19Apr

Choosing Your First Job – How to Decide if It’s the Right One?

By: Suchitra Mishra On: April 19, 2016 In: Career, First Job, Job Offers, Managing Yourself, World of Work Comments: 759

You are at the brink of stepping into the world of work, and suddenly there are all these tough and ‘adult’ decisions that need to be made for choosing your first job. There is a lot of pressure on you, when everyone around you seems to be saying ‘this is what you’ve been prepping for all your life’. In this post, we try and help you let off some of that steam by putting to you five simple questions, that will aid you in choosing your first job from all the options available. Keep calm, and read on!

 1. Does the role excite you?

The answer should be in affirmative, instinctively. If you can imagine yourself waking up with a smile to work, go ahead and seal the deal. It is true that not everyone gets the opportunity this early in their careers to do ‘exactly’ what they dream about. However, think it through, understand the role at hand thoroughly and the expectations from you. It’s quite simple to answer this first question, go ahead only if the role truly does excite you and you see your potential being utilized through it.

2. Do you see yourself growing in this organization?

Do a thorough background check on the organization (Glassdoor and Quora are good virtual platforms for this). Talk to people you may know in the domain and get their opinion regarding the organization. If you have friends working at the same organization, then nothing like it (however, remember to be discreet in the manner of question you pose, keep it professional all through). This will help you understand the career scope you will have during the time you invest there, and will give you a fair idea of how working there will shape the future of your career trajectory.

3. Are they valuing your skills and experience?

In order to answer this question, you yourself should be aware of your skills and experience. Weigh in any internships or courses you may invested in, which is relevant to the role they are offering you. Know that while you may not have had any ‘formal’ work experience, even these experiences matter and give you an edge over other candidates. Ideally, the organization should give you due credit in terms of a pay commensurate to your experience and your educational pedigree (for that, again, you should be aware of how much you are worth), and a suitable job profile.

4. How has the communication with the organization been so far?

You can understand a great deal about the organization, from the initial conversations in your hiring process itself. It is important for you to feel they respect you and your skills, and value you as an asset and don’t perceive you simply as a candidate. Remember, in the world of work, the people you work with, can truly make all the difference.

5. Are you accepting the offer whole heartedly?

It isn’t at all unnatural for our decisions regarding our first jobs to be heavily influenced by panic. While it is true that landing a job isn’t really a piece of cake, it is also true that if you are confident about your skills and talent, the first job offer will not be your last job offer. Before taking a decision, ask yourself if there is any sort of compromise involved. Understand that there is a difference between adapting and compromising. If the offer is something you are having to really convince yourself for reasons to accept, you should let it pass.

We hope this post helped resolve the dilemmas you may have had regarding choosing your first job. A first job is special for sure, and remember that it’s a lot more than just the money it has to offer you. Choosing your first job is about taking the first steps towards finding independence and discovering your purpose in life. Surely enough, there isn’t any one stock method of doing it. All of us must go out there, make our own mistakes, learn and grow – the basic survival clause in the world of work, which we all at Oorja Biz Ops, could swear by! In case you have specific queries or confusions, do write in to us, we’d be happy to help!

 

, , , , ,

759 Comments:

Leave reply:

Your email address will not be published.

Facebook Page Widget