If you are reading this, hopefully you have landed your first big girl job or you are at least in the process of doing so. There can be a lot of uncertainty and there are a few things I definitely wish someone had told me before hand. So, I’m telling you….Here’s what I think you should know before starting your first job post-grad.
You will not be there forever.
When I first started my real job, I was under the impression I’d be there for at least 5 years. I was there for about a year and a half before moving on. However, this is not the case for everybody. You may be there 6 months and you may be there for 20 years before deciding to accept a new job.
You will feel stuck.
After about a year or so at my first job, I started to feel a bit stuck and felt that I wasn’t growing. I was doing the same basic tasks everyday and rarely felt challenged. I worked for a very small company so there was no promotion or higher level position available for me to work up to.
Tip: If you ever feel like you are not being challenged in your job role, I suggest talking to your boss or manager about getting involved in some other projects before starting to look for another job. They may have new responsibilities for you to take on that you never even knew about. If this fails, it might be a sign to starting looking for some other job opportunities.
You can negotiate your salary.
This is something I still think about two years later. I struggled to get my first job after graduating (read more about that here and get some tips if you are in the same boat). By the time I got a job offer from a company I actually felt confident in, I was so desperate that I accepted the offer immediately even thought I wasn’t thrilled about the salary. Looking back, I wish I at least tried to negotiate even it was just an extra thousand or two.
I will say though, if you do ask for more money when being offered your first “real” job, just be realistic with your expectations. After all you probably don’t have a ton of experience to justify a significant salary increase. If you don’t know where you should be at salary wise, LinkedIn Salary can give you a general average based on job titles and job locations.
I hope these three things gave you some insight on some helpful things to know before starting your first job post-grad. Still struggling to land that first job? See what my secret was to finally landing my first after graduating college.
