20 piece of advice that every young professional should follow

20 pieces of advice every young professional should follow | Articles | Home

Brooksource posted this article on LinkedIn, and I gained quite a bit from it.

Enjoy!

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Comments

nascar_paul

Thanks! I think those are practical and will help!

scaredoftests

just the 'young' ones? What if I am at young at heart?

NetworkNewb

young is just a state of mind

aderon

I'm literally breaking rule #17 right now lol.

Codyy

aderon wrote: »

I'm literally breaking rule #17 right now lol.

Glad I'm not your co-worker. If you're sick, stay home. Nobody wants your crap. Its bad enough when people come to work sick, but some want to have close-up convos and come up to your desk like its no big deal, can't stand that.

aderon

Codyy wrote: »

Glad I'm not your co-worker. If you're sick, stay home. Nobody wants your crap. Its bad enough when people come to work sick, but some want to have close-up convos and come up to your desk like its no big deal, can't stand that.

Haha no worries. I actually work overnights by myself in my own little isolated room

LeBroke

This is pretty great, thanks!

philz1982

#1, 2, 12, 14 are things I've used

I would add, be the first to volunteer.
Smile when you talk and be enthusiastic
Always use positive words
Call out an idea if it sucks or won't work, don't be a head nodder
Out work everyone else
Map out your career
Write down your goals and read them daily.

LeBroke

philz1982 wrote: »

Write down your goals and read them daily.

Does staring at a giant dollar sign count? /s

philz1982

Yep, that's one of my goals. I actually have a picture of the kind of house I want at and a monetary goal written down that I look at each morning and night.

techfiend

These are good suggestions and phil has some crucial additions. I practice most of them regularly. 2 have had situational negative effects so far for me while being the low man on the totem pole. Reverse mentoring, tried this on my manager and he wasn't pleased at all but that's mainly due to his character. Not being a yes man and criticizing a bad idea. It turns out my criticism was accurate but it still put me in the doghouse.

bloodshotbetty

techfiend wrote: »

These are good suggestions and phil has some crucial additions. I practice most of them regularly. 2 have had situational negative effects so far for me while being the low man on the totem pole. Reverse mentoring, tried this on my manager and he wasn't pleased at all but that's mainly due to his character. Not being a yes man and criticizing a bad idea. It turns out my criticism was accurate but it still put me in the doghouse.

Sounds like you may be working with someone with low self-esteem. That's too bad!

techfiend

Somewhat, yes, inexperience doesn't help and also #11 carrying a sack of rocks. It's too bad too because I have years of management experience in a different field and can really help him but he doesn't want it. I'll take some part of the blame though, it's not very easy going from a manager to low man on the totem pole. Just there for the experience now which has been unexpectedly great for a resume in systems, an area I don't really enjoy.

twodogs62

Great list no matter your age. And even good list if you are boss or mentor.

twodogs62

Criticism will never be taken well. It may come across of being someone who is complaining. it may come across of pointing out someone's weakness. But be careful it could be something that person either inherited or took a lot of their time to do. And maybe at the time when process was done it was the way of doing something or there were hundreds of ways to do it. Delivery of message and how worded can go a long way also.

techfiend

I take constructive criticism well and welcome it. In the scenario I wrote about above, it was constructive criticism towards a purchase, I pointed out some issues and offered some alternatives. The result was a mostly useless waste of money and it's just a matter of time before they look for an alternative when they find it necessary enough. Delivery makes a difference and I was professional about it. I didn't anger anyone just looked down upon because of my position.

They are really good suggestions and in most cases should be seen as positives but depending on the situation it might backfire to reverse mentor or speak up when you sense a bad idea, at least initially.

philz1982

I love Criticism, I love being told where I am wrong, I hate being told where I am right. I always ask at the end of a sales call and at the end of the week "what did I do that was bad, what could I be doing better".

However, a lot of people don't think that way. Most people take criticism as an attack. Just be aware of that.