Coming out of college and finding a job can be hard, especially when in the last few years you have been filled with dreams and aspirations about working in the industry of your dreams, or at a company you have admired for years. But, no one tells you how hard landing that job may be. The truth is, your first job probably won’t be your dream job, and it may not be your second or third either.
This is kind of the way things went for me. I had an idea about where I wanted to be right when I graduated. I had big goals, dreams, aspirations, yet no doors were opening for me. Now, after working at Intero Advisory for a full year, I couldn’t be more grateful that those doors didn’t open for me. Here’s why.
I’ll start by telling you a little about my workplace environment. I am the sole, in-house marketer, and my colleagues work with clients nationwide, doing anything ranging from profile development, business development, coaching, and recruiting on LinkedIn. Working at a company where only five of my colleagues and I are here full time, I end up wearing a lot of hats.
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While my title is the Content Marketing Leader, my day-to-day responsibilities range from editing and producing the weekly podcast, creating new content for our membership site, and even copy editing CEOs LinkedIn profile drafts. In the past year, I have managed to learn LinkedIn inside and out, learn our outreach process and take on a client of my own (one of the main services we offer at Intero), and master LinkedIn Marketing Solution’s different advertising products, targeting new leads that have turned into clients. I have started an Instagram and created the content to represent our brand, written numerous profiles for amazing leaders, and I even wrote a marketing plan for 2019…that I have mostly completed already.
If I were to have landed my dream job, or have gone to work for a large company right after college, I can GUARANTEE I wouldn’t know how to use Garageband, WordPress, Canva, Drip, and LinkedIn (to name a few) as proficiently as I do. I wouldn’t be able to walk right into my boss’s office (the Principal of our company) on a regular basis, asking for advice or her thoughts on a project or profile I was working on. And, I certainly wouldn’t have grown as rapidly as I have in the past year, both professionally and personally.
Working at a small company has allowed me to assist on so many different projects, learn a wide variety of different tools, and take on significant responsibilities, teaching me how to time-manage, communicate with my team and clients, and strategize efficiently so that I can continue to find ways to grow our marketing efforts. So, don’t eliminate small businesses from your job search. Don’t be disappointed or heartbroken if your first job, or second job, or even your third job isn’t your dream job or at your dream company. You have time, and your experience at your first job could take you one step closer and teach you the skills that you need to get there. Plus, you never know, you just may end up liking your first job so much you end up staying!