According to the Accenture Strategy 2016 U.S. College Graduate Employment Study, 51% of class of 2014 and 2015 graduates think they are underemployed in their current job. This number has steadily climbed in the four years Accenture has been conducting the survey -- up from 41% in 2013. The danger of underemployment is that your skills atrophy, you disengage from your work, and over time you are less and less competitive than your peers in more challenging roles. However, even if your current role doesn’t provide the challenge you expected for a first job, here are six ways you can ensure your long-term career prospects are strong:
Master The Basic Career Skills
Every job requires basic skills – timeliness, attention to detail, work ethic – so master these simple yet necessary qualities. You can build an excellent reputation by getting things done on time, with minimal direction, and with a positive attitude. Start with the right habits: Always come prepared to meetings with pen and paper. Double-check that your work output is free of mistakes. Ask questions as you’re assigned things so you don’t have to circle back later and reveal that you weren’t paying close enough attention in the first place.
Hone Your Relationship Skills
In addition to what you do, you also differentiate yourself in how you relate and communicate with people –in writing, in daily conversation, in meetings and presentations. Learn how to leave concise voicemails and emails with clear next steps and timelines as needed. Develop your professional poise -- good posture standing and sitting, solid eye contact, and concise language. Speak up in meetings – even if it’s just the weekly staff meeting. Introduce yourself to people in different departments. Have lunch with your colleagues and start building your network.
Upgrade Your Technical Skills
Whatever your role is, strong technical skills are desirable – familiarity with the major software packages, analysis and modeling, graphics and design, basic programming and website maintenance. If you are interested in working for the private sector, a general understanding of business principles – profit and loss, basic accounting, different types of marketing – is also helpful.
Become An Industry Expert
Read your company’s annual report, internal memos and press releases. Know how your company makes money. Know its competitors. Find out the industry publications that track your company, and read these on a regular basis to stay on top of trends and changes. Get to know the goals and the day-to-day of people in departments outside your own. Stay curious about what is happening at your company and in your industry.
Build Your Own Development Plan
If your company offers training – lunch & learns, workshops – by all means take full advantage. But there are ways you can build your own development plan (in a previous post, I shared 10 low-cost options for customized leadership development). Yes, this means you’re doing extra work outside of your job, but this is for your long-term career benefit. At least your now-too-easy job means you’ll have the mental bandwidth and physical stamina to do more after-hours.
Respectfully Ask Your Manager For More
Yes, you can singlehandedly foster your own career development, but you can also enlist your manager’s support. When you first start a job, your manager will not know how quickly you learn and how efficiently and effectively you work. So s/he may give you less work than you can ultimately handle. But once you clearly catch on, s/he will likely give you more – you may just need to alert them that you have caught on and are ready for more. If you’re closely paying attention and learning the business, you may even be able to volunteer for a specific task or project.
Regardless of how underemployed you may feel in your first job (or later jobs), you can still keep your career skills updated and competitive by taking ownership of your development and being willing to grow on and off the job.
