing you to be versatile and able to accomplish various tasks at once. It also helps you gain a lot of experience. It is one of the ways to prove your values and worthiness. Putting that extra effort in your job can determine your real value to your employer and colleagues.

The only way your employer is going to give you a proper evaluation is if you show exceptional productivity, efficiency, and cooperation. Regardless of whether you like your job or not, you need to work hard at it. Be a top-notch employee, and you will see a significant change in your career and life.

Conclusion

Titles might be good for your ego, but in the grand scheme of things what matters is what you're known for, the projects you’re part of, how much people trust you, whom you know, who knows about you, and the aura you give off to people around you.

Sure, what you do is essential. But what others think you do can be just as important if not more so. If you build a strong reputation, the success and opportunities will find you.

Shadaitul Intan is a Communication, NLP and EQ Coach. She has been involved in the personal development work since 2001 and has since trained thousands of young adult students to be prepared for the workplace, gained confidence in communication and learned about life skills that has not been taught in school. She can be contacted for a free training need analysis and consultation at www.shadaitulintan.com