6 ways to succeed at your first job

This is a guest post from the author behind Gen Y Finance Journey. Gen Y Finance Journey is a marketing professional in her 20’s. A former shopaholic, she’s navigating her way through adulthood learning about frugality, investing, and healthy living. Follow her on Twitter at @GenY_Finance.

Your first job out of college can be very scary. Your responsibilities may not align with what you studied in college and you’ll likely be expected to learn a lot of new skills. Some employers have structured training programs, while others don’t. You may be joining with a whole crop of recent graduates, or you may be the youngest employee. One thing is for certain though: you want to be successful at your first job.

You only get one chance to apply for jobs and not be judged for a lack of work experience, so you want to make the most of that first job. When it comes time to apply for your next job, you’ll want to have great references and a demonstrated commitment to excellence. The raises and promotions you receive in your first job will influence the types of jobs you’ll be eligible for later on and the level of compensation you can request.

Here are six things you can do to almost guarantee success at your first job and put you in a position for a great career.

DON’T SAY NO

You might have been hired for a specific job, but as a recent graduate, you need to build up your skill set, and that means accepting projects that may not be in your job description. A willingness to take on new projects will prove to your boss that you’re motivated and dedicated to your job. It conveys a desire to grow within the company and will set you up nicely for raises and promotions. Supervisors really like people who are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.

Taking on new projects will also help you build your resume for when it comes time to look for a new job. To increase your skill set, you could take courses, but that requires you to pay course fees and put in extra hours outside of work. When you learn new skills on the job, you’re getting paid for your time.

When your boss asks if you’d like to take on a new project, unless you’re already completely swamped with existing projects, you should say yes.

IT’S OK TO MAKE MISTAKES…

We had a recent graduate join our department a few months ago. He was joining us three weeks before our biggest conference of the year. We have a huge, ornate booth and throw a big party at this conference. It requires a lot of planning. We drafted him to help us prepare all of our shipments and take a carload of boxes to our shipment center. He then stayed back at home while the other three of us went to the conference, where we realized upon unpacking that one of the boxes was missing. We figured that either he left the box at the office or the shipment center forgot to send it. I said to my boss, “I hope the shipment center finds it, I would hate for the new kid to have made such a big mistake in his first month. He’ll feel awful!” To which my boss replied, “I hope he was the one who made the mistake, because it will be a really good learning experience for him and he’ll figure out early on how important it is to double check everything.”

When you’re 22, nobody expects you to be perfect. If you make a mistake, don’t try to shirk responsibility or pretend the mistake never happened. Own up to the mistake. Your boss will appreciate your honesty and will trust you more in the future. Imagine you’re a manager and one of your team members made a mistake. Wouldn’t you want to know what happened so you could figure out a resolution? It will be scary the first time you realize you made a mistake and have to tell your boss about it, but it will be a great learning experience and will hopefully strengthen your relationship with your boss.

On the other hand, if your boss reacts negatively and makes you feel terrible about making a mistake, that’s a good indication that you might not want to stay in this position for too long. You’ll keep making occasional mistakes throughout your career, and you don’t want to have a boss who is going to make you feel awful about every single one of them.

…BUT YOU HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO FIX THEM

Turns out the box was back at the office. The new kid had made a mistake. It was about 11pm Eastern when we figured out the box was at the office (on the west coast), and we needed it by 6pm the next day. “Well,” my boss said, “he’s going to have to get it to us by 6pm.” We hired a courier to come pick up the box, but it meant someone needed to be at the office between 10pm and midnight Pacific to meet the courier. On a Saturday. The new kid left whatever he was doing on a Saturday night and went into the office to hand the box off to the courier. And it arrived just in time.

Because the new kid came through for us and fixed his mistake, all was well. We didn’t even mention the incident once we got back from the conference. He proved that he was willing to do whatever was necessary to fix his mistake, so nothing further needed to be said. Going forward, we all feel confident that he will both be more careful to not overlook any details and that if he does make a mistake, he’ll be open about it and do whatever he can to fix it.

SHOW AN INTEREST IN THE BUSINESS

We all know that for most people, a job is just a job. It is a means to earn money so we can spend our free time doing the things we really love. But if you have that attitude at work, you’re going to have a hard time being successful. Even if you’re just filing papers and ordering office supplies, showing an interest in the business and the products will impress your boss. When companies are hiring, an existing knowledge of the business can give an applicant an edge, so your company may prefer to promote you into the open position rather than hiring an outsider who would have to learn everything from scratch.

SOCIALIZE

At my first performance review, my boss said that I’d been doing a great job, but he asked some of his colleagues in other departments what they thought of me, and they all told him that they didn’t really know because I never talked to them. You don’t have to become best friends with your coworkers, but engaging in conversations in the break room, attending company functions, and just generally being friendly to them throughout the day will make everyone like you more. And when people like you more, more opportunities come your way.

It’s easy to get absorbed in your work or assume that nobody cares about building relationships at the office, but the fact is that simply saying “hello” to the CEO every morning could be what makes him think of you favorably.

BRAG A LITTLE

Nobody likes an egotistical jerk, but you want to make sure your superiors are aware of all the hard work you’ve been doing. If your boss or another management figure asks you how your day is going, for instance, use that opportunity to tell them about a breakthrough you had with one of your projects, something new you learned that day, or even just what you’re working on. “Good” or “busy” may be perfectly honest answers, but they’re not going to help you get noticed for all the great work you do.

Tout your successes a little. When you complete a project, don’t just send an email to your boss. Copy the product manager, COO, Sales Director, or whoever else might be interested in the project to let them know about your work.