If you’re lucky, you will get a

job right out of school. And if you’re like most people, you may have to wait a

few months. And then some. What few people will tell you is that your first job

will not likely come immediately or be ‘the right one’. Chances are, it won’t

even be good enough for right now, but you will be told to make it work because

many others would love to have a job.

But let’s get real. Too many of

us have been taught that if our jobs are not what we expected, then perhaps we

are not making the best of the situation. The job you get out of school will

teach you many things, including how you work with others, respond to a

difficult work environment (and people), and whether the field you are in is

right for you. You can expect to learn some pretty harsh truths rather quickly.

And while our jobs initial jobs

left a lot to be desired, many of our employers had a similar sense of letdown

when they realised we were inexperienced and were not able to turn it out as

fast, and in some cases, as well as our more practiced coworkers. Imagine

that?!

It can be quite the disheartening

feeling to find out that the career you chose did not choose you. And despite

trying to make our square pegs of determination and desire to prove ourselves

worthy fit into the round hole of job functions and expectations, it was just

not meant to be for many of us.

These were stark insights and

they came hard, fast and constantly. Much of what you will be required to do

when you start out will not be glamourous. If it was given to you, it is fair

to assume no one else wanted to do it. These tasks will not likely require any

of the knowledge or skills you spent years of internships and study honing,

because you are a small fish in an ocean of sharks. These functions are needed

but not crucial, and for much of your stint as a beginner in the world of work,

this is how you will also be viewed.

Be prepared to unlearn a lot of

what you were taught. It got you the degree but will not get you off probation.

You will be forced to adapt to the style of those around you, to find tactful

ways to present original ideas as theirs that you are simply cosigning and do

more than is actually asked of you. Completing what you are tasked with is a

start, going above and beyond to show your true value is the endgame.

Take ‘and all other duties as

assigned’ to mean just that. You are not yet in a position to say no, not if

you hope to progress beyond the minor nature of your role. Job growth, like

personal growth, takes time and effort. We have all had moments when shedding a

couple tears of frustration in the bathroom seem like a viable option, and some

of us have taken them. The truth about work is that regardless of how good you

are at it and how long you do it; there will always be bad days. Gratitude for

the process and trust in your capabilities positively influencing the eventual

outcome will sometimes be all you have. Believe me, that can mean a lot!