The JobOkPlease Blog

Here are some of those 'learnings', that I want share with you -

1. Keep your expectations about the nature of your job as low as you can and gradually you will learn to live with them. A betrayal on the expectation front can be quite heart breaking as many of friends including me have experienced.

2. The things that you will do as a part of your job will in all probability be something you didn’t expect to do and something you don’t like to do. Unless you are a business tycoon’s son/daughter, be prepared to do some dirty/not-so-exciting work at your first job.

3. Don’t expect your employer to lay out a red carpet to welcome you on your first day at work. Don’t expect people around you to teach you what they have hired you to do. You have to learn things by yourself. You have to find your own way. You are on your own now.

4. For your first job, the salary shouldn’t be a criterion for deciding the company that you want to work with. This is because when you actually start working you will realize that there are no free lunches in this world. So if they are paying you a very good salary it is because they expect to be of equivalent use to them and they will make you slog accordingly.

5. Just because you have got a job now and have a steady income doesn’t imply that you settle down and make merry. If you are not doing what you always wanted to do, don’t compromise now.
   

Along with the above list, I would also like to point out to you some of the direct benefits of being employed- these are to be taken with a pinch of salt -

1. Earlier you were reporting to your teachers, professors & principals, now you have to report to your boss. Empirical studies show that you getting a good boss is as unlikely as you finding a wad of cash lying in the middle of the road. So welcome to world of boss-cribbers. You have enough people around you now who will empathize with you.

2. In your school and college days you played a lot of games like cricket, football et al. Now you get to play the exciting game of office politics. You may not always enjoy this slug fest of oneupmanship but you have to play it nevertheless and there is no running away from it.

3. When it came to your pocket money you fought with your parents to give you a raise. Most of the times you got it too. But no matter how much you got, it was never enough. Now you can proudly say ala Amitabh Mere pass mobile hai, ipod hai, Bank Balance hai aur Ma bhi hai, tumhare pass kya hai?

4. You get to maro dialogues like Call me later I am in a meeting, I will get back to you soon but right now I am busy with the client, Yeh raha mera Business card can I have yours, etc. They all somehow someway make you sound important and wanted.

5. I don’t know how many of you are lucky enough to be somebody’s boss on your first job. If by God’s grace you are, you get that moment of “over the moon” feeling when somebody calls you something like Amit Sir/Amit Saab. Isn’t that great. It provides for the much needed nourishment for your already pampered ego.

The above list is not an exhaustive one but I have wasted a lot of my time now without being productive for my employer, so I better get back to work before my boss finds out about it and fires me.

Labels: First Job