From waking up and, erm, occasionally not waking up for morning classes to setting your alarm and running to work – life takes a full turn when you graduate from college and take up a job. Whether your first job is the one you dreamt about, or the one you accepted to gain professional experience – it is going to teach you plenty of life lessons that no classroom lecture ever can! Here are 12 things your first job will teach you that college didn’t.
1. You NEED to get along with people
“I am not friends with her” – that’s not much of a statement any longer. You get to choose your friends in college, NOT your colleagues at work. You learn to be social and civil with everybody, ‘coz who knows when you need to work with Mishraji from the Accounts department, or even pair up on a project with that snooty girl.
2. You just can’t NOT finish your work
Even if you’re excusing yourself with a sick leave, you have to hand over stuff properly to other people. Your professor at college might let you submit but your term paper late, but your boss isn’t going to be happy about that project report not getting done.
3. You have to prove your value for that pay cheque
“I am not here to impress anybody” – Yeah, maybe you could get away with thinking along those lines in college, but your work at office NEEDS to impress your boss and colleagues.
4. You can’t “bunk” work
“Such great weather, let’s bunk literature for a drive, guys” – such a common thing in college. Well, not anymore. Your first job will teach you responsibility. You’ll learn that work CAN’T be bunked simply because if it’s left undone, there’s much more at stake than just attendance.
5. Spending money is easy, but earning it isn’t!
Now that you’re living off a salary and not an allowance, you’ll realize that earning money takes thirty days of hard work, and that’s just not worth reckless shopping or drinking binges.
6. Your body CAN’T survive on junk forever!
Now that you’d often be catching a quick lunch at work – eating out three meals a day is neither fun nor feasible. A tiffin box packed from home will save the day and keep you healthy too.
7. There is no choice but to be on time
Not a morning person? Too bad, ‘cause office starts at 9, and you better report in at the same time as others do. Swanning into a meeting 15 minutes late is not as “cool” as making a dramatically late entrance for a lecture!
8. You must dress professionally
“I make my own rules, and wear whatever I want, whenever I want.” Uhm…yeah, you still can – as long as it comes with sleeves, collars and buttons!
9. Learning to “unlearn”
Yeah, you studied all that theory in college, but the real world doesn’t really work by the same rules. You’ll unlearn most of the things you learnt in college at your first job and ACTUALLY exercise your own judgement in office.
10. Making the best use of your free time
With your free time now restricted to weekends, you won’t spend it sleeping in. Meeting friends or catching up on chores or nurturing your hobbies – your free moments are going to be constructive. #GrowingUp
11. Marks were never really a yardstick
Doesn’t matter if you topped your subject in college unless you can convince that client to agree with you on the subject at hand!!
12. You are not the most important person in the room
“Listen to me, I know just what we should do” – when you said this in college, people did listen. Now that almost everybody in the room is senior to you, you realize that the world doesn’t really revolve around you. But well, it teaches you humility for life! #LifeLessons
GIFs: Tumblr
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