thevicenarian.com

Vicenarian Career Beginnings

Posted by T.W. Hanson - Feb 15th, 2008 at 20:02

Investing in your career means more than arriving when told and leaving as soon as the clock strikes 5:00PM. Barring a substantial career change, the trajectory of your entire working life is set by your first decade in the workforce. For some reason our superiors like to see respect, hard work, a good attitude and effort. A pattern of demonstrating these traits gives you job security and puts you in line for promotions and bigger pay checks. The effort that people perceive you are putting into learning your craft in your 20s is the backbone of your career. Demonstrating effort and keeping up appearances are two very important characteristics of a vicenarian.

Demonstrating comes in the form of asking questions, staying late, smiling, and learning both on and off the job. If you can do all of those things at 22, you will have done better than me. Superiors really notice those traits, and the more you can show of them the better.

A second, surprizingly overlooked, investment is in appearance. Aside from the obvious, maintaining personal hygiene and observing social mores, your attire is very much important. Dress for your job. If you are working where everyone wears khakis and a polo, wear either khakis and a polo or some slight variation. Differentiate yourself with the best quality you can find. If you aren’t pretentious about it, you will immediately command a new level of respect (at least from the interns below you). There was a belief in my old profession that if numbers on a page look professional, everyone will think they are right. The same is true with your appearance. Don’t rely on your brain and charming personality alone to get you through corporate America.

Your career is more important than any stock or bond you will ever buy.

If you act and like you have been there before, you are decades ahead of your peers.