By Susan V. Ople
As Posted in www.susanople.com
Your first job shapes you. You come in, timid and careful, soaking the environment in while wanting to blend with the wall. Days and weeks after, you passed the first hurdle, a simple task, and made contact with your first-to-be friend and confidante. Life proceeds from there, and your first job becomes a process of self-discovery like no other.
Subsequent jobs are yours to shape. No matter how you lost the first one, the jobs that follow it bear your imprint as a more experienced employee. By this time, you’d know how to extend your hand for the standard pleased-to-meet-you handshake, while easing in your calling card during a conversation with a potential client at the appropriate time. Isn’t this the natural progression for career-oriented people? A career ladder goes upwards, not sideways and certainly not downwards from midway to the bottom rung.
