I read a blog post earlier today from the Harvard Business Review that takes the position that we shouldn't worry so much about making the right decision, but spending more time and energy ensuring that the decision will turn out well for us after we've already made it. The blog makes that important point and then acknowledges that the decision should be both rational and emotion based. I will add my two cents to the topic and make a few additional points.
I know a bunch of people right now who are in jobs that they are unsatisfied with. As they complain about their jobs, they also mention that they haven't made any effort whatsoever to find a new job. What they, of course, realize (but do nothing about) is that there is a strong correlation between opportunities to change course and our effort to find them. If you don't exert effort to find new opportunities there are unlikely to be any big decisions to make. Giving lip service to a new or better career path isn't enough.
Should you care greatly about your first career job?
In the beginning of our careers we have to force the issue and pick a path to pay the bills, which means you have to answer this one question: Would you rather be on a job search longer in search of the perfect job or take an imperfect job that allows you to get by financially and learn a few things that can be built on? Beggars can't be choosers in this economy, particularly if you have no experience.
What if you make the wrong choice and your first job bites? Here's a dirty little secret: almost everybody's first jobs were torturous in some ways. Bottom of the totem pole employees usually end up doing the menial work nobody else wants to do, so your days are likely to be filled with hours and hours of mindless tasks.
It's not all bad though. To provide some context, my first 9-6 job wasn't particularly great. My budget was barely manageable based on a meager salary level, I made a lot of mistakes in my work product, and had a lot of menial tasks to perform. Despite the drawbacks, I learned a lot about professionalism, new skills were developed, and I learned to navigate office dynamics. All of the growing pains from my 13 months at that job make me a stronger employee even today in my current job. There is value in getting your feet wet even if the job is ultimately unrelated to your long-term ambitions and you have mostly busy work on your plate.
What if I miss my calling in life?
There are a lot of very religious people in my network who have the added stress of believing that the work they do or career they choose will either help them fufill the purpose of their existence or they will miss the mark completely. That is a ton of stress to think that your existence hinges on picking the right career! I don't agree at all with this conclusion. All but a few people will work in jobs with very little relevance to the grand scheme of things. There are some exceptions, but not many people are lucky or talented enough to change the world dramatically because of their life's work.
A particularly good speech with a ton of great advice was given in 2010 on this topic at my alma mater. The speaker opined that if we make good life choices about amplifying the gifts and talents we have through various jobs in our early career, we will gradually and unintentionally be lead to a fulfilling profession that leverages our strengths.
One of my earliest blog posts mentioned the commencement speeches of Stephen Colbert and Conan O'Brien wherein they stated that they could not have predicted where they would end up in their careers. They both improvised and reinvented their visions of the future as they went along. The key was that they both worked hard for years and years, which eventually put them in a position to take advantage of jobs that didn't exist when they first started their careers.
What if I run into a mulligan scenario?
As we get further along in our careers and our resumes become stronger and stronger, there will likely be opportunities to switch to new jobs. It's certainly possible that you'll eventually get lured into a job with more pay/benefits, but where you are simply a bad fit (personality clash with co-workers or the boss, long hours, assigned work is not what you signed up for, etc.). No matter how much homework you do in advance on a specific company, "bad fits" do happen.
What will that do to your resume if you are with a company for 6 months or less? That depends on your career work history. If you've switched jobs 3 times in 3 years, that will be hard to explain away. Companies don't like to invest in job hoppers. On the other hand, if you've worked at your previous company for 3+ years, it will be much easier to explain a mulligan to the next employer who interviews you.
Making the "Best" Choice?
The blog post I mentioned in the opening paragraph makes the point that it's somewhat impossible to know what the best choice is if we are weighing multiple options. I agree with the author that we definitely don't have a time machine to move forward in time choosing each option and seeing where it takes us. We have to make a judgment call weighing the pros and cons and picking the one that we think will lead us to the best outcome. We do this by envisioning life if we choose each option and see how we feel about each of those scenarios. It's still somewhat of a guessing game, because there just isn't enough information usually to accurately assess future situations.
Among my religious friends, the general pattern for making a decision is as follows: 1) do your homework, 2) make a decision, 3) pray for divine guidance whether it's the right choice, and 4) wait for an answer that the decision resonates with the heart, mind and spirit of the person making the decision. The last one is sometimes the hardest step, but seems to agree with the aforementioned blog post about paying attention to both how you feel and the logical reasoning. The third step seems to be the biggest difference.
Conclusion
No matter what your methodology is to determining your career path, you need to find job opportunities and make decisions to move forward. Don't worry if your early career jobs aren't very fulfilling, because it may just be a slow build up to something bigger in the future. We all have to start somewhere.
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