Things that they don't tell you in School about your first corporate job

Hi Guys

So I may have only been working full-time for just over 6 months now but I thought to myself let me share what I have learnt so far

Expectations

Now in high school and primary school your decisions are more or less made for you. They tell you what to wear, when and what to eat and have an overflow of rules so that you can become "a model member of society". They tell you that you are the future of society while making sure you stick to what society wants...

Then you have these great plans because you are working hard at school earning A's, getting into university, following all these laws. You are now this model member of society they spent 12 years (and more if you go into tertiary studying) making and you think okay I am going to get into my dream job and everything will be great because I deserve it

Now as a student that always worked hard, never really broke any rules and spent my school career being "the teachers pet" I learnt some very hard lessons once I entered the workforce

Reality

The world owes you nothing

You have to work hard for what you want and its going to take time. I went from being told how brilliant I am and how I will change the world, to capturing hundreds and thousands of clients slips to summarise their expenses, to being shoved all the admin work and the stuff no one else wanted to do. I got such a reality shock I spent my first week at work coming home crying not wanting to do this anymore. Then as I spoke to my friends also starting their jobs I realised. This is a universal thing. We come in thinking we now it all because we made it with the marks but in reality we know nothing.

In the corporate world as a new and young employee you will get taken advantage of and you may not like it but it is these type of situations that determine whether you will make it or not. Your high school marks, your degree... it only helped you get the job, you still need to prove your worth which may take some tries but always be appreciative that you have something many do not... a job. And this is only temporary, for me it was a huge shock, I contemplated quitting. The workload was intense for mundane jobs, the people had already formed their cliques and were not all that welcoming and no body was really interested in the opinion of a newbie.

Through out my 6 months I had a lot of trials and tribulations and some hard lessons I had to learn but all in all I am surviving.

How did I survive

Firstly I had to set myself apart, I arrived early every morning before everyone else and was one of the last to leave. I remained positive at work,even when i wasn't because...

Yes it was very difficult for me to always be smiling always be helpful always be friendly, but it set me apart and proved that I was willing to work as hard as a could to get where I wanted to be. I made a point of practically forcing conversation onto my co-workers and staying out of any gossip. That's the one thing about the workplace, there's always gossip and there's always conflict between individuals (my office is like 80% female). I adopted where if people wanted to complain about each other I would listen but not comment nor bring it up again and it has served me well. I currently have befriended (though it took some forcing in the beginning) all my co workers, people that used to look down on me now come to me every now and again for help, be it advice or even just to help lessen their workload.

In essence my hard work has made me an integral part of the company which is hard work and draining but I know it will pay off. I mean I had to deal with mean comments, demeaning co-workers and even a break-up (over text by the way) and not once did I bring my emotions into the workplace or lose control of them. Never lose control of your emotions in an office environment, you do not want to be labelled as one of those people. Furthermore, the only advice I can think of is work hard, take each day as it comes, be helpful but not a pushover and remember this is only temporary you will get there some day (It is kind of like Grade 1 all over again but the rest of the people are like already Grade 5 and up)

Anyway let me know what you guys think and feel free to comment any lessons or stories you may have regarding your first job or anything.