The Biggest Mistake Fresh Graduates Make

As a young fresher it is absolutely normal to make mistakes.  However, the biggest mistake fresh graduates make might prevent you from making further mistakes in your career.  In other words, it could prevent you from starting a career and leave you unemployed for a while.

Operating www.jobibex.com for so long has enabled us to identify number one mistake made by Omani freshers.  This mistake has certainly spoiled the chances of many of them in pursuing a promising career.  The devil lies not in making this mistake.  It lies in either not realizing it at all or, even worse, considering it as a smart thing to do.  This mistake is realized much later, many years later.

This mistake does not only jeopardize your career but it could also fail your during interviews.  The most painful part of this mistake is that almost everyone in Oman does not recognize it as a mistake.  In the contrary, they think doing so is stupid.

The Biggest Mistake Fresh Graduates Make

The Biggest Mistake Fresh Graduates Make is common. This mistake in a nutshell is focusing on the salary and nothing else.  We have witnessed unlimited number of situations whereby fresh graduates consuming 70% of the interview time haggling over the salary.  In fact, many of them would refuse to attend the interview unless the salary is negotiated in advance, over the phone!

I am sure that many would say now “you don’t expect us to work for free, do you?”  That is how most people think, and that is why there are so few extremely successful people.  If your objective is to land a job with the highest salary possible you are not too far from achieving it.  As a matter of fact, you can earn up to $400 per day for participating in clinical and medical trials.  It is surely a bargain deal especially if you are willing to trade your health for money.  Similarly, if you are willing to trade off your future career prospects with slightly higher salary you are no better than those trading their health with money received from drug testing.

Are you a Smart Fresher?

Money is important but the smarter you are the more money you can earn.  Placing high salary as your top priority for accepting a job offer as a fresh graduate is not very smart.  Here are some reasons for that:

• Trading long-term prosperity with short-term gain

Our career spans anywhere from 30 to 50 years.  Never try to get smart by negotiating a high startup salary.  You are likely to be on the lookout for a higher paying job very soon since money is your only motive.

• Focus on learning and let the money part take care of itself

As a fresher your aim should be on expanding your value.  Acquire skills and knowledge that will magnify your worth over time.  This can only be achieved through learning.  Do not choose a job that pays high salary today.  Choose a job that teaches you how to get a much higher salary in the future.

• The most successful people are not necessarily the ones with highest startup salary

The internet is full of stories of brilliant executives and billionaires who accepted trivial pay on their first job.  They could have been desperate but analyzing their mentality will reveal otherwise.  They had a long-term vision and making more money short-term was not part of it.  I would rather have one of these highly successful individuals as a role model rather than someone who got an extra $$$ in salary on her first job!

• Employers despise greedy people

The moment salary issue is brought up into the interview it could signal a chance of getting a job.  However, you can spoil your chances if you appear as someone who cares about nothing but extra Rials in your paycheck.  Decent employers thoroughly look for suitable freshers as they are concerned about the continuity of their organization.  They are eager to employ the best.  However, they are often disappointed when they find out who seems a good candidate is another greedy applicant.

• You are not in a position to make a good judgement about your market value

Your age and experience when you graduate from college do not qualify you to make the right judgement most of the time.  That applies to evaluating the best job prospects.  Thus, the easiest way to go about accepting a job is by going with the highest offer.  Spend some time analyzing offers and consulting persons with experience.  Go straight to outperformers and successful individuals and ask for their opinion.  They should tell you that choose the job that teaches you the most while you are still young and fresh.

You might read this article and think to yourself that there is no harm of making more money.  This is absolutely logical and make sense especially at younger age.  You need to impress others or at least not show as the one who makes the lowest money among your classmates.  You should be aware though that there is enough time in life for almost everything and anything.  Be patient and learn to plan for long-term.

When receiving a job offer examine the future prospects.  See what you can learn from this job that will help you land a better job later on.  If the only job offer you receive has a ridiculously low salary take it.  Consider it as an opportunity to learn while getting paid.  Do not wait for the right job to start.  The moment you join the workforce your experience counter starts ticking.  That means your market value starts appreciating.

What if you avoid the Biggest Mistake Fresh Graduates Make?

If you are smart enough to avoid the biggest mistake fresh graduates make you will suffer a little.  Your family, friends, classmates and almost everyone you know will blame you.  They would insist that your employer has taken you for a ride.  However, you should not worry at this point as it is completely normal.  Learn to handle temporary pain for long-term gain.  Surprisingly, those who avoided this mistake have reaped the benefits shorter than they anticipated. So, be smart and avoid the biggest mistake fresh graduates make.