Why money is not important at early stage of your career

During our career engineering program that we offer to educational institutions, we get an opportunity to interact with so many students. Most of them are more bothered about getting a fat paycheck as soon as they start their career rather than learning.

Let me share a real world story about Rachin, who passed his engineering and started looking for a job.  He was not bothered about learning new things that could improve his employability while doing his graduation, but had always dreamt of getting a high paying job once he completes his engineering. After months of struggle, Rachin did get opportunities to work with a small company. But he rejected to work with them, because this company was paying very less as compared to what he was expecting. Soon months passed and Rachin again got an opportunity to work with a mid size company. This time paycheck which company had offered was at bit higher end, but Rachin again rejected the offer, because salary was not up to his expectation and also the Job profile was not that good. Year passed, Rachin started getting frustrated while sitting idle at home. And he was still waiting for the right kind of job profile which will pay high. After months of frustration, he agreed to work in a small company at a lesser salary, but now he was not getting that  job too. Why, because companies are now preferring recently passed out students.

      Like Rachin, there are many students who are expecting a higher pay package but don’t want to invest in the learning. See, expecting a higher salary is not bad, but NOT investing in learning is bad. The whole focus at the early stage of the career should be to invest in learning. When studying in college invest as much time as you can in gaining skills that improve the possibility of getting the Job. Prefer Job which gives you more learning rather than money. Become an expert in one skill, but don’t forget to get exposure to different areas of work. Money will eventually come, definitely.

Lessons Learned 
1.       Learning should be the focus at early stage of  your career, NOT money. 
2.       Look for a job profile , which gives you more learning
3.       Don’t wait for the right kind of Job from your dream company, grab whatever job opportunity comes your way. And eventually improve your skills and then target your dream company.