You graduated top of your class, never earned a grade lower than a 4.0, a leader in Honors Society, and participated in more on-campus clubs that you can count.

You accept your diploma full of confidence and excitement as you begin to enter the working world!

Then you got to your first post-college job and you complete every task asked of you, show up to work on time, and are friendly to everyone you meet.

But performance reviews are lower than any test you’ve ever taken.

Your performing every duty in your job description but you aren’t fulfilling your role.

The Shock is Real

New grads are often left shocked after their first days in the workplace post-graduation upon realizing the lack of real-world responsibility and pre-established direction they had become accustom to for the past four years was nothing like they would encounter in their career.

The more you become engaged in your career, the more you realize that school is about being aware of what is expected of you and performing exactly as requested.

Here are 4 ways you may find this out in the workplace:

There is No Rubric or Course Plan for Success

You may need to think twice if you thought doing well in college would prepare you for a new career…

You could do everything that is expected of you and bring a friendly presence into the office every day and still fail.

Simply put, being ‘nice’ and doing everything asked of you is not going to get you far at work. While this same formula may have gotten you a 4.0 GPA, a seat in Honors Society and a handful of scholarships in college, it really doesn’t apply in the workplace.

At work, you aren’t just solving problems but having to take on the much more difficult task of identifying the problem and developing a solution that isn’t often easy to identify itself.

Confidence Does Not Equal Competence

In a world where everyone seems to value confidence and see it as a path to innate happiness, you often see how in the workplace confidence can frequently blind you to other possibilities and opportunities. When we relinquish ourselves from confidence, we use doubt and uncertainty to explore, re-think established ideas or processes and truly learn new concepts.

Work is Like Pick-up Basketball

There are no guarantees of an outcome, you must consistently re-evaluate your strategy based on how the game (your work day) is playing out and most importantly you will learn new concepts and troubleshoot creatively as you go – there is no time to study and research when a complex problem needs to be solved quickly.

The Secret to Adapting Quickly? Look outside of your job description and Responsibility

Your job isn’t somewhere you go from 9-5 every day and complete a list of expectations, you are there to fulfill a role where the current processes and goals are to be continually challenged and either found to be meeting goals or ready to be improved. Consistently look for ways to go above and beyond in your role and avoid getting stuck in day-to-day bare minimum tasks.

PACE Staffing Network is one of the Puget Sound’s premier staffing /recruiting agencies and has been helping  Northwest job seekers find their “just right” jobs for over 40 years.

A  3 time winner of the coveted “Best in Staffing” designation , PACE is ranked in the top 2% of staffing agencies nationwide based on annual surveys of customer satisfaction.

PACE provides multiple placement options….

• Direct Placement – Full or Part Time
• Temp to Hire Auditions
• Short or Long Term Temporary or Contract Assignments – Full or Part Time

Our services for job seekers include….

• Resume reviews and consultations
• Access to the “Hidden Job Market”
• Insider intros to TOP Employers HIRING NOW
• Confidential Job Searches
• Professional Career Guidance

There is NEVER A FEE for using our services. 

We provide paid absence and healthcare benefits for employees assigned to work at client sites thru our services. .

To learn more about how one 2 minute application can open doors to a full range of PACE placement services plus introductions to local employers hiring now,  contact PACE’s candidate services team at 425-637-3301 or e mail candidates services at candidateservices@pacestaffing.com.