Lessons for a Fresh Graduate

Have you recently graduated from school / university? Are you thinking about what career path to go down? Can't figure out what job to try for? Are you in your first job but looking to move out?

In the past year, I have learnt many things that I hope to share with people who are going through similar situations. Hopefully, you learn from my mistakes and not commit the same errors I made.


1. Money is a strong but flawed motivator

I still remember why I was motivated to work at MIN D E F when I was still in school - I knew they were the highest paying government organisation, so I set my sights on them. When the offer came, I instinctively knew I shouldn't take it - the location was retarded (it takes 3hours total for me to go to and fro work), the work didn't sound that exciting - but I tried to rationalise why I should take it. And eventually I did. That was a mistake.

I didn't enjoy what I was doing, and despite the high salary, I was bored to death. I kept feeling uncomfortable thinking about my long-term career, knowing that I was going nowhere. I wasn't learning anything new, and I wasn't doing things that I enjoyed. I looked forward to 5.30/6PM everyday, and found no meaning in my work.

Having a lot of money is never bad, but money shouldn't be your primary motivator. A high starting pay is pointless in the grand scheme of things. Heck, even a high pay is pointless.

There is a simple concept in Psychology called the hedonic treadmill. The gist is that while we may experience blips of significant happiness (e.g. you got a huge raise), we eventually return to a baseline level of happiness as we adapt to our new situation. Thus, let's say I earned $3000 now, and I got a pay raise to $4000. I'm ecstatic! But then I soon figure out how to 'live the lifestyle of a $4000 income person' and I won't feel considerably happier than before. You can't fight it. It is only human.

2. Find an industry that makes you curious.

I had a conversation with a wise friend Jiamin who shared why she enjoyed her job, and one recurring line that kept appearing in what she said was this: 'You have to be curious about your industry'.

Now I have to clarify that an industry and a job are two different things. It may seem obvious, but I think people (including myself) may conflate the two sometimes. I used to think 'I want to find a job that is interesting', but I realised this is too micro a level to start thinking from. There are literally THOUSANDS of jobs out there and it's really difficult to scroll through all of them to figure out what you want to do.

A better starting point is to think 'What industry interests me?' Some examples could be Fashion, Travel, Sports, Healthcare, This is important as when you are in an industry you have a genuine, personal interest in, you are going to be more willing to invest time and effort to find out more, to learn more, to work harder, and to perform better. When you have narrowed down the industry, then you can ask the next question : 'What skills / experiences do I have that will allow me to work in this industry?'. And with that, you can start narrowing down companies and jobs to apply for.

3. Timing is very important.

Life is about doing the right thing at the right time. Some of life's biggest success stories were of people who got 'lucky' and made the right decisions at the right time. If they had done what they did at any other time, they wouldn't have had the same success as they had.

When hunting for a new job from Feb - May this year, I had very little luck finding anything that interested me. There just weren't things that caught my eye. Sometimes, when you want to find a job, it may not be the right timing for you and there aren't those windows of opportunity for you to capitalize on. Thus, if you are planning to find a new job, I'd advise you to start early, and keep your eyes open. Opportunities come rarely, and you need to seize them when they come.

For me, I had a 'job search' routine that I performed weekly, where I would browse a fix set of job sites and comb through for any potential new jobs, exploring with different sets of keywords. This wasn't really working after some time, so I decided to try a different job portal. I happened to see a job opening for my current company then - one that was up since April (this was in May). I decided to apply for it.
I think a combination of factors led to a very quick selection process - the company was expanding into this sector, they were trying to fill this position for a while, and I kinda pressed them to expedite my process (citing reasons like I had other interviews / potential offers).

If I had applied earlier, maybe they would have weighed me against other potential applicants and found me unsuitable. If I had applied later, maybe they would have found other better applicants. Who knows? I think what I took out of this was that you must not be afraid to try new methods, and be decisive about what you want, and take advantage of windows of opportunity.


4, Real goals versus lazy goals

If you were to ask me to describe my ideal job a year ago, I would have said something like this: " A stable, well-paying job that gives me time to spend time with my family and do my own things"

It took me several months to learn and realise this, but this was a lazy goal. In essence, I didn't want to work hard. I wanted free time. I wanted leisure time. I wanted to go to the gym, play my computer games, spend time with my gf. I didn't want to work hard. I wanted to be lazy.

The funny thing was I actually had my ideal job, if the above descriptor was all I wanted. My job was a government job, paying me way above the median salary for fresh graduates, and I had time to gym often and do my own things. It was only when I considered the long-term implications of having such a job - no personal growth, no skills acquired, no successful career- that I realised I was stuck in a rut and I needed to wake up. I needed to stop being lazy. Having all those things are good in the short run, but extremely detrimental in the long run. I felt little sense of accomplishment nor mastery.I would deeply regret it if I looked back 5 years later and I realised I have wasted 5 years of my life.

Of course, there is an assumption here that you are not genuinely happy and comfortable with being a lazy sloth doing nothing. But I'd like to think that most people of my generation desire a sense of accomplishment. Most people want to feel like they've done something with their lives. Even if the motivation to spend time with your family is one of your key desires/pursuits in life, I believe many want more than just that.

You spend 1/3 of your day at your job. That's a huge amount of time. In fact, most people spend more hours on their job than on their family/friends (excluding weekends). And I'm talking about the average person, not a 80 hour workweek doctor or something. Thus, you need to have real goals for your career, otherwise you're shortchanging yourself. A big part of your life will be empty and directionless and purposeless.

Think of what gives you meaning in life. What do you get satisfaction doing? What do you enjoy doing? How can this be translated into a career? Make some real goals. And work towards them.

Just to reinforce and end off this section with a personal example.... I enjoy gaming. I've played games since young, and I would really like to work in the gaming industry. I also enjoy having a comfortable life with my gf/wife/family. Thus I need to do something that would have long term prospects for me to get a well-paying job. Simply doing something like games management/operations/community management is very attractive to me, but doesn't seem like it will be good for me long term nor transferable to other jobs. Thus, I decided on a marketing position, which will equip me with many useful skills for LIFE. If I eventually move to another industry, or move to another type of job in the gaming industry, I know that my skills/experience acquired in this position will be very useful.

--

That's all folks! Have any questions? Feel free to drop me an email at atqhteo [at] gmail [dot] com. I reply them fairly quickly! :)