I wish I had a dollar for every time a student and/or a client complained to me about ‘paying my dues’. If I did, I could probably take a nice vacation…..

I get the negative connotation to this, but my job as a career coach is to make my clients see the POSITIVE side of what this represents, which is nothing less than OPPORTUNITY. Of course, should you land in a toxic environment, you need to EXIT immediately. Despite the possibilities of learning something, this is not the place you want to be, even if it were a big brand.

Students are all starting out in a similar place – THE BEGINNING and with that comes the need for internships, entry level opportunities, a chance to explore and discover. This is your moment to establish peer partnerships – You know expanding your NETWORK.

You go in as an amateur and come out a bit more polished and on your way to becoming a PROFESSIONAL. You are given an opportunity to LEARN about what you like. Sometimes you learn what you don’t like and that’s a great experience as well. The key to early career development is building and creating a solid foundation that hopefully steers you in a meaningful direction. But know that there will be times you are asked to do stuff that might not have been on the JOB DESCRIPTION. Don’t resist. You are there to observe, learn, engage and gain EXPERIENCE, so when you think you are ‘paying your dues’, ease up and be a team player. At the end of the day, you will learn from pretty much all you do. Don’t complain about working hard. Remember, nobody works easy. Hard work is part of paying your dues. They gave you an opportunity so show them they made the right choice by bringing you onboard. Don’t see paying dues as a problem – See it as a solution that will look good on your resume and open new doors. Paying your dues allows you to earn the right to have something because you have WORKED HARD.

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