When I was going through high school, it wasn’t as cool to be a tech nerd. Not everyone had a personal computer (remember Commodore 64’s ?) and certainly not everyone could program.
Which meant that when my high school was looking for a data entry student to help convert paper records to electronic ones, they didn’t have high standards for applicants. And since I now knew everyone on the admin staff there (being the student reporter), I got the job.
I was also fortunate because the staff members, including the school principal, were very interested in helping their students succeed not just academically but in life. I went through three levels of interviews even though, I found out later, I was the only one being considered. The interviewers not only drilled me on the standard questions (What are your three greatest strengths? Name a weakness and how you’re compensating for it. Etc.) but they gave me valuable feedback afterwards (I should make eye contact. Smiling is important. I should ask at least one question). They nitpicked my resume to pieces.
And then I got my first taste of office life. I’d take lunch (a fresh experience for this usually self employed gal). I learned about office politics (critical for success). I used my freshly learned typing skills (they now call it keyboarding). I got paid.
Learning:
Who you know is often more important than what you know. I wouldn’t have even heard of the position if I hadn’t talked regularly to the office staff. They wouldn’t have considered me if I was merely another faceless student.
Criticism is difficult to take but critical for success. I disliked having every part of my interview, down to the shoes I was wearing, picked apart, but I knew that if I wanted to get ahead in life, I had to listen to the advice of people who knew more than me. At my age then, that was just about everyone.
Doing the job meant more than doing the job. I could have been the fastest, most efficient database manager (my temporary title) out there but if I hadn’t been nice to the right people, I wouldn’t have received a good reference. I learned that playing nice with others was an unwritten job requirement.
Jon's Job Learnings
