5 Ways Your First Job Is Key to Setting You Up for Success in Life

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While your first job doesn’t have to be the final determining factor for your career, it can help set you up on a successful path.

Finding a good job that pays relatively well can help you save more at a time when your expenses are often low and help you build wealth and experience that can set you up for success in life.

Learning Important Skills

Your first job can be important for building life skills that will propel you throughout adulthood. This can be particularly true when thinking of your first job as something you do as a teenager, before graduating high school or college.

According to a study by the National Recreation and Park Association, 76% of U.S. adults think that developing skills is an important benefit that teenagers and young adults gain from working at their first jobs and volunteer opportunities. Sometimes these are technical skills learned from the job, like learning CPR when lifeguarding, NRPA noted. But you can also learn life skills that help your career, like promptness, organization or how to take constructive criticism.

Establishing a Strong Baseline for Your Salary

While wages might not matter as much for a teenager’s first job, it can make a big difference when thinking about your first job after graduating. The salary from your first job is a great baseline for any jobs that come after. 

You can earn raises later, but generally, the higher salary you start with, the more you’ll earn. For instance, if you’re given a 3% raise on a $20,000 versus $50,000 salary, that’s a $600 versus $1,500 raise, respectively. 

Setting Up Your Retirement Planning

Your first job might feel like it’s a long way from retirement, but it can provide a great basis for life down the road. If you start contributing to your retirement accounts early, it gives you longer to build those accounts and experience the power of compound interest.

Here, too, your initial salary matters. Consider how if you contributed 15% of your income at a $50,000 salary, that would equal $7,500. Contributing 15% of $40,000 comes out to $6,000. Even if you never contributed again, that $7,500 would grow to $112,308.43 in 40 years at a 7% annual return. Yet the $6,000 contribution would only grow to $89,846.75.

In other words, the $10,000 difference in starting salaries can result in an over $20,000 difference in retirement. And the results would likely be far more dramatic as you continue contributing to retirement throughout your career.

Gaining Confidence

Entering the workforce can feel intimidating at any stage of life, but learning to work on a team, follow orders or manage your own earnings can all contribute to building one’s confidence. It’s possible you’ll feel less intimidated in future roles down the road, once you’ve had some experience under your belt.  

As the NRPA study found, 71% of U.S. adults think that building confidence is an important benefit that teenagers and young adults get from their first jobs and volunteer opportunities.

By building confidence, not only can you feel more comfortable at work and in life, but you can also potentially push yourself to reach for new heights, like going after a promotion or a new certification that advances your career.

Expanding Your Network

It’s no secret that the more connections you have, the more opportunities may be available to you. While it’s not make or break, the sooner you can start building your network, the better, and it can all begin with your first job.

A study by Chief found that over 80% of women working as a manager or a higher position have been able to reach their professional goals, like becoming a C-Suite executive, by networking.  

So, you might consider factors like the possibility of mentorship at your first job or the ability to form relationships with colleagues that can result in a lifetime of positive outcomes. 

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