Valuable Lessons I Learned at my First Job!

It has been more than five years since I have been working, and the incidents I will recount are from 2017. Although it's been years, the lessons I learned during my five-month internship at an education-based start-up have stayed with me and still help me navigate different situations.?

It is okay to be Jack of All and King of none when starting.

A lot of focus is put on mastering one skill instead of learning everything if you want to establish yourself in a particular niche. I agree with this because if you try to do too many things, then more likely than not, you will be overwhelmed and unable to do any of the jobs properly.?

However, when you are starting out and still figuring out where you wish to take your career, it is good if you take on more responsibilities in different departments. My organization was a small one with seven employees at the time of joining, and each employee took up multiple responsibilities. I was no different.?

Some tasks were assigned to me like cold calling potential clients, providing career counseling to fresh out of school students (it was funny because I did not know where my career was headed), and setting up interviews with potential employees. There were others that I volunteered for, like handling the website content and social media channels of the organization, taking initial rounds of interviews with other interns (it was fun for a young girl like me to enjoy that kind of authority), and providing initial training to new joiners.?

It must be evident that I had my toes dipped in almost every department there. It helped me figure out the tasks that I enjoyed doing and the ones that I did just for the sake of it. I would advise you to do the same.?

Office Culture MATTERS!?

We don't usually ask this question when interviewing for a job, especially when we are just starting out and want to start our careers. I didn't either. However, when I did start working there, I realized that the workplace culture of an organization has a huge effect on your mental well-being and overall productivity. If you have seniors who are credit hoggers and senior management who just want to get work done at the expense of your mental and emotional well-being, then you won't grow in that organization.?

I experienced that at my first job, and it was not a good experience. I wonder how much more I could have contributed if I was not sitting frustrated all the time because either someone stole my cases or I was asked to work over the weekend because I took an off during the week because of my health.?

Know where to draw the line

I was young and naive, so I did not know where I should draw the line to maintain my work-life balance. I was always taught to work hard and establish my capabilities no matter what, and I continued to do that at my first job as well. I showed up at work on a Sunday if I was asked to, even after spending 9-10 hours each day, six days a week at work. I would stay an extra hour or two if I was given any task or if a meeting was held at 7:30 in the evening when I should have ideally left by 6:30.?

It took 2 hours to travel to my workplace at that time so staying there till 8:30-9 meant coming back home at 11 p.m. and then again leaving for work at 7:30 a.m. I was too timid to say no or tell the senior management the kind of mental and physical toll it was taking on me. So while working hard is a good trait, I learned back then that it is imperative to draw some boundaries; otherwise, some people are just sitting there to take advantage of you.?

Office politics SUCKs, and you will get sucked into it no matter how much you avoid it.

This lesson is in line with the one about office culture. You can't grow in an organization where you have to spend extra time and energy steering clear of people who want to engage you in petty issues. It was a team of only seven people, and still, there were teams divided in the workplace. I wonder what would have happened if there were more.?

My advice would be to avoid working at a place where the senior management themselves are involved in office politics. If you are stuck in it, lay low, finish your job, make sure your capabilities and work ethics are known to all, and disengage as soon as someone starts a gossip about any other colleague of yours.?

You are very LUCKY if you find a confidante at your workplace.

There are certain things that only a person who is dealing with the same situation can understand. I was lucky enough to find a few, and we kept each other going through our rough days. Good friends become one reason that encourages you to get up in the morning and show up at work. I think I did not mind those extra hours back then because they meant spending more time and more laughs with the few friends I had made over there.?

Although, be smart enough to know whom you can trust and with whom you are just supposed to be cordial.?

I know this post sounded more like a list of complaints, but I am very grateful that I learned these lessons very early on. As a result, I was not susceptible to the following jobs that would have affected me both professionally and personally. I am also very grateful to my first organization for helping me figure out my eventual career path and allowing me to explore various things at their company.?