Advice for New “Kids” In the Workforce

Workplace Buzz on June 6, 2007 7:33 AM

Hannah Seligson writes that employers value youthful energy but not childish behavior that often goes with it.

You might be able to recite Proust from memory and hold forth on how migrant laborers are changing the demographics of the Chinese workforce, but your intellectual prowess is only one component of professional success. A host of other challenges await, such as learning how to decode the social mores of the workplace, fi guring out how to act and speak like a professional, and otherwise discovering how to get by and get ahead in a new environment.

There are no do-overs when it comes to making a first impression. And unfortunately, just putting on a swanky new suit doesn’t make you a professional. In practice, the process takes time, some good strategies and a certain degree of faking it.

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