You are a newbie who has just graduated from a tertiary education institute, and you do not have too heavy a financial obligation to your family. If this is your case, you should not let salary become the main reason for you taking up your first job.
Many graduates are always comparing their salary with their counterparts. But you must understand this: even if you draw a lower salary than your friends do, that is usually not too wide a gap. When you have better skills, the initial gap—a few thousand, for example—could be widened to a gap of tenfold or more in the long run.
Apart from salary, some factors should be considered. Among others, prospects of the job, company culture, learning opportunities, whether or not the boss and superior treat you well.
Regardless of a larger or smaller scale of the company, you should consider whether to take up the job according to your own needs and circumstances. Firstly, ponder about what a larger or smaller company offers you in terms of your career prospects.
If you work for a larger corporation, they usually have a more comprehensive system and resources of work. They separate and assign work responsibilities clearly. Working at a larger corporation allows you to expand your personal network and accumulate resources. These are the useful resources that can help spur your future career. And this could be a part that grows beyond your own capability.
Contrarily, if you work at a smaller company, you are usually required to work on several tasks at the same time. This is how you can be trained to become a multitasker.
Noteworthy that, we have different considerations when it comes to job opportunities at different stages in life.
For the first 5 years of your career, accumulation of interpersonal and work experiences is more important than salary. And your learning capability would decide the outcome.
For the 6th to 10th year of your career, perhaps you would like to ask for a higher salary and better benefits. You might want to know if your current income level might affect your market position in the future job market.
Crossing the 10-year mark in your career, a crucial factor would be job prospects. Think hard about these problems. Does your current job offer new prospects in the future? Will you be promoted? Do you have sufficient capital, if you are to start your own business?
When you have been working for 15 years and more, improving your overall capability would be the most important matter. Enhance your value and work experiences as well as personal network, so that you handle things calmly under any given circumstance.
Like it or not, workplace is tough and cruel. If you failed to plan for your career, you are likely to be mired in a mid-career crisis. And this could lead to anxiety and frustration.
In short, fresh graduates should not care too much about salary, for accumulating work experiences is more important than other factors. Do the right things at the right position: expand your personal network and focus on projects at hand.
The work you have done, the businesses you have contributed to—these are the certificates that have verified your capability. By doing so, you don’t need to start everything from scratch when you are shifting to a new career path after accumulating more experiences.
