(Published February 9, 2009)
I had a big college reunion last year, and later this year is a big high school reunion. Thinking back to those school days got me reflecting on how far I've come and what I've learned from the jobs I've held. Here are some of the early career lessons that have stuck with me.
Develop a thick skin. Like most teenage girls I knew, I did my time in retail (anyone remember Stern's?). I may not have been able to do everything a customer asked or as quickly as they wanted, but I always did it with a smile. The same cannot be said for all of the customers. Some came in with a bad attitude, regardless of what I did. One of my co-workers told me that she was able to let it roll off her back; instead of being angry with them, she felt sorry for them — because she assumed that they had a terrible home life and came to our store to take their frustrations out on us. Lesson: Don't take everything so personally, and don't let little insults create large wounds.
Eat right. During summer and winter breaks from college, I typically worked two jobs — a 9-to-5 office job and then a part-time job. When I was working retail, a couple of nights each week, I'd go straight from the office to the store. I usually had enough time to eat dinner in the break room before my shift started. But depending on how late I was running, how tired I was, or what kind of mood I was in, some nights, I'd just get a candy bar from the vending machine. Treating myself to a candy bar felt like the best thing I could do for myself. Until about an hour or so into my shift. Then, my body started saying, "Okay, so you had dessert first. Now, where's dinner?" I'm sure there were nights that I was lethargic, not thinking completely clearly, and not feeling quite as cheerful as I pretended to be. (Hopefully not all in the same night.) Lesson: In order to stay on top of your game, you have to treat your body right.
Ask questions. In my very first office job, I knew nothing about office protocol. I was asked to bring documents to someone on another floor. She was not in her office when I got there, so I went back to my desk with the papers in hand, intending to try again later. Before I could go though, my supervisor asked me what happened to the documents. When I told her that the person had not been there, she informed me that I could have left the papers on the desk. I had figured I needed to hand off the papers to a person. Considering that I didn't know for a fact whether this was true, I should have asked my supervisor what to do. Lesson: Never assume…
Value education. One of my summer part-time jobs was working the concession stand at a large lake. Part of that job entailed mopping the floor. I remember that I didn't mind doing it, because I only had to do it once a week and only for a couple of months before I went back to school. In other words, it was not a job I'd be doing for the rest of my life. Lesson: Take advantage of the opportunity to learn something new if you want to broaden your career horizons.
Get over yourself. I had a supervisor who so clearly relished being in a management position. In fact, she never let me (or anyone else) forget that I was subordinate to her. She actually corrected a consultant who dared to say that I worked "with" her; no, no, I worked "for" her. Lesson: Unnecessarily throwing one's weight around is annoying. It's more important to lead by example than by emphasizing placement in the hierarchy.
Gloria Ju
Editor in Chief
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