How To Excel During The First Year Of Your Career

Early career advice can be fairly hit and miss, particularly if it’s not coming from someone who’s familiar with your field. When it comes to the specifics, the best ways to succeed in any given career can vary wildly, to the point where you’re usually better off finding a seasoned mentor who can help.

That said, making a good first impression, taking advantage of opportunities, and pushing for early career development are all skills that you can learn. Furthermore, they’re all skills you’ll need to learn if you want to find real success in your career and climb that ladder.

So today we’ll be breaking down the basics and exploring what you can do in your first year of employment to help set yourself up for a long and lucrative career.

Managing First Impressions

First impressions do count, though probably not as much as you think. In a job interview, it’s important to make sure you give the right first impression—or at very least that you’re seen to be making an effort—but once you’ve got the job there are more important things to care about than what people think of you.

Plenty of managers will tell you that new hires often work much harder in their first few weeks than they do for the rest of their time at the company. This isn’t strictly a bad thing, but neither does it have any major impact on your long-term success.

The truth is that if you’re planning to stay in this role for longer than a few months, then it’s best to care a lot more about results than reputation.

For example, some people feel the urge to work too quickly. After all, you’re on the clock and you certainly don’t want people thinking you’re lazy. Although it’s true that employers will appreciate you for respecting your work hours and not wasting the time they’re paying you for, nobody appreciates a rush job.

All this to say that, nine times out of ten, it’s better to start slow and speed up once you’ve understood a task, than to build shoddy habits that will stick with you for years to come.

The reality is that first impressions don’t stick around forever—especially if people are working with you every single day. When it comes to work, it’s amazing how rarely people are willing to let personal disputes and ego get in the way of a healthy and practical relationship.

Or, to put it simply, even if you start off slow, once people realise that you’re reliable and trustworthy, they’ll be quick to update their opinion of you—even if that’s just so they can bring you more work.

The Trick to Early Career Professional Development

If you’re looking for that one weird trick that’ll fastforward your professional development, then we’ve got some bad news for you. The real key to professional development at any stage of your career is hard work, practise, and passion.

The truth is that there’s only so much time in the work day and if you’re only ever focused on the work you’re given, you’ll struggle to expand beyond it. That’s why it’s important to set some time aside every week to research, learn, and grow new skills alongside those you’re currently using.

That said, the time you set aside needs to be well spent. It’s all too easy to waste time following dead end leads that don’t go anywhere when you could be actively training your brain to face real challenges you may encounter in the workplace.

As such, it’s very important to make sure you’re using good resources and developing relevant skills. Look at the career path you want to take and the skills you’ll need to follow that exact path. Find resources that come from people who’ve worked in the industry so you can be sure you’re taking guidance from someone who really knows.

Also, you should never neglect fundamentals and theory. If you’re a “learn on the job” type, it can be easy to focus on methodology at the expense of deeper understanding. The end result is that you know how to do a thing but not why you do that thing.

This approach can leave you with some very rigid skills that don’t easily adapt to new scenarios. Taking the time to back up those skills with a real basis in theory will put you in a far stronger position to take on new roles and learn new skills in the same field.

Learning How to Take Feedback

Taking feedback is an important skill, but again, it’s not as simple as some people make it out to be.

One common piece of advice for early career professionals is simply to take all criticism without question, to entirely set your ego aside and actively encourage others to rip your work to shreds. This approach can work for some people but it comes with some serious drawbacks and is neither as logical nor as rational as its proponents often make it out to be.

First of all, bad feedback exists. Some people will give you wrong information. Others will identify a problem and present you with the wrong solution. Even very knowledgeable experts can be guilty of this as they can’t see directly inside your head and accurately identify where you’ve gone wrong.

Secondly, even when critiques are accurate, they aren’t always helpful. You can only focus on one problem. If you try to fix more than one problem with your work at the same time this can be both demoralising and unhelpful. You’re stacking problems on top of each other and creating a barrier that’s simply too hard to pass in one go.

This may all sound a bit abstract, but the crucial takeaway is that the right feedback at the wrong time can actually do more harm than good. Those who develop fastest are often those who learn how to filter feedback in order to ensure they get the best results.

So how can you go about filtering feedback?

Well, this is the core of the skill and, in many respects, it’s a very personal thing to learn. You have to know how many problems you can deal with at once and how comfortable you are listening to criticism.

There’s nothing unprofessional about not enjoying criticism. A professional knows how to acknowledge criticism and how to set it aside until they’re ready to deal with it. After all, there’s a difference between being honest with yourself and actively beating yourself up.

At the same time, it is important to be able to take a step back and see when things aren’t working. It’s good to have pride in your work but you don’t have to let that pride get in the way of seeing its flaws.

Ultimately, as with so many things in life, handling feedback is about finding the balance that works best for you. There is no universal solution and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

When to Give 110%

The idea of “giving 110%” isn’t always appealing, especially if you don’t feel much loyalty to your employer. After all, if they’re not going to pay you more, why should you work harder?

It’s a fair perspective, but one that can be limiting if you’re looking to advance. We said before that there’s only so much you can learn during work hours and, while this is true, there are still a lot of benefits to achieving your best in the workplace.

Even if you dislike your job, it can make for a great case study—a real world example of the skills you’re aiming to grow. While you should never feel obliged to give more to your job than you’re required to, going that extra mile can do a lot to push your skills further while also showing your employer and your colleagues how skilled and dedicated you can be under the right circumstances.

Succeeding in Your First Job

So we’ve talked about general principles, but now let’s talk practical—what should you do during your first year?

For all that first impressions are far from crucial, knowing how to make a good first impression does make a big difference all the same. Your best starting point is to understand the expectations placed upon you and always be willing to ask questions.

When you arrive on day one, no reasonable employer is expecting you to immediately settle in and be perfect. What they are expecting to see is someone who’s dedicated to becoming a valuable and productive member of the team given time.

There are many ways you can show that dedication but it always starts with listening. When your boss gives you an instruction, they need to know that you’re paying attention. There’s nothing worse as an employer than learning that your new employee doesn’t pay attention to instructions.

It’s also important to try and make good colleague relationships. That’s not to say you need to make these people your best friends, but presenting an approachable persona and getting to know people will make your life a lot easier.

From a selfish point of view, it’s also valuable to network. If your coworkers know that you’re a pleasant person to be around and work with, then they’ll be more likely to recommend you for future projects. When all’s said and done, the people you work with can make a huge difference to your enjoyment and you’d be amazed how often employers will prioritise good rapport over experience and skills.

It’s also important to note that this logic goes both ways. If you don’t like the people you’re working with, that can be a serious dilemma, ruining what might otherwise be a pleasant job.

What To Do if It’s Not Working Out

Before going into any job it’s important to keep in mind that things may not work out. A full time job is always going to take up the majority of your waking hours, so it’s important that the job is a good fit for you. If you don’t get along with your colleagues, then that’s likely to have a serious impact on your satisfaction and even your mental health.

Now, many people worry about quitting a job within the first year and while that certainly can look bad on your CV, it is explainable. Sometimes the most sensible and mature thing you can do is walk away from a situation that’s having a poor influence on you.

Final Thoughts

A lot of the time, healthy progress isn’t just about how often or even how hard you work—it’s about how you make that time count. If you’re healthy and happy, then the hours you sink into career development will be far more effective.

Advice for early career professionals often has a strong tendency to focus on the importance of putting hard work in up front to save you time later on. While this is certainly a valuable mindset to hold, it’s also good to work smarter not harder.

If you want to really make sure that all your hard work has a practical, tangible payoff, then it always helps to have a mentor. When you hire a mentor, you’re giving yourself the opportunity to get direct advice from someone who has achieved the exact same goals you’re trying to achieve. They can help to correct misconceptions, develop your skills, and show you the path towards your dream career.

Excited to make the most of your first year in the job? Sign up today with Career Navig8r and start your mentoring journey!