6 Tips For Making A Good Impression In Your First Job

In 2006, Lauren Berger was fresh out of college and the assistant to a big-shot Hollywood agent. It would have been a dream job for any new grad. But Berger quickly realized that her work was really hard — and that her education hadn’t prepared her for the challenge.

“When I started my first job, I thought I was the most prepared job candidate there was. I had done several internships and was extremely career-focused,” she says. “I was in for a rude awakening.”

Berger entered what she called a “7am-9pm lifestyle” that pretty much alternated between work and sleep.

“At least for me, to perform well at school wasn’t that hard. You had to show up for class 90% of the time, sit in a chair and stare at the front and you have to do a lot of memorization the night before a test. Then you get to the workplace and it’s ongoing expectations — you can’t just show up anymore. You have to really be present. Not telling your boss about one phone call … could mess up a lot of the parts of the business beyond your comprehension,” she says. 

After learning from all her mishaps, Berger decided to launch her own company. In 2009, with $5,000 in savings, Berger launched Intern Queen, a free internship website with information on internships and first jobs, plus internship listings. Her alarmed parents counseled her to get a job at Starbucks or McDonald’s. However, since then, Berger has been featured on the Today Show and Fox & Friends and in The New York Times and Bloomberg . She has published two books, with the most recent, Welcome to the Real World: Finding Your Place, Perfecting Your Work, and Turning Your Job Into Your Dream Career, out in April.

The book covers tips, mostly for millennials and people in their first to third job out of college. However, it's still a great read for older workers, because the book, in an accessible, friendly way, offers a lot of classic refresher advice -- stuff we all could be reminded of, like to set limits with our favorite work friend so we can actually get work done, or to not become complacent and stagnate at work.

“I wish I had someone tell me in a straightforward way, what [working life] was going to be like. And I hope Welcome to the Real World accomplishes that and really speaks to 20-somethings in a way that’s relatable and also provides some helpful advice,” she says.

Here are her top tips for making the most of your first job.

1. Have confidence.

“People want to be so perfect all the time that when they make the first mistake, it is the end of the world. They forget any good things they’ve done at that job and are so focused on that one mistake,” says Berger. But she says you should have confidence in your abilities — that when you botch something, that you’ll be able to overcome it and move on.

She writes that confidence “comes from constantly putting yourself out there, failing, and then watching things eventually work themselves out.” If you’re not naturally confident, she advises you to stick to the goals your employer sets out for you. If your job duties and goals aren’t clearly mapped out, ask your superior what they are, and check them off week after week so you can see yourself making progress.

2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Berger says that in order to succeed, you have to put yourself out there and spread the word about your aspirations. When she first quit her job to launch Intern Queen, her coworkers snickered at her quixotic plan, especially because they already worked at a company with great cachet. The wise words she heard from a camp counselor as a teen stuck with her: “It’s the time when you are out of your comfort zone that you grow the most as a person.”

So, she kept spreading the word about her new venture, and eventually, a well-known movie producer called her saying he had heard about her new business and that he had a complementary college-focused site called Quarterlife. She ended up working with him for a year before launching her own company. “Although telling everyone at the agency was a very uncomfortable experience, the payoff was worth it,” she writes.

In your first job, get in the habit of introducing yourself to new people, whether at your company or networking events. At Intern Queen, she wanted to work with a car company catering to millennials, so she poked around LinkedIn to find relevant Ford employees and then called one up making her pitch. He seemed game, but the deal didn’t pan out. She followed up twice, at six month intervals, and finally her idea came to fruition. “It’s the biggest deal I’ve ever done,” she says. “You never know until you put yourself out there, out of your comfort zone and just ask.”

3. Fall in love with rejection.

“Acknowledge that rejection is a part of life and a part of getting to where you want to be. Frequently, you won’t get to where you want to be until you get rejected  — I embrace rejection, because I take it as a signal I’m on the right track,” she says.

In your first job, throw out ideas to your boss. Speak up in company brainstorms. Volunteer for big projects. And try to land big clients. And when you get rejected, don’t get too wrapped up in it, she advises.

Berger offers several tips for handling rejection, and her experience with Ford exemplifies one of them: “Rejection doesn’t mean never, it just means not right now,” she writes. Another one: just ask yourself if you did your best — and if the answer is yes, then remind yourself that you can’t always know what people will want, but trying your best is enough. Another tip: Understand that no one bats a thousand. Here, she cites time expert Laura Vanderkam, who reminds you to, “accept that rejection is just a numbers game and the more ‘at bats’ you get, the better the outcome.” She also suggest you remember your successes. “When you get rejected, take a deep breath, and think about the times in your life when things have worked out for you.” And once you can stomach it, ask for constructive criticism to find out how you can improve next time.

4. Think big but also execute big.

Berger says people with big ideas are a dime a dozen, but people who had big ideas and can also execute them are much fewer. In order to be able to follow through on a big idea, she suggest you know what resources you have at your disposal and the power of your network. She recalls one time that she proposed holding a big party in New York. Though initially, “I hadn’t thought about how to get from A to Z,” she says, a quick search on Facebook revealed a friend who could could deliver some of her party needs at a great rate — which meant that the other people she needed on board wouldn’t have to do much to help out. “No one likes to work so when you present an idea, the less work they have to do the better,” she says.

5. Don’t take things personally.

This is great life advice — for your first job and beyond. She says when you’re low on the totem pole and you notice your boss is grouchy, you may be wondering, “Is it me?” Or, when someone at the company makes a certain decision, “your instinct is to think it’s directly related to you or your performance or something you said or did. Most likely, it’s not,” she writes.

“Just focus on your job,” she advises. “Your work will speak for itself.”

6. Make yourself a priority.

If you have a demanding job, it’s all too easy to let it take over your life. Berger says her 7am-9pm job at the Hollywood agency crowded out her personal life. “I didn’t talk to family, gained weight, overdrafted, would cry home from work. I was a disaster. I wish I could shake my old self and say, ‘You need to make yourself a priority,’” she says.

In order to do this, she advocates managing your time wisely at work. Finish the most important task for the day before tackling your email — and then, limit your time in your inbox to one hour. She also suggest setting your own boundaries so as to set others’ expectations. If you answer emails at midnight, then that will encourage people to email you at midnight. She also advocates learning to say no. “It’s so important to know when enough is enough, to know when to assert yourself ands ay no or it’s time for me to go home. No one else is looking out for you except you.”