How immature were you careerwise in your early 20s? (employee, degrees, interview)

[bj538]

I look back on my early 20s and cringe when I think about how I behaved. I remember looking for my first job after graduating from college and I was late to nearly every interview. At one interview, an HR person walked me to an office to meet with a manager and she had a manila folder with some papers in it. I saw "15 MINUTES LATE" written up at the top. The interview went well, but of course I wasn't hired since I was late. That was the last time I arrived late at an interview.

Once I got my first job after college, I complained a lot to my manager about all sorts of things. I also goofed off a lot and didn't take the job very seriously. I would dress sloppily and overall wasn't very professional.

After getting laid off after a couple of years there, I matured and now I've gotten several raises and promotions at my current job which I've held for over a decade. I grew up.

[Tencent]

America has a "sink or swim" culture and prides itself on letting young people stumble into the gutter.

Other countries have step ladder type protocols to keep the youth on track to become productive members of society.

[Hemlock140]

I guess some people just take longer than others to "grow up." After graduate school when I started looking for a real job, I already had 8 years of working experience part-time or more. My first interview went well, but I didn't get the job, instead they offered me a temporary job in another department, which I accepted. Before my 6 month assignment ended that department had openings and I got one of the permanent jobs, then 5 promotions over 17 years. At age 23 I was supervising 26 people. Still, I had my less responsible side, like going bar-hopping with my neighbors while the wives sat and chatted at the house next door. That ended when my wife got pregnant with our first, and the more boring, responsible adult kicked in.

[joe from dayton]

I did my growing up at army basic and AIT. My biggest flaw as a young employee was not recognizing that I wasn't the boss and, in retrospect, I didn't know as much as I thought I did.

[macroy]

Hell - I'm in my 50's and I look back 5 years and can pick out idiotic things.

That said - it's just part of the maturing process. I think the key is understanding it as that and learning from it vs. taking a victims mentality and blame others. Sure, not everything is "your fault". But there's always something to take from it.

For me - I think I just didn't speak up as much as I should have. So got taken advantage a lot.

Originally Posted by Tencent

America has a "sink or swim" culture and prides itself on letting young people stumble into the gutter.

Other countries have step ladder type protocols to keep the youth on track to become productive members of society.

That doesn't mean either is right or wrong though. It's just two ways to "skin a cat". The thing is, people are all different and they learn/respond to different approaches. Some can handle being in the frying plan and can actually do better with that type of pressure/motivation. Other's will lose themselves. On the flip side, some learn better by "bowling with bumpers", but others will be bored beyond belief and be disengaged.

[fleetiebelle]

Originally Posted by macroy

That doesn't mean either is right or wrong though. It's just two ways to "skin a cat". The thing is, people are all different and they learn/respond to different approaches. Some can handle being in the frying plan and can actually do better with that type of pressure/motivation. Other's will lose themselves. On the flip side, some learn better by "bowling with bumpers", but others will be bored beyond belief and be disengaged.

And not everyone is from an environment or a family where white collar work is the norm, so if they break the mold and get an office job, certain expectations that are just "known" in that workspace are unfamiliar. Some people will pick things up or learn by mistakes, but others have to be told that "this is how it's done."

[jobaba]

Yea, I was similar.

I had more of a social life in my 20s though. I lived in the city and we would meet up for games and happy hours and such. So, I rarely stayed late.

These days, all I do is work late.

But definitely, less responsible in general. In all of life, not just work.

The one thing I will say though is that back in your 20s, you also have a fresh view of work. So, even though a corporate job is not really what I wanted to do (and it's still not), I had a lot of energy and I did want to actually work.

For instance, I see the young 20 something at my company and they literally want to work. They don't want sit around with nothing to do and get paid. But the older people want to make as much money as possible for as little work as possible. It's sad if you think about it.

[Serious Conversation]

I just had retail and low end jobs until I was 24.

[bobsell]

I could not do what I did in my 20's if I were in my 20's today.

It would be impossible. I'd be working a Mcjob with 3 college degrees.

[MSchemist80]

I was more naïve than immature. I still believed such things like hiring was based on merit, the best candidate got the job, hiring was based on logical evaluation of qualifications, hard work and intelligence was rewarded etc. I was very quickly disabused of those notions.