Whatever your very first job is, it can serve as a launching pad to any career path — even ones that seem unrelated — thanks to such soft skills as communication, team work and learning social cues that you can acquire as you work. Here’s how to identify and apply these skills.
Kuk Harrell, music producer
First job: McDonald’s cashier and cook
Soft skill: Teamwork
How I learned it: I learned how important it was to have people skills and work as a team. Today, I use that when I’m interacting with the artist, pulling my team together.
Take-away tip: No matter what job you have now and what you end up doing, remember that how you interact with people you work with is the most important thing.
Grace Gold, wellness and lifestyle expert/journalist
First job: Lancôme beauty counter
Soft skill: defusing angry customers
How I learned it: I dealt with a lot of highly particular, stressed out clients day in and out. I learned how to instantly de-escalate angry and moody customers by immediately saying, “You’re right,” regardless of what I thought. It turned them off like a switch!
Take-away tip: When I disagree with someone, I find the commonality we agree on to disarm them. Telling someone they are right to feel a certain way takes them off the defense. When you take a genuine interest, people open up and want to do business with you.
David Mieloch,web/mobile developer
First job: door-to-door sales
Soft skill: storytelling
How I learned it: I knocked on 100 doors a day. When they answered the door, I took on an engineer’s persona — very official. I learned how the world runs on stories and how to tell them with confidence. Today, as a software engineer, it usually astounds the other business folk I work with that I can understand them and their needs.
Takeaway tip: Keep track of your successes as you move through your career. Getting a job is telling a story. Keep track of all your great stories and make sure you can retell them in an interesting way for the next job interview.
Nestor E. Lara Baeza, director, p.r. firm Xhibition
First job: Jack in the Box cashier
Soft skill: reading people
How I learned it: I really got to read people’s body language just because of the sheer number of people I served. It was easy to pre-emptively diffuse a potentially uncomfortable situation by supersizing their curly fries. On the drive-thru window I’d seeing sad people completely change their outlook with a free chocolate cake. I gave away so many!
Take-away tip: Working in p.r., you meet new people every day. It’s become easier to spot who has had a bad day or who simply just needs to be listened to. As simple as it seems, being nice to people goes a long way.
Melissa Norden, executive director, Bottomless Closet
First job: office assistant at a doctor’s office
Soft skill: multitasking and problem solving
How I learned it: I often had to take on other tasks when co-workers were out. I gained the ability to be nimble with a limited staff. Even as the executive director, I have done everything from refill the toilet paper to help dress clients for job interviews. No job is too small — it all feeds into us fulfilling our mission.
Take-away tip: Treat every job like it’s a job. Even if it isn’t what you want to do for the rest of your life, take it seriously. Learn and absorb and listen a lot.
Dr. Gary Linkov, surgeon,City Facial Plastics
First job: tutor
Soft skill: communication and accepting criticism
How I learned it: I ran multiple tutoring sessions, sometimes consecutively. I had to communicate clearly and affirm that the group was on track. It was pivotal for me to also be able to receive feedback. After every exam review session, I would distribute a poll for my students to rate both me as a teacher and themselves as students. I was able to rectify gaps and be a stronger teacher for the subsequent lesson.
Take-away tip: I speak with and treat patients who are sensitive and wary about very personal things. Having superior communication skills is a must. Without being able to explain the procedure, pre-op and post-op instructions, risks and more, my training as a plastic surgeon would be fruitless.
Cecilia Burgos, owner, p.r. firm We Keep Thinking
First job: US Navy
Soft skill: time management
and problem solving
How I learned it: You and your bunkmate are responsible for your beds and must work together to make them within a set amount of time. We took too long with her bed, so with mine we rushed. During inspections, our commander noticed that the top sheet was wrong . He grabbed the blankets and threw them on top of us. We had to stand there until everyone got inspected. After that, I made sure we had enough time for both beds.
Take-away tip: This taught me to look for different solutions, that sometimes you have to think outside the box. In p.r., we always have to find an interesting angle to pitch our story. I’ve learned to find new details that are interesting and turn that into a new pitch.
Mike Donoghue, founder and CEO of Alpha Group, tech + media incubator
First job: telemarketer
Soft skill: grit
How I learned it: I had to make 125 cold calls a day. The rejection and uncertainty gave me a pathological disposition toward optimism, which helps when you’ve created entirely new technology or media presences from scratch.
Take-away tip: What sets you apart is your ability to listen to what your potential customer is telling you and persuasively communicate how you think you can help them . The common denominator among successful people is that they use failure as an opportunity to improve.