Starting a new job with limited experience, especially right after your studies, feels a bit like walking into the wilderness with just a rock and maybe a small pocket knife that you have no idea what to do with. Studying taught us how to pass exams, with remnants of useful knowledge that we might apply in the workplace someday… if we’re lucky.

Having started jobs at a variety of companies and speaking to many different recent graduates about their first jobs, here is what I learnt so far based on my personal experiences and the stories and advice of others. While it’s unlikely we’re going to find the perfect job right away if ever, these questions might help you think about what you truly find important.

Content

What I’ve seen over and over again though, is that job vacancies may seem dreamy but are often misleading and roles turn out differently than expected. The best way to find out what they really want is by talking to people on the team or project (so not just the recruiters) about their main challenges and how you can contribute to the solution.

Something I find particularly difficult is deciding which direction I want to go in because even with an engineering degree there are so many things you can do. Do I want to go into consultancy, finance, tech, become a manager or maybe focus on Librae or my blog full-time? Do I want to develop skills I already have or learn new ones?

The question I’m asking myself now is: what do I find most important, and what skills and knowledge do I really want to grow?

Culture

As a strongly principled and mission-driven person, culture is really important to me. I don’t think I could work at a company whose values don’t align with mine and for me, the attention is in the details. Just starting at the website, I look for diverse teams and people in their photos, for references to sustainability and the long-term goals of the company and check whether their values align with mine.

At the same time, websites are definitely not all-encompassing and the best way to learn more about the company is to talk to people that work or have worked there (preferably in that role or team). Do they have a flat structure or are they very bureaucratic? How do they treat their employees, what are the benefits and are the people that work there happy? I also find Glassdoor very useful!

Team

Find out who you are going to be working with and figure out if you think that you would do a good job in that team. Think of what type of people you prefer working with, in what setting you do best and what you want to learn from your time at the company.

If it’s a team with only men or only women, with mostly masculine or feminine characteristics? Is that something you feel comfortable with? What language does your team communicate in and how do they communicate with each other? What cultures are there in your team and how might that be relevant for working together?

Manager

From my experience so far and every story I’ve heard, having a good manager is critical for whether or not you will enjoy your job. A bad manager can cost a lot of energy and have long-term repercussions. What a good or bad manager is, is different for each person and depends on your personal goals and working style.

During an interview, try to find out who your manager is going to be and speak to them. Ask them questions about how they like to work, what drives them and what their values are (and of course compare this to your values and priorities). Also, ask yourself, what do you want to learn from this manager, are they going to be supportive and do they have the skills to manage you in a way that won’t cost you energy?

It’s often hard to gauge how a manager is going to be during a conversation because people can very easily come across or present themselves differently than they really are. A useful tip is to speak to team members that have worked with that manager and ask them questions about the management style.

Summary

When I was 22, people (aka my mentors David, Admir, Rubiah, Brian) kept asking me the same question over and over again: What do you want to be known for?

They kept telling me to focus and to find something that drives me, that I’m truly passionate about and that energises me. At the time, I was really stubborn and thought, no I like everything and I want everything. Yet now, almost 5 years later and several jobs later, I’ll acknowledge that it’s not possible to master everything and I’ve come to realise that it isn’t just about what you want to do but also about how you want to get there.

It took me a long time to narrow down what I wanted (even if it is just a tiny bit) and what works for me, and I’m still nowhere near knowing exactly what I want, what I’m doing or where I’m going. In the end, it all comes down to experience and learning from past experiences. That means - there is no perfect answer and things will probably suck at some point.

Hopefully, this gives you some food for thought on what you might want to consider before starting your new job and some ideas for questions to ask during the interview process so that your new job might just suck a little less (or not at all if you’re lucky). I’ll be going into different aspects in more detail with specific personal experiences in future posts.