7 Mistakes Recent Grads Make at Work

good points

great article, especially #7

sunshyne of TX @ Oct 25, 2008 13:49:27 PM

old people

im young, so my ideas must be bad. by the time i get to be old and my ideas are heard and valuable, ill be so out of touch that every idea will be wrong and unusable.

jr. associate jr. of NY @ Oct 20, 2008 23:18:19 PM

another one

Alison –

I too work with a lot of recent college grads. I’d like to add:

Treating a business trip like Spring break. Being terminated for inappropriate after hours behavior can be a real stain on your resume and hard to explain to Mom and Dad.

Dan McCarthy of @ Oct 20, 2008 20:42:06 PM

RE: Dating a co-worker. The problem is not working with someone you date, it's working with someone you used to date. Getting your honey where you get your money is a bad idea.

Annette of WI @ Oct 16, 2008 11:51:25 AM

Forgot one

8. Try to learn these things before you get a job, and (better yet) before you go to college, too. These aren't just job-success tips, but life-success (and school-success) tips, as well. In fact, try to learn them from your parents, as early as possible.

And if you're a parent -- here's an important set of life skills you can and should pass on to your kids, starting NOW.

almostgotit of TN @ Oct 15, 2008 20:47:05 PM

helpful

I've been fired from every single job that I have had since I graduated from college. Well, actually two jobs (that I was fired from), but I resigned from my second job-and was recently laid-off from my most recent job. Nevertheless, the third job-that I had-I was fired because I basically did something (called a client/partner) on the phone and after I got off the phone, my boss was like, "DO NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN, PLEASE ASK BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING....YOU'RE NOT ASKING ENOUGH US QUESTIONS."

The next day, it was all over. I was taken into a small conference room and spoken to by my supervisor and her boss. I was given an "exit interview". This all happened around noon time. Like an idiot, I asked them if they wanted me to stay until the end of the day, which was around 6:00pm. They said no, "You can leave right now actually, unfortunately we no longer have a need for you."

It was devastating. I learned my lesson-the "hard way"-from the experience. Always ask questions, but unfortunately I was afraid to ask questions because I knew right away that I was hired for a position that I wasn't-necessarily-qualified to do.

Unfortunately, I went from $50K/year salary to a $25K/year salary in the blink of an eye. It was terrible. I am still trying to get my life back on track. Unfortunately, they don't teach you a lot of this stuff in many colleges and universities-that "ship" happens to the best of us.

My advice to young people out there is to read job descriptions very carefully and when it says, "must work well in a team environment", be prepared to get "intimate" with people immediately. Unfortunately, working in an office or many jobs-for that matter-you can't hide like in college. In college, you can say, "well, I don't really like this person, or I don't really like their perspective/views on life, they're rude, etc., so I was just hang out with them." Tough "ship" in the work world. You have to learn to get a long with everybody. You're no longer on the football team, cheerleading squad, baseball team, cross-country team, etc. Unfortunately, the "bonding" needs to happen much quicker in the work world and you don't have time to develop relationships like you do in college. In the work world, there can be a lot of a%*holes. Afer all, it is work. Even though, you would like to be well-liked, etc. Unfortunately, there are many people that do not want to be friendly-they're there to work and that's why it's work.

Tom of NH @ Oct 15, 2008 11:20:21 AM

very on point

I got fired from my first office job because I didn't apply these concepts. For anyone who is reading this, getting "terminated" is not something you ever want to experience. Everything written here is solid advice. It's almost verbatim what my H/R manager told me during my exit interview. Wish I knew this when I was fresh out of university. Great article.

Brennan @ Oct 14, 2008 20:24:23 PM