Did you ever do the mental exercise of wondering what you would tell a much younger version of yourself if you could go back in time? Or how about wondering what a younger you would have put in a surprise time capsule for you to open today? The latter of those two actually happened to me recently! My wife was digging through her home office file cabinet and found an old manila folder marked “Re-evaluations[Personal]” and “Private”. And inside was a journal of sorts, written by me over the first eight years of my career. These were centered around my annual performance reviews, which at my company, included my annual raises. I also wrote about my feelings each time I received a review. It was fun taking a journey back through time, of more than three decades of my career.
I’ve always maintained in this blog that I loved my job right up until the end, and while I worked over thirty years at the same place this should put me to the honesty test about the first eight years, at least. It starts with my first review six months after I started.
After six months:
I started work six months ago at an initial salary of $18,000. Today I had a re-evaluation of my salary with a 10% increase in pay to $19,800. My boss gave me an excellent overall rating. The one weak area he pointed out was that I needed to come back to him with questions when I was stuck in a vaporous project with no clear path ahead and needed to keep him apprised of my progress more. But overall, I received a lot of praise which rescued me from a bout of bad vibrations I thought my boss had been sending me. Turns out he’s just like that, pretty much a frowner by nature.
Takeaway No. 1 Don’t imagine the worst, your boss probably thinks you are doing great even if she doesn’t say so every day. If you aren’t sure, ask her.
After 1 1/2 years:
One year later, how can a whole year have gone by so fast? Boss gave me an 8.1% raise. He said little about weak points and was very pleased with my work. The only areas that he saw that needed to improve were things like needing more experience, which will come naturally in time. He did caution me that my biggest strength, incredible speed at getting things done, sometimes let mistakes slip into my results. He predicted a good future for me. My thoughts about my job one and a half years in? I’m lucky to have a great boss, I have a huge opportunity for advancement and I am happy.
Takeaway No. 2 Having a good boss makes a huge difference in how you feel about your job.
After 2 1/2 years:
I feel conservatively ecstatic. I received the highest rating yet from a boss who does not rate people very highly, normally. And the series of raises this year are by far the highest I’ve ever gotten, a total of 19.7%! My boss had zero areas that he felt I needed to improve in, and considering he is pretty tough on most of my peers, that’s impressive. But my areas I am assigning myself to improve in are: don’t let up, expand my responsibilities, present projects to management in neat, well documented and concise form (my boss loves that!) Show my ability to work with less supervision, the appearance of ability to self-supervise is important going forward.
Takeaway No. 3 Don’t just try to meet your manager’s goals, set your own goals too.
After 3 1/2 years:
This has got to be the best evaluation yet! 4 out of 4 average scores from a boss who has rarely given anyone even a single top rating. I also scored the top of all the engineers at the facility in a new comparative rating system. The annual salary increase is also very good at 25.6%. I consider it staggering how well I’m being treated by the company! I do communicate the frequent job offers I’m receiving from head hunters and other companies, which I’m not seeking out (they seek me out). My emotional outlook? Happy and excited about the future.
Takeaway No. 4 When you get other job offers, pass that information on to your manager. It will give him the ammunition he needs to get you a better raise.
After 4 years:
Yesterday my boss gave me my 4 year review. I received the max rating again. I was also given a promotion to Senior Engineer and another excellent raise of 14.5%. A head hunter/professional recruiter who called after the raise told me I was now priced out of the competitive market for engineers of my experience level. How do I like my job? It is great! There is a nice amount of travel, prestige and appreciation. I do note that the stress and strain are sort of proportional to the success, though.
Takeaway No. 5 It is normal to feel some stress even if you love your job. After all they do call it work for a reason.
5 years:
I just had my evaluation. I received an 8% increase which was above the average for the company and for the department. From here on I’m a player in a game with a lot of other people. My long-term success is no longer dependent on just my boss but on all of upper management. I have to achieve visible and valuable results for the company on my own. This coming year the budget is tight and there isn’t much project money so I’ll have to achieve things that I can do without spending very much. The pressure is on but I think I’ll have some good things to look back on in another year.
Takeaway No. 6 Pleasing your boss is the main thing at first, but it isn’t enough after a while. Soon you will need to also show your value to all of your upper management team.
Year 6:
Times are tough around the company, there is basically a wage freeze right now. We’ll go 22 months without an increase. My evaluation was excellent and while not getting an increase is not fun, I’ve got a lot of company. Even the head hunters aren’t calling. How do I feel about my job? Better than last year, and that’s saying a lot because I loved my job a year ago!
Year 7:
Things are different. My boss has been out of the picture much of the year on special projects. I’ve had to basically run the department at times. The mystery of running an engineering department is gone, it turns out it is actually very easy and my manager has seen I have a knack for doing it well. I did get a 9% raise so my pay is still competitive. The entire industry is in the doldrums right now so going somewhere else wouldn’t change anything.
Takeaway No. 7 Most business sectors experience regular cycles of prosperity and recession, it doesn’t mean you are in a bad job when it happens. There is still opportunity to grow in hard times.
Year 8:
First evaluation with the new owners. My boss is now the new big boss and I was promoted to fill his old job! The sale of the company to the new guys was very good for both of us. I received a 9.3% raise on top of last years nine percent increase. Salary wise things are still good. My feelings about my job? I love it! It is what I always wanted. I’ve got interesting work, influence, good pay, huge office, fun travel and an expert team working for me. I was very lucky that this sale happened but in truth it wasn’t all luck. I had to be prepared for a promotion so that when the job came open, they would pick me for it.
Takeaway No. 8 Getting lucky has a lot to do with being prepared for opportunity when it comes out of nowhere.
Although I worked for decades after, I only kept these journals for the first eight years. What strikes me most was the fact that every time I addressed my outlook or feelings about my job, it was mostly positive. I did mention stress but not as much as I mentioned being happy. In the interest of historical accuracy, those double -digit raises I received were partly a result of the crazy double digit inflation that occurred way back then. Also, a starting pay of $18,000 per year now is not anything to brag about, but at that time it was among the highest offers received by graduates from my university of 12,000 people. In current dollars that would be about like a starting salary of $70,000.
When my wife found them, I had no idea what my notes from the past would tell me. Reassuringly, it told me I was the same person I thought I was, the same guy I still am. I’m no longer dedicated, maybe obsessed, with winning the career game, but I’m still hyper competitive at sports and games. I’m still someone who keeps score with money but who was never really in love with spending it on things.
In the years after these journal entries, I went on to manage the entire facility and later the corporation which included several other companies. I also lived through another ownership change that again benefited my career. However, everything important in my career was due to what I learned in those first eight years. And most of that was due to having a boss and mentor who held me to high standards but also fervently wanted me to succeed. And it was a great ride, if I could go back in time, I would not change a single thing!
What about you, do you journal about your feelings regarding your job?
If you had to list the one or two things you’ve learned from your first job what would they be?
As usual, if you do not see a place to leave a comment just click on the title of the post at the top.
I did not and currently still do not keep a journal about my feelings about my job. I look back at my first job with fond memories. It laid the foundation for me career wise in the corporate world. But I’m sure, despite the fond memories now, back then I probably felt I was paid too little and worked way too much.
I’m not the fastest learner. But after a few years on the job, I learned (i) to align myself with a good boss (better chance for recognition and promotion), (ii) don’t be afraid to take on a high profile difficult assignment (success can produce outsize return and increased profile in the company), and treat your people better (happy people are more productive and more fun to be around).
That’s great advice. I also found volunteering for the low profile stuff nobody wanted to do was a good thing to do. Helps you keep from getting too full of yourself and it is always appreciated by your coworkers. Thanks for commenting.
One important thing that I learned from my first job was to keep my mouth shut and read new situations carefully. The social scene at my first job was really intense with a lot of cliques and rivalries. I came in like a friendly puppy and was open and nice with everyone – before I realized it, a number of people actively disliked me because I was friendly and nice to their rivals. Work CAN be fun and great socially, but it’s also a minefield – since then I’ve been quiet and a bit guarded and let things develop slowly while I learned the lay of the land. Good first lesson!
I was like that too, I’ve always been pathologically friendly and saw something likeable in everyone I met. I realize that might have drawbacks but I never changed that and never intend too. Of course now it doesn’t matter since I’m no longer playing in the corporate world except for some part time consulting. But I think the good part of being a friendly puppy vastly outweighs the bad except in toxic environments and maybe if you are a puppy, toxic environments aren’t really where you belong?
Most definitely – I didn’t stay in that environment for long. But even when I got to healthier environments, I played closer to the vest at the start and it worked out well. I’d gradually warm up with the folks who liked friendly puppies, and I’d keep a healthy, respectful, formal relationship with any “cat” people 🙂
I am a friendly puppy too and even though there are risks of being caught up in internal politics I believe that the puppy gains more than he loses by finding value in everyone he works with. I think my career success came largely because I wasn’t guarded when it came to befriending others. Even my enemies had a hard time disliking me, did not stop them from sometimes taking advantage but I held the high ground and most of the time karma came back on them and I came out ahead. I might venture that an environment that judges you for being friendly with the wrong people has a toxic nature and it might not be the best place for a person who is a friendly puppy at heart?
>When you get other job offers, pass that information on to your manager. It will give him the ammunition he needs to get you a better raise.
This is something I wish more people were aware of. When your employer knows you’re in demand and other people are dying to hire you, the chances of you getting a raise increase dramatically. So don’t be afraid to let them know!
Thanks for the comment, Karen! It certainly worked well for me a number of times. And it works particularly well in the first ten years of a career and the way raises compound those are very important years in determining what your peak compensation may eventually become.
This is an awesome writing. While I don’t write journals, reading your article made me go back in time and ponder on the last 10 years. That’s the time since I have been actively working in a job.
One trend I could clearly see: a good senior/manager/superior puts a smile on my face. They made me toil hard but that was for my own good. It’s never about the company, it’s always about the person.
Thanks, Tushar! I don’t journal either, other than the first eight performance appraisals that I wrote down my thoughts on, that was the only time. My boss was great to me but one thing I left out of the post was he also taught me what not to do! He did not manage his relationships with his bosses nearly as well as I did and eventually that break down cost him his job and got me promoted into senior management. He taught me a lot of good things and his missteps showed me what not to do.