Common Mistakes Young Professionals Make

As professionals, we all make mistakes - especially early in our lives. If I were to compile a list of all the mistakes I made early in my career it’d take me the better part of a week, and I’d still fail to include a number of them. As someone who works with a lot of very talented young professionals daily, I have had the opportunity to identify some of the more common mistakes we make early in our careers, here are five:

(1) Viewing a value proposition as Rs. and only Rs. : All too often I encounter young professionals who only have one variable that they account for when determining a value proposition - cash. As an example: young professionals who seek my advice around job offers are almost exclusively focused on the salary - how do they negotiate for more, is it ‘enough’, how will it impact their life-long earning potential...all valid concerns, but not approaching comprehensive in nature. Some variables that significantly impact the value of a job offer include: proximity to home, the benefits package, paid vacation, organizational culture, hours worked, supervisors’ traits, and any unique perks (flex-spending accounts, tuition reimbursement, cash for professional growth, complimentary meals/technology, etc.). This way of gauging value can pollute other professional decisions, such as gauging the value of a potential business partnership; immature professionals will focus on immediate cash rewards, while more seasoned professionals will also account for additional variables such as the projected longevity of that partnership, the potential for growing it, and the amount of time and energy it’ll take to maintain and develop it.

(2) Not negotiating: Almost everything in life is negotiable. Prison sentences, fines, automobiles, divorce settlements, most contracts, job offers, etc. Despite this, negotiation is consistently one of the things I find young professionals most reluctant to engage in AND, when they do engage in it, they typically over or under-sell themselves or their product/service. This isn’t surprising given that the vast majority of us are uncomfortable with any kind of conflict, so we avoid situations in which it may occur (such as negotiations - hence why Lawyers are so overpaid). Some really simple facts that can help people overcome their fears/inadequacies around negotiation: (a) an offer is an offer - not an ultimatum - and the other party is making it (or should be making it) with the expectation that you’ll negotiate; (b) a businessnegotiation should never become personal or be taken personally, so don’t allow yourself to fall into that trap (some people will vehemently disagree with this, which is their personal opinion and prerogative); (c) the person you’re negotiating with is flexible but only to a point - everyone has a ceiling, don’t forget that; and (d) you can’t negotiate if you don’t have any understanding of what the market value is for what you’re negotiation is centered around, so know your stuff going into it.

(3) Establishing SMART goals: Young professionals often have goals like: “get rich”, or “become a CEO”, or “own a business”, but they’re rarely SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound - or some version of that). This seriously hinders the deliberateness of their early career decisions and professional growth efforts (understandably), because they don’t know what they’re working towards. It’s like trying to navigate without a specific destination, no waypoints, and no compass. As a young professional you should be thinking of your goals in the following contexts, and they should all be SMART in nature: career and life goals (what you hope to achieve over the course of your life and career - your destination), five year goals (what you need to achieve in five year increments to make your ultimate goals a reality - your waypoints), annual goals (what you need to achieve this year to ensure you’re on-track to achieve your five year goals - more waypoints), and weekly goals (what do you need to get done this week to ensure that you’re on track to achieve your annual goals - your compass).

(4) Procrastinating: I don’t know if it’s because there are more distractions in today’s world than ever in our history, more open-office floor plans, or if it’s because jobs today are typically less specialized and require us to operate in a more fluid environment than the past - whatever the reason, young professionals seem to be becoming more prone to procrastination. As a species we have a propensity to procrastinate (if you haven’t read the Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel, you should), but it’s starting to get taken to an entirely new level by smartphone toting professionals who are addicted to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn (guilty), et al. Obviously this advice isn’t universal to every context, but if people simply focused earnestly on one task at a time in a logically prioritized order, moving through them methodically, I think a lot of folks would be surprised at how productive and efficient they could be. The problem is that our brain hasn’t evolved to function effectively with our habits (texting while watching a Youtube video, and working on a quarterly report). We have a dual-core processor attempting to do the work of a quad-core.

(5) Not having a contingency plan: nine out of every ten young adults I speak with about goals have exactly one plan for achieving them...one. Any strategist worth their salt knows - and lives by the mantra that - a plan isn’t a good plan if it doesn’t include a contingency plan. In fact, good strategists expect things not to go completely according to plan, and they plan for that! Parents, supervisors, instructors, mentors, and advisors - please start asking those that depend on you for guidance the ‘what if’ questions, when presented with their plans. Young professionals, you should navigate the world knowing this - plan B’s are like emergency parachutes when jumping out of a plane, if you need one and don’t have one things can get really messy.