Be Prepared for Your first Job

My First Job

Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it. – Lou Holtz

Congratulations! You have just graduated. You are ready to take on the world and get your first job. You may be in a lucky position that you are already hired. Here are some vital tips to get your first posting or embark on your working career.


Technical skills

You have already acquired the necessary technical or academic knowledge and occupational skills relating to your degree. Perhaps you have gained working experience in your field of study by industrial attachments and temporary jobs. It is well and good but there are other equally important skills you must possess to give you an edge over other candidates and one of them is people skills.


People skills

Employers are interested to find out whether you have participated in voluntary work, community projects, or other front-line work. It is because you are likely to develop people skills. These activities help you to develop interpersonal skills, effective communication capabilities, and leadership abilities. On the other hand, you need to be reliable, responsive, develop trust, and likeability. You watch out for your personal grooming and be empathetic. Here are the 10 Psychological Secrets about Human Relationships and the 18 Secrets to Acquire Instant and Effortless People Skills


Decision-making skills

Employers also want to find out whether you have the ability to define problems and to select the best course of action. Are you resourceful and self-reliant or a proactive person? Here is The Five C's of Decision Making


Time-management skills

You need to prioritize your work so that you are able to use the limited time productively. Know how to manage areas where time can be wasted. Such things like paperwork, telephone calls, and meetings. Here are the 10 Tips to Manage Your Time at Work


High EQ

One important area that makes you stand out among the crowd is your emotional intelligence. Are you able to appeal to emotions to convince someone rather than using facts alone? Do you possess the ability to motivate separate individuals as opposed to treating everyone the same way? Be able to understand your emotions and control them. Dr. Daniel Goleman, the author of Working with Emotional Intelligence, defines EQ as “the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.” According to Dr. Steven Tobias (2008) “success is…20% I.Q. and 80% E.Q.”


Be aware and develop all these skills and as you move up the corporate ladder you need conceptual skills. It is the ability to think in the abstract, to diagnose and analyze different situations and to see beyond the present situation.

Wish you a successful career.