How to Get Your Career Off to a Great (or at Least Good) Start

Your career is your most valuable financial asset, offering you many financial benefits. You can make the most of it by getting a college degree and managing your career to its full potential. Doing this well can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime.

One way to super-charge your career is to start off well. Get a high-paying job, one that also has lots of upside potential, then develop your career to maximize your earning potential. Why is starting out so strong important? Consider this: which would you rather have -- a 5% annual increase on $40,000 or a 5% annual increase on $50,000?

Both of these options include the same level of success at managing a career (a regular, annual increase of 5%), but of course you'd rather have the latter option. And for good reason. The difference over a 40-year career between the two is $1.2 million! It pays to start off well!!!

And that's what this piece from Yahoo is about. It tells how to get your career off to a great start. Their thoughts:

[There are] two guidelines that are essential to getting your career off to a great start:

1. Choose the right first job.
2. Get off to a great start in your early days.

Here's how to choose the right first job:

• Go Blue Chip.
• Follow Your Passions.
• Pick Your Boss Carefully.
• Focus Not on Compensation.

In my experience, I can say that he's right on with the first two. I started with a Fortune 20 company and it propelled my career forward dramatically -- so much so that I'm still benefiting from that work experience 15 years later, though I only spent two years with that company. In addition, you have to love (or at least like) what you do. Otherwise, it will be very hard to be successful at it.

As far as picking your boss goes, it's a nice idea, but one you have little control over -- especially if you go with a blue chip company. These companies are notorious for 1) telling you who you'll work with and when, 2) giving workers very little (if any) input into who they should work for, 3) moving both managers and employees around from one job to another and 4) having people leave to pursue other opportunities. Out of grad school I was assigned to work under a great manager. I flourished under him. Then four months later, he took a higher position with another company and the Wicked Witch of the West moved in. Not good. So while it would be nice to pick your boss, it's not really practical.

Finally, you don't have to give up on earning a decent salary, just don't forsake all else to get an extra $1,000 a year. I'd much rather make $1k less in a job with the right characteristics than make more but be in a bad place work-wise.

Next, here's how to get off to a great start in the first days of a new job:

• Maintain a positive attitude.
• Work Hard.
• Deliver on Your Commitments.
• Do completed staff work.
• Focus on the success of others.

Two thoughts here:

1. After you get the first job, no one cares about your life before your career. Your experience now rules the destiny of your career. Yes, you may have gone to Harvard Business School, but no one cares if you're the worst manager in the history of business. I wrote about this issue previously in Experience versus Education: Which Counts More in Career Success?

2. Two things really matter in career success: 1) delivering results and 2) a positive attitude. Yes, other factors influence the success of your career, by not nearly to the degree that these two do.

For more on making the most of your career, see these posts:

• How to Make a Million Dollars in Ten Years, Part 5: Career

• Career Guidance: Do's and Don'ts of Quitting Your Job

• Seven Career Killers

• Career Advice for the Unattractive

Comments

[Kira]

I totally agree on the salary thing - when I was interviewing for jobs, most of them were in the $22-24k range, which I had been expecting for starting jobs in my field. (not that they ever get startlingly higher, but...) However, I applied for a few I didn't think I'd get, and landed one paying $30k. Right now the difference is pretty substantial, but also when I apply for my next job, if they found out that I was only making $22k a year before, they're probably going to reason that I will think $25k is a fortune. However, since my job pays $8k more than I thought I would get, I'll pretty much always have that $8k - plus a sort of prestige since future jobs may think I musta been somebody special to command that high of a starting salary. ;)