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Some real world tips for what you really need to know when you start as a graduate
1. Being on a big corporate graduate scheme is an amazing opportunity that you will never forget. Think of it as a door opener, not an end result
2. The world is divided into those who think graduates are a necessary pain in the neck and those that think graduates are a pain in the neck
3. People don't sit in organisations saying, "once the new grads arrive everything will be so much better". You may be very excited about starting but not everyone else will share your joy
4. The size of a graduate scheme is inversely proportioned to its collective intelligence
5. A graduate scheme of one is not a scheme, it’s a job
6. Organisations are full of politics, status battles and turf wars. Get used to it and get clued up about what is going on. Life ain’t fair
7. Get good at choosing the battles you can win and winning rather than being a master of lost causes
8. Make the your senior Boss’ PA your friend not a servant by making sure you learn how to use all the basic systems
9. Make HR your friend. They do matter as they have the power of “No” and hate being ignored
10. Admire sales people, they bring in the cash
11. If you're a graduate, everyone else in your team thinks they can do your job, they are right
12. If you're a graduate, the worst people in your team think they can do you're job because they haven't a clue what it is and don't care
13. The best managers have been great doers before. They're great at working out what needs to be done, but then know to step away. The worst have never done the day job, but think they can. And don't know when to step away.
14. People want to know if your work is any good and if they might like working with you. They don't care about the fact you are on a poncey graduate scheme, even less that you have “Leadership Potential”
15. Be nice to everyone, what goes around comes around
16. Take the time to be nice to those people even more junior than you. One day, some of them will end up as your boss
17. Do the same thing for as long as it takes to get really good at it. Change team or role but make sure your track record adds up to something valuable. Organisations hire for skills and pay a premium for rare skills. Get one
18. Don’t treat your graduate scheme as an extended Internship to learn about what you want to do. You should have done that before you started
19. Stick with people you trust, people you like and especially people who are more talented than you
20. There are people outside your organisation too. Make sure you hang around with them. It will make you better at your job and more importantly, a better human being
21. Everyone reads the same blogs and books as you do. Fish where others don't fish.
22. Most managers in any large organisation don't know what they're doing, they are as scared as you that they will get found out soon, so cut them some slack
23. Even more, HR folk don't know what they're doing, but don't get measured on much that matters, so will get away with it
24. You can tell a lot about a place by the quality of its coffee
25. Everyone wants to work at Google
26. Never talk about clients on trains or planes
27. Always talk to the person next to you on a plane, but never on a train
28. At the start no work is "beneath" you. Get stuck in and show what you can do, then you get more interesting work
29. Always check you've clicked 'forward' rather than reply
30. Turn on your email spellchecker and read what you send. Nothing removes credibility faster than sloppy emails.
31. A job takes too much time not to enjoy it. If you're not enjoying it, do something about it
32. If you're a business or marketing graduate in your first job, you need to understand it really doesn't work like they taught you
33. There are three realities in business life. What people say they are going to do, what they actually do and what they say they did. In any conversation check which reality you are in.
34. Even the business or project that looks the most shiny on the outside can be chaos within. Don’t follow fads look for quality
35. In every business there are some of the most interesting, kind and fun people on planet Earth. Find them.
36. There are exceptions, avoid them
37. If you find yourself in a team which believes everyone else in the organisation is an idiot, move team
38. If you find yourself in a team which believes your customers are idiots, move organisation.
39. By all means write a blog yourself but don't mistake any level of readership for accomplishment in the job
40. You will get fired or made redundant at least once unless you're very lucky. It hurts but you will thank them one day
41. You know it's time to calm it at team do's when you wake in a hotel broom cupboard
42. Shagging clients is never advisable,
43. Shagging workmates is not good either
44. Some places work very long hours. Some don't. Some work long hours just because, others because they're determined and committed. Some work short hours because they're efficient and get on with stuff rather than talking about it, others just want stuff off their desks
45. Some people don't think the job is life or death. Appreciate them, they do the boring tasks you don't want to, and have a life outside the office, which probably makes them more interesting than you are
46. Avoid crashing into the boss's car
47. Be humble about what you need to learn and confident about what you can do
48. What you do really doesn't matter too much, (unless you are a doctor, soldier etc), as soon as you learn not to take it seriously, it's much better for all
49. What you do is 10% of what our managers have to think about, once you get that, the relationship is much easier
50. Just because an idea is right does not make it useful
51. If they don't like the draft they won't like the final version. Show them the draft and save everyone some time
52. PowerPoint is not the point
53. Data is only as good as the person interpreting it and check the source
54. If you want to build a new relationship, find something to work with them on, if you want to build a team, find a project to unite everyone
55. You can make any project interesting if you try. That's kind of your job to bring that bit extra
56. Better to be too curious and too keen than invisible and dull
57. People will not come and find out about you, find ways to tell people what you have done that makes you interesting
58. Learn to recognise the difference between when it is time shut up and get stuff done and when people want to hear new ideas
59. Being known as a graduate is not a powerful brand, lose it as soon as you can
60. If you did something exciting as a student, stop telling people, they care about what you're doing now
61. Say thank you and be polite, people notice
(Inspired by a recent post by Northern Planner on what makes a great Planner in an advertising agency. Thanks)