Shortly after writing my final exams in my fourth, and final, year of my undergrad, I landed a job in an organization that I had touted as a “when-I-am-an-actual-adult-and-know-what-I’m-doing” type of place. It was the kind of place where I aspired to end up way down the road. I knew one day I would work there, but never would I have imagined that this organization is where I would take the first steps of my career.
Skipping the application and interview process – I ended up landing an entry-level job within this incredibly influential and well-known organization. Before having even walked across the stage to accept my university diploma, I relocated to another city, found a roommate, and leapt onto the lowest rung of the corporate ladder, bright eyed and as ready as I’d ever be.
The position I accepted was far from what I wanted to do in life. Finding success in my role was dependent on specific character traits such as attention to detail, organization, being a team player, having a strong work ethic, etc. The knowledge and understanding of the sport industry that I had gained while completing my Bachelor of Commerce, focusing on Sport Management, was almost irrelevant.
Some of the duties I performed were less than glamorous, the hours were long and the pay was sub-par, but none of this mattered. These factors had not brought any hesitation to my accepting the role two years ago, nor will it bring me any regret to think of the way I spent the first years of my career.
I learnt that, despite often wondering why I was crunching numbers for someone else to present or was re-writing meeting notes until well past the mythical 5pm end-of-day, it didn’t matter what I was doing, how many evenings I worked, or on which level I ranked on the organizational ladder. All that mattered was where I was. The organization where I was completing these unglamorous tasks, putting in the hours, making mistakes, and, just when I was ready to throw in the towel, was where I was finding success and learning.
An entry-level job is, in almost every instance, a stepping-stone to the beginning of your professional career. Most positions will have similar tasks and develop similar inter-personal skills. The game-changer is where you are completing the seemingly mundane tasks and developing as an individual.
I was doing so in an environment brimming with talented and passionate individuals. My coworkers’ desire and drive to succeed kept them focusing on the many tasks at hand, and challenging themselves to do more, setting the bar higher, every single time.
Needless to say, this kind of environment will inspire imitation. It took less than two workdays for my work hours to stretch well past 5pm, and for me to whiz through my daily tasks and start offering help to anyone that needed it. In the following 20 months I mastered the standard entry-level duties and took a stab at projects that I first thought were outside of my grasp, well-above the reach of my abilities. Fortunately, I proved myself wrong, and, just as my coworkers had with their own projects, I started to set the bar higher.
The what I was doing often tested my desire to stay. The how many hours, pushed me to what I believed was my limit, and, near the end of my time with the organization, the why I was doing this was an enormous and growing question mark, always lingering in my peripheral.
Regardless of all this, I always found the necessary motivation by bringing my focus to where I was. This mindset enabled me to see the big picture, and the positive impact that the organization has on the community it serves. On other days, I fed from the passion emanating from the people around me, those that were making it all happen.
An entry-level job is just that – an entry to the workforce, your first step into the real, post-university world. Regardless of what you will accomplish, how you will find success, and who you will become as a professional, the most significant steps of your career can very well be your first. Their most important characteristic won’t be the their size or speed at which they are taken, but where you take them.
JL
