The Graduation Paradox

The Graduation ParadoxThe Graduation ParadoxYou finally have your degree and youre ready to take the world by storm, land your dream job, become a future CEO of a large corporation, and make a real change in the world. Youre beyond excited to explain your diverse skillset and your amazing potential to the first person who has the honor of reading your resume.When youre just out of college, its easy to get a big head about what you can do in the workplace. Unfortunately, chances are youll need to clean the proverbial toilet for a while before youre given any real responsibility. This means you need to show off your work ethic even if youre stuck doing tasks you dont like. Thats the cold, hard truth and also why your resume shouldnt necessarily reflect your current frame of mind.There is only one thing that needs to come across very clear in your resume Youre ready to start at the bottom and youre ready to GET TO WORK.A graduating senior who understands where he fits in the marketplace is the one who gets the interview. We read far too many entry-level resumes that read like the next Elon Musk, but thats not who people want to hire for the position of Junior Marketing Analyst. Your ambitions are a wonderful thing, but your resume needs to show that youre not above sweeping the floors at the end of the day.It might sound like simply paying your dues, but its easy to get a little full of yourself when you apply for your first job. However, when you show you are willing to do the boring work and do it well, about 10% of the time you get to do the fun stuff. You get to dress something and make it look cooler, or you get to solve a problem. If you dothatwell, you get to do a little more of it. Then a little more You have to dedicate yourself to the drudgery, and doing the legwork thats not fun or glamorous No one comes out of college or trade school knowing what they need to succeed down the line.Our advice? Show them youre up to working hard no matter what the job is . You might be smart and clever, but a solid work ethic is the main thing thatll separate you from all the other viable candidates.