5 Career Myths To Bust

Remember these words? Isn’t it an offensive excuse for the situation when you start working in the poorest position with the lowest salary only after graduation? Especially if your competence and efficiency are much higher than those around you.

The world is changing rapidly, and so are the ways to build a career. What was true many years ago is no longer applicable today. You should not instill in yourself and your children a career that already worked with grief in half in the last century. Today’s time is an era of opportunities and daring experiments. The only limitation is ourselves.

Bigger companies mean better opportunities.

Many young people dream of waking up in the morning, putting on a decent suit and tie, and going to work in the chic office of a large company. Or at least start your career there. After all, working in large companies means that there is a lot of room for growth, a lot of opportunities for self-realization, right? In principle, this is how it should be, since large companies have the resources to do this. But this is too far from the truth.

When you work for a large business, there is very little room for growth. Every good vacancy is closed immediately, and let’s be honest, sometimes only their own people are hired for good jobs. And you can only hope to get a raise only when there is no one in the company to close another emergency hole. And even if, thanks to your fantastic performance, you managed to build a career here, this does not mean at all that tomorrow you will be completely unnecessary here.

Being a generalist is good.

Yes, this is good for an employer who, with your help, will fill several conventional parallel vacancies, thereby driving you into the trap of further professional unfitness. And to solve highly specialized tasks, he will hire an expert. You are only useful to the business at a basic level, and an expert in a specific area or skill. Therefore, the level of payment for your work is so different.

The reality is that they always pay more to those who can do what others cannot. And when you are an indispensable jack of all trades, then all the rest of the basic work will simply be shifted onto you until all the juices are squeezed out of you. So try to be professional at one thing. It’s worth it.

Careers and salaries will always start small.

Most of us tend to accept the fact that after a certain period of time, we will be paid more. Well, or we deserve at least some promotion. But we forget the most important thing. After all, the priority for the employer is maximum efficiency at the lowest cost. Therefore, in most cases, you will only be added to the load. If you don’t pull it, they will find the next one in your place.

Your salary depends only on how successfully you were able to sell yourself to the employer at the time of the interview. Climbing the corporate ladder is an old concept that doesn’t work. Therefore, if you are young, it is better to spend six months or a year learning and honing your skills in the current in-demand trends. For example, web or mobile application development. In these industries, even with minimal basic knowledge from the start, they pay twice or three times more than the average in the labor market.

What I study will come in handy.

Graduates aren’t the only ones who believe this myth. Even people with years of experience are somehow of the opinion that they should only work within the confines of their industry or profession. They think that working in a different field is a gamble and bad practice that will reflect on their career. This is why they spend so much time looking for their dream job.

The idea that you should only do what you learned during your studies or based on your work experience only isolates you from the vast world of opportunity. What matters is your skillset and your willingness to learn and work. Not what diploma or real work experience you have in different industries.

Dedicating yourself to a company is good.

You need to work well, and then you will certainly be noticed. Most likely, they will notice you only when you start to work badly. And working overtime, taking work home, and spending weekends and holidays at it, turns you into something different, but not into a self-respecting person.

The company you work for is a business. This is not your family and definitely not your friend. All a company cares about is money, no matter how often they tell you they care about you. The reality is that you are, after all, a consumable resource. And if they don’t make money from you, you will be fired.