Young Professional Success Tip – Treat Your First Opportunity Like an Internship

I always find it amazing how hard people are willing to work at an internship but somehow this work ethic mysteriously disappears when the opportunity is a career and not an internship.  In my first book, The Course They Forgot to Offer, I talk about the importance of treating your first career opportunity in the exact same way that you would a prestigious internship.  A great intern will always do the following:

•  Asks a ton of questions so he can learn as much as possible
•  Emulates the behavior of their successful co-workers
•  Learns about the industry
•  Takes on as much responsibility as possible
•  Shows up early and stays late

If you didn’t have this attitude during your internship, start displaying it immediately as a young professional.  You need to be willing to go above and beyond the average person’s work ethic if you want to become successful quickly.  I am assuming that you are an ambitious young professional, otherwise you wouldn’t be taking the time to read this book.  Because you don’t want to wait around for things to happen, you must go out and create your own opportunities for yourself; a great way of doing this is by simply bringing the attitude of an intern to your career.  Show up early, take on as much responsibility as possible, build relationships with the most successful people in the company, understand all aspects of your industry and ask a million questions!