Young Professionals, Here's How You Can Shine On Your First Job

As a young professional myself, I consider myself blessed to have met the right mentors and teachers as early as 19 years old. They are world class speakers and coaches, serial entrepreneurs, corporate high-fliers and business leaders. But above all, they are people who give generously so a wide-eyed teen like myself could learn.

Just a couple of days back, I was invited to share some thoughts with the Straits Times, Singapore's national broadsheet about professional development advice for young professionals. The last time I wrote an article like that on '5 Great Habits Successful Young Professionals Need to Develop', it was extremely well received and people are still sharing it till today!

(Straits Times Classified, 17 May 2016, image credits - Jeraldine Phneah)

However given the nature of the article, I could only share a small excerpt alongside Executive Coach, Andrew Jones and a Millennial blogger from Singapore, Jeraldine Phneah.

That said, I'm sharing the full interview responses that I've provided to the writer of the article.

1. What are some of the working qualities you need to have?

It differs from the job to job but I believe the few key qualities fresh graduates need to demonstrate through their words and demonstrated actions (track record) are:

1) Self-awareness – a lot of fresh graduates tend to “over-sell” themselves and try to be someone else other than who they really are. But your line managers, with their years of experience, can cut through the hot air and know whether you’re faking it, or not. So quit trying to put on masks and bring to your work your true self. This means, having the gumption to vocalize your thoughts when appropriate and staying true to your values. Whether it’s through a peer interview or individual reflection exercise, you need to be clear as to your personal strengths, critical areas of growth and blind spots. There is tremendous courage and value in saying, “I don’t know but I’m willing to learn”

2) Clarity of Your Value – do you know what you can honestly deliver and bring on to the table? A lot of fresh graduates know extremely clear what are their minimum salaries, desired benefits and other career needs but when the tables are being turned around, they are not fully aware as to what exactly they bring on to the table and how is it valuable to your employers? It is your job and responsibility to communicate how your internship, volunteering experiences, past business gigs can and will be of relevance and impact to your employers. The clearer you are of the value and better you can communicate that, the more attractive you will be in the eyes of your employers. On your first job, it’s always better to be the “proverbial sponge” - hunker down and learn all you can.

3) Hunger for Growth – as a fresh graduate, you may not have the skills, network or experiences. But what you need to demonstrate at the onset (first 100 days of your job) is that insatiable hunger for personal and professional growth. You need to get off your high horse and get rid of your self-entitled attitude and be willing to show how much you want that opportunity and are willing to hustle at it. I’m not suggesting you bend over backwards to please your employers and line managers but you need to recognize that while you’ve chosen your employers, they’ve chosen you from a good number of candidates too. So don’t rest on your laurels just because you have had stellar past work or academic experiences, awards or achievements under your belt. The “interview” still hasn’t ended proper – and you’re still under evaluation and scrutiny. So put yourself on the line, everyday. 

1. How do you make a great first impression at the workplace?

There are plentiful advice dispensed on making great first impressions at the workplace for fresh graduates but here are a few lesser known tips for fresh graduates.

1) Manage and Communicate Upwards Early – chances are you will report to one key manager or boss but your superior will be managing quite a number of employees and takes charge of multiple functional responsibilities so they don’t have time nor energy to babysit you. Hence, it will be in your advantage and boss’s benefit, to clarify with him (or her) and find out what are his preferred medium, frequency and content of communications when it comes to reporting. Find out what and how your functional role and performance is assessed and measured on so you can over-deliver on that. Better still, know what are the top 3 priorities of your immediate superior (or boss) and help him (or her) drive towards achieving it and you will immediately communicate the immense value you can deliver.

2) Network Internally and Externally – most companies have internal events where you get to meet colleagues from other cross functional teams and departments. Yet, most fresh graduates will likely cluster among their cliques or batch of graduates. Worse still, they would sometimes frown upon their peers who engage other senior colleagues out of jealousy. This could be part of the proverbial Politics 101. A great career move for fresh graduates is for you to reach out, in an authentic fashion, to people you admire and like to learn from within the company. As time goes and if there is mutual chemistry, take the initiative to establish a mentoring relationship. With LinkedIn as a professional networking platform, don’t just restrict your networking to internally within your company but also, your industry as well. The more you give value unto your network, the more likely you will be able to extract it when you need to. 

3) Make Positivity Your Best Make-up – ladies will have their elaborate make-up routine but this “make-up” we are talking about here is unisexual. There is nothing quite a turn-off than having a fresh graduate whine, gossip or be engaged in negativity when you’ve yet to make your presence and impact felt in the company. And you sure don’t want it to be felt in a negative manner! Instead, learn how to always look at the bright side of things and embrace the silver lining within every situation you will be in. Times may be tough, workload may get intense but if you take everything in good faith – it doesn’t just serve the people around you but also, yourself as you tide yourself through those moments. 

1. What are some behavioural Dos and Don’ts?

Dos

• Think, feel and act in alignment and positivity 
• Take initiative to communicate and manage expectations upwards routinely 
• Embrace opportunities to learn and never think you’re above learning and working hard 
• Learn on the job and outside of it as well by keeping abreast of industry movements and macro-economic factors and how it will affect your industry and company

 Don’ts

• Engage in toxic office politics even though it may be tempting to. You never know when it will come back to haunt you
• Talk bad of others behind their backs and commiserate in character assassination. If you have anything to clear up with someone, take the responsibility to set up a conversation and straighten things out. If the other party is unresponsive, at least, you took the move of maturity as an adult 
• Rest on your laurels and think your personal and professional development ends after you’ve gotten your job
• Lose your ethical and moral centre on your job and in your work. When in doubt, speak to a trusted friend, mentor or parent, and get an objective perspective of what you are challenged with 

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About the Author: Benjamin Loh is an Executive Public Speaking Coach, TEDx Speaker, Author and Professional Speaker on Millennial Matters. As the youngest Associate Certified Coach in Singapore and possibly, Asia-Pacific, he has coached over 100 corporate executives and entrepreneurs individually with over 750 hours of direct coaching and trained over 3,000 clients in high impact mass trainings in public speaking, presentation skills and leading the multi-generational workforce and Millennials. His work in entrepreneurship and public speaking has been featured on over 60 occasions on both local and regional media platforms like Channel News Asia (CNA), Vietnam QKTV, BFM Malaysia, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), Straits Times (ST), Business Times (BT) and News938 Live. 

Listen to what some of his clients have to say about working with Ben as their Public Speaking Coach or Millennial Professional Speaker.