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AGCAREERS.COM
AG & FOOD CAREER GUIDE
C
lasses, team projects and
coursework are invaluable. When
you set out on an internship or in your
first full-time job, you may be eager
to share everything you’ve learned
with your new employer. You want to
showcase your knowledge and prove
your worth. Convincing your employer
that they made the right choice in hiring
you is at the top of your mind. You want
to shout from the rooftops everything
you know!
An important part of starting any new
job, however, is taking the time to learn
about the organization, the business
and your teammates. Learn the culture,
flow and processes specific to your new
employer. No matter your grade point
average or years of education, there are
many nuances you can only learn on the
job.
How do my skills really measure up?
All the knowledge that you built up in
class included important hard skills, or
technical skills and the ability to perform
specific tasks. These are teachable
abilities that are easily defined, measured,
or quantified. You’ve probably outlined
some big personal goals already and you
want to get there fast—such as earning
money, making the world a better place,
or gaining influence.
AgCareers.com asked employers
to rank their preferred skills for
students and recent graduates;
technical knowledge came in last place.
What was first? Teamwork.
Beyond the hard skills, your education
does not just teach you “what to learn,”
but “how to learn,” skills essential for
your entire career.
It’s said – and proven – hard skills
can get you an interview, but you need
soft skills to get the job offer, and then to
keep the job!
I often realize that education’s reach
is way beyond what they teach in the
classroom because it teaches us HOW
to learn. These how-to-learn skills, like
problem-solving and decision-making,
are transferrable to many different
situations and environments and are
what make us employable. These
transferable skills are ESSENTIAL at
work, especially when beginning a first
job, starting a new career or moving to
a different department or business unit.
Being a student or recent grad regularly
equates to limited work experience.
However, you still have transferable skills
that allow you to interact effectively with
others, a key skill employers are looking
for.
This is NOT what they taught me in
school.
There’s a popular mantra in recruiting,
“Hire for attitude, train for skills.” Many
employers will teach new hires technical,
product or company-specific skills on
the job. While it’s extremely important
for you to research the company prior
to your first day, please note you won’t
– and can’t – know everything about
the organization. You’re starting from
the outside and need to acclimate to
the distinctive qualities of your new
employer. It’s impossible to standardize
all expectations and methods across the
industry because you’ll find differences in
every employer based on size, location,
customer-base, sector and a load of
additional variables.
You might feel overwhelmed,
clueless, thinking “I never learned this
in school!” Or on the flip side, you may
observe practices that you frankly
think to yourself, “This is NOT how they
taught it in school,” and thus desire to
put your two cents in. I encourage you
to take a step back to learn more about
the organization before sharing your
insights, suggestions, corrections or
even criticisms. See learning more as
continuing the education you began
in college.
This leads to one of the most
important, if not the most IMPERATIVE
soft skill to practice when beginning a
new job: active listening. Beyond simply
hearing, focus on what the person is
saying and not on what you’re going to
say next. Don’t interrupt, but do take
notes. Those notes prove invaluable
when you move to the next step of active
listening, which is asking questions.
“Tell me more about…”
“Could you fill me in on…”
“I’d like to understand….”
Ask questions to understand how the
organization works and how and why
things are done the way they are. There
may be some legit reasons your new
employer is not processing something
in the same manner school taught you
or there are special circumstances you
need to be aware of before you put your
skills into practice. Strive to understand
before you correct or suggest. After
you’ve asked questions, take a few days
to learn more, process and understand.
Then you can slowly start sharing your
suggestions positively, and if your boss
or employer is doing things right, they
WILL ask for your feedback. When they
ask is the time to really show them what
you know!
“What do you think about….”
“I have an idea…”
“Have you considered…”
So, the answer is, no, you don’t know
it all, and sorry to say, but you never will.
There is no shame in that; such is the
beauty and benefit of lifelong learning.
Keep listening and asking questions to
prove to your employer that they made
the perfect choice in hiring you!
AG
LISTEN & LEARN
Do you know it all yet?
by Bonnie Johnson, AgCareers.com Marketing & Communications Manager
Photo by pinstock/iStock/Getty Images Plus