When I look back on my first year out of college, I realize that there’s a lot I would have done differently. I would have read career advice rather than thinking it didn’t apply to me. I would have sought out a more experienced person in my industry to be a mentor. And I wouldn’t have waited until a year into my job to discuss performance expectations. I graduated a year early, so I was especially eager to please and reluctant to assert myself. So, here are five career mistakes to look out for.
1. Having vague career goals.
If your goals are unclear, then how can you expect anyone else to know what kind of work to give you? It’s not your employer’s job to help you find yourself, so if you don’t have a clear picture of what you want to do, then you are an easy target for tasks that no one else wants to do. Not every manager is good at delegating or figuring out other people’s strengths, so the employees who know what they want and ask for it make their managers’ lives easier. Those who don’t, get stuck with the leftovers.
2. Not getting negotiations in writing.
In the past I’ve been promised raises and I failed to get it in writing because I trusted my bosses. The first time, I was working at a taco shack over the summer and my manager got fired a week later, meaning I missed out on that extra twenty-five cents an hour (tragic, I know). The second time, I was salaried and my boss gave me a verbal raise but never told accounting. I straightened it out a few paychecks later, but I should have emailed him to confirm immediately after our meeting and avoided the confusion later. Another unfortunate salary manipulation is what I call the preemptive raise. Basically, you get a small raise when you’re not expecting it and they know that you won’t try to negotiate. But you should always negotiate so that you establish yourself as someone who knows what they’re worth.
3. Staying too long in your first job.
People worry about the stigma of job hopping, but sometimes it’s the only way to gain respect. Say you were interning somewhere and got offered a full time job at the company. Your parents would be elated, but I would caution you not to jump in without weighing your options. First of all, you’ll always be remembered as the intern, so people will continue asking you to fetch coffee and locate office supplies. My first job out of college was as an admin but a new position opened within a few months and I grabbed it. Even a year after I’d moved up, people still treated me like the receptionist because that’s what I was doing when they met me. If your company thinks you’re worthy of a full time job, then trust your abilities and someone else will offer you a position with more money and more respect as well.
