Use your first job outside of college to create future opportunities

You are just out of college and haven’t gotten the job you really wanted. You haven’t done it yet. You are deeply in debt and your grace loan deferral period is about to end. Should you start applying for a job anywhere? Should you take the first offering that comes your way?

This is what I would do. Just like when you applied for college, you had your best options and your backup options, you have to do the same with jobs, selecting places to work as your best options, and others that follow.

Here are my best places to work (in no particular order of importance) if you couldn’t get the job you wanted from the start:

1) Fry’s Electronics, Best Buy, or an Apple store.

2) A cafeteria in an affluent area or near a financial district

3) A bar at a country club or high-end restaurant.

4) At the BMW, Mercedes or Tesla dealership / showroom.

5) A high-end designer clothes, shoes or handbag store (made to measure)

What do all these places have in common? They involve sales, customer service, and most importantly, the ability to communicate with the money and social location players.

Places like Fry’s Electronics and Best Buy are frequented by engineers, nerds, tech company managers, and ordinary people who want a great deal on a TV, laptop, etc. You may also have co-workers who have freelance technology businesses. All in all, not only will you get paid to work at Fry’s, but you will also create your first network of contacts both internally and of quality visitors to the store. Still, if you just get on with your day, stick to the rules, follow the sales scripts, don’t collect all the information you can about your customer to see if they would make a good connection, your first job will be a wasted opportunity.

Your first job is to come out of your shell. College was fun and you had fun partying with your friends, but let’s face it, it’s nothing like the real world. In the real world, what matters most is relationships. You can’t build relationships that improve your social capital without conversational skills. Showing interest, being friendly, asking probing (not intrusive) questions, gaining confidence – these are skills that you weren’t taught in college, but that really do make the (money) world go round.

If you’re already working on your first job and want to see how you can improve your status, I have a great reading recommendation for you:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-your-first-job-is-the-most-important-205057956.html

I’m also going to embark on something new, but only for my blog subscribers. I will write a newsletter twice a month in which I will share the secret of my success: being bold and knowing how to stand out in America. We live in a highly competitive society and getting what you want has become increasingly difficult with social media taking everyone’s time. Let me help you become a conversational genius!

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