First "real" job

When we graduate college, we were all told that now we can get a real job. You know because the jobs you had while you were in college were paying you monopoly money. But when we are graduating, we put so much effort into making that first job the “right” job, that we lose our perspective. The first job more than likely won’t be your last job. This job you will be a sponge. You will absorb everything. This is the job where you will learn, more than you can imagine. You will pick up good and bad practices, depending on the company. Why isn’t this your last job? Because, for you to grow as a person, you need varied experiences. You need to work for companies big and small. Companies that have different culture. Companies with good culture. Companies with bad culture. Working for a terrible boss, terrible company is also rewarding. It will teach you things about yourself, that you won’t learn if you always worked for good companies and bosses. These terrible jobs will help you grow your skills. Not necessarily tangible skills but more on the soft skills. Your people skills, how to prioritize, not get involved in office politics, or how to manage up. Is having only one job during your career a bad thing? No it’s not. I know a lot of individuals who have been with the same company their entire career. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But my perspective, in this day and age, you will move every couple of years to push your career forward, but also to get that pay raise that you wanted.