Sean
How old were you when you got your first stable job?
Im still a student but will enter the real world soon.
What was it like for you to transition from school to work?
What were the hardest things to get used to? What are the best parts of starting work?
What advice would you give your past self if you could?
#real-world #first-job #jobs #job-search #employment
9 answers
Mr. Constant III
Mr.’s Answer
Sean P,
I was a few days shy of turning 23 when I was fresh out out college with a Bachelors in Arts degree. I was excited because prior to that I had no major accomplishments in the academic world but here I was very young and with a degree. There was no transitioning for me because I was always working. My first stable job after graduation was a Passenger Service Agent for an airline, it was extensive work and little pay and I was around many people who only finished High School, that right there was kind of hard for my ego to deal with. The hardest things is going into a job that does not really deal with your major, being paid the same amount of money you did when you were working as a teenager and dealing with hard physical labor when you are worthy of sitting in an office. The best parts of starting to work is receiving paychecks to pay your loans back. There are many advices I would give to my younger self but truth be told younger me would not take it in until later on in life but I would had told the younger me to be quick to listen and to become slower to talking back. Those two key features along with my knowledge would had advanced me.
Best wishes on your journey.
Emily Grimes-Harris
Emily’s Answer
Also, you can move through different careers as you grow up. Do not be afraid to start with a 2 year degree or technical degree to see if you like a job field. If you do, you can always get further education. If you end up not liking that field, you have not wasted too many years and too much money on a bigger degree.
Emily recommends the following next steps:
Kei Mercado
Kei’s Answer
I started working right after I graduated so I was around 19-20 years old.
It was a huge transition from school to work. For one, I am paid to doing my job (LOL) and I have to be learn a lot by getting trained and listening to my mentors. When you start working, it will make you realize how to value money. You will have good and bad days but you will learn to adapt and learn from all the roadblocks that you will encounter.
I will not use the term hardest but one of the challenges really is learning the job. Being fresh out of school, I did not have work experience prior to me working so I really had to put my mind into learning the job. The best part is, I met very good resources. I met new friends and colleagues who were very helpful and they all contributed to my success now.
The advice that I would give to my past self would probably be to study more and be involved in communities which will give me first hand experience on my dream job,
Simeon Snow
Simeon’s Answer
Srinivasa N
Srinivasa’s Answer
Transition was fine as I was very excited as it was my one of my dream company to get into. Go to work with some cool people and amazing brains, still do to date.
Hardest things are getting into a bit of unknown world, but that was short lived an eased into corporate world. The need i personally felt to make my mark in first few year took extra toll. But worth the pain.
Best part(apart from working with best brains) is paychecks. Pretty good feeling to receive first "real" paycheck.
One advice i would give myself is to focus on more networking and my branding earlier.
Stephen Mroz
Stephen’s Answer
First job out of college as a trainee real estate appraiser, which turned in to a 20 year career in various aspects of the mortgage industry.
What was it like for you to transition from school to work? - as i worked through college, it was simpler because I went from a job and full time school to just focusing on a job. Instead of 16 hour days I went down to 8-10
What were the hardest things to get used to? What are the best parts of starting work? - Hardest was the expectations. It is one thing to fail at a part time job ( I didn't) but at a full time job, your performance and items might impact many other people.
What advice would you give your past self if you could? - Invest in your 401k earlier, take more vacation time, go back to graduate school as soon as you can afford it, invest.
Sreekanth Surendran
Sreekanth’s Answer
Priya R
Priya’s Answer
Transition was smooth because I worked in one of the big MNC's.
Understanding the corporate structure as a fresher was little hard.
Best part about work was earning my first salary and spending it on my family.
The advise I would give my past self is that, do not worry too much about scores because in the end skills matter more than marks.
Kapildev N
Kapildev’s Answer
I was 23 when i got into the telecom based company and from there my career started.