- June 1, 2021
- Posted by: brainlurn
- Category: Career Planning
Which is the best time to get ready for the first job?
What could be a suitable answer for this question? After getting a first job or start preparing for employment while you are doing the study?
Usually, people will reply, finish your study then think about the job or employment. Somehow this was okay if we talk about it a few years back but the current situation when the first job becomes challenging and people are expecting you to deliver as early as possible and skills need to be developed fast, it’s better to be ready for such challenges much before the first job.
In our society, most children complete their school and go to college. During this tenure, he/she was free from all the responsibility except study and that to be it was guided and mentored by parents or teachers. The day child starts his career or job, he enters a different world and if the child is not equipped with life skills that are required to manage personal and professional life, they will face challenges & which may affect their performance also.
Let’s imagine a situation where the person started his career and could not able to manage, pressure increases, and he/she decides to move on. Find another job but the situation becomes similar after some time. He/she will be frustrated and change again. Finally, he will be completing 5-7 years without having enough exposure and land in a situation where the employer will see him as fresher (Because learning is low) but he expects to get a better package or position. Complete mismatch results in depression and many more difficulties.
On the other side, if they spend some time learning or develop those skills which are essential for any professional during their #career, it definitely will help them to be future-ready. It also help him to perform better from his 1st job and ensure 2x growth in life.
1. Define career destination and path: Major challenges faced by any professional at the beginning of the career is improper planning or no planning. It’s like a journey full of energy and enthusiasm without knowing where to go. The majority of students doesn’t plan the career goals, they simply plan their stream of education. Once education completed, they will appear for campus selection, based on the selection they will proceed for a career. After some time they feel this role/job is not suitable for me and they might change their role or industry. At the beginning of the career, such distractions lead to frustration and poor growth in the career.
Hence it’s better to define your career destination and career path before selecting your stream of education. This will help you to prepare your career journey and while preparing for the same you can do research and get ready with the necessary knowledge or experience related to future work/profession. By doing so, will help you to be ahead of time and will ensure better growth in your career.
2. Get Ready with soft skills: Learning of necessary skill which is required for your first job is better when you are not doing the job. Because once you start working employer will ask you to deliver the result and you will find it difficult to focus on your skills development. Both tech and non-tech graduates should focus on gaining hard and soft skills. Every profession requires skills, whether you are an engineer or an HR professional. The best way to get ready is to ensure that you get certified in these job skills. If you have relevant certifications on your resume, your future recruiters will be assured of your skill level even without testing you themselves.
3. Get the experience before 1st job: Is it necessary to wait for your first job get to get the hands-on experience? Definitely no. Nowadays it’s quite easy to get hands-on exposure while you are pursuing your study, on relevant work/industry where you are planning to work in the future. This can be done in the form of an internship, part-time job, virtual internship. You can choose to work part-time for 2-4 hours/day in different segments or role for 2 years, which will give you an experience of more than 2500 hours, which is equivalent to 1-1.5 years of experience. This will build you tough physically and mentally both with an edge over others.
4. Create a professional network: A significant factor in becoming job-ready before graduation is by getting into networking. Networking with a purpose can be complicated. People who are shy or intimidated about talking to senior professionals might find it tough. But this is the time when people will be ready to help you as a student. You should join alumni societies, industrial societies, and gain advantages of being a student member.
5. Get a mentor: You may ask, What mentor will do in the beginning? This is the time to get the mentoring by someone who is experienced in the particular field you wish to gain expertise in. He will not teach you like your parents or teacher but definitely will help you to lay the milestones on your career path. He will make you aware of the hurdles you are going to face in the future and make you ready mentally and physically. He will be another parent or teacher after your school/college period, at the same time he can be your best friend for life.
When I was pursuing my study, we did not have the privileged to have such connectivity and accessibility, but nowadays when resources are available at your fingertips, better to use them in your favour than using them for others’ favour.
These principals have worked for me and I believe still this is working, believe it, try it and get 2x Growth in life.