to be honest, before i started applying for jobs, i had absolutely no clue what i wanted to do with my life, let alone my career at that point. all i wanted to do (and still do) was to travel, which was not a very productive long term plan. but all i dream about is to go to places i've never been and to experience everything that this world has to offer. however, in order for me to actually travel, i need money. thus, i went down the path of any typical finance grad. i laid out my options - investment banking? too stressful. banks? i've heard a lot of pretty awful things about their working environments, so no. accounting and tax services? hell no (i've done internships in the past within these two sectors and let me tell you this - they were hella boring/dull/mundane, you name it). so i settled for consultancy. i was actually also once a management consultant intern, and it was... bearable, so here i am today, working my way up the corporate ladder.
so what's it like being a newbie in the corporate world?
1. the first few weeks are slow and unproductive. this is especially true if you join a project/engagement half way (which is my case), and you have absolutely no fuckin clue what's going on. because of this, you need to be taught by your seniors. your seniors need to actually sit down and spend time teaching you. and the thing is, your seniors are NEVER free.
2. you become the admin of the team. photocopying? check. printing? check. compiling info? check. data entry? check.
3. people don't take you seriously or your emails. you sent an email to your team asking for information - nobody replies. you set a deadline for people to email you back certain documents/info - nobody fuckin cares. you're new. so whatever it is you're saying - it ain't important enough.
4. you're free, like most of the time. since your seniors have no time to teach you anything/you're new so you don't know how to do anything/seniors don't want to waste their time checking your work when they can just do it themselves, you pretty much have ALOT of free time. so what do you do? you master the art of "acting busy". all of a sudden you find yourself up to date with the latest news (since that's like the only "safe" webpage that you can browse). if you're feeling a little adventurous, you open up facebook/twitter/tumblr/instagram/9gag (if it's not blocked) every once in a while. but of course you don't open it up full screen! don't make that noob move. what you do is - you dim the lighting of your laptop and minimise the browser window, and on the background, you leave a random work excel file open. don't forget to keep your ears pierced on any footsteps that may be coming from behind you.
disclaimer: i'm in no way saying that what i have listed here applies to every fresh grad out there. these were just my experiences that i am sharing.
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