摆脱首份工作综合症 Avoid the blight of first job syndrome

I was on the wrong side of the demand curve: the supply of economics graduates vastly outstrips the number of traineeships for economists. This was my epiphany during my second year reading the dismal science. Seeking an alternative path, I found myself in the careers centre, taking a job suitability test. While indulging in the great university pastime of fantasising about my potential future importance to society, I confessed all manner of preferences and tendencies. Was I actually meant to be a surgeon? Maybe a barrister? Perhaps a chief executive? The test disagreed on all counts. I would make an excellent prison warden, it declared.

当年我处于需求曲线的错误一端：经济学毕业生的供应远远超过经济学家的实习岗位数量。这是我在读这门“沉闷科学”第二年时的顿悟。为了寻找替代之路，我来到了一家职业中心，参加了一场职业适宜性测试。就像一般的大学生那样，我沉溺于想象自己未来对社会有多么重要，于是坦承了所有的偏好和倾向。我其实应该努力成为一名外科医生？或许是一名律师？或许是首席执行官？测试结果显示这些全都不行。结果称，我将是一名优秀的监狱看守。

Despite the fact that I went on to make a career out of ignoring such advice, or perhaps because of it, I’m often asked for job guidance. A recent referral, a friend of a friend, was telling me over a drink the other week about how he was thinking of leaving the media sector. The job is far from miserable, but he spends considerable amounts of time doing things he doesn’t like, he explained. He had tentatively concluded that a job in finance — an industry I’ve worked in — might be a better idea. But what did I think? Should he move?

尽管（或者说因为）我的职业发展并未听从此类建议，经常有人让我提供职业方面的指导。最近的一个例子是，我的一个朋友的朋友在某天一起喝酒的时候谈了想要离开媒体业的想法。工作远非凄惨，但他解释称，他大部分时间都在做自己不喜欢的事情。他当时认定，跳槽至金融领域（我曾经工作过的行业）可能更好一些。但是我的看法呢？他应该离开吗？

Leave, I told him. Try something else. Finance or otherwise.

我告诉他，离开吧。尝试其他行业的工作，金融或者其他。

He’s been at the same company doing substantially the same job since he graduated several years ago. He is still young and has limited financial commitments. But the thing that worried me most was that he seemed to be suffering from what I call “first job syndrome”. It’s where a person starts behaving like a beaten down puppy with the only employer they’ve ever known. Loyal to a fault, the syndrome’s sufferers are shy to ask for what they want and easily discouraged from further action if they don’t get it. A lack of confidence causes them to believe that no one else will have them or value them as much as their current employer. And, in some cases, they think it will be just as bad wherever they go, partly because everywhere else seems like a foreign country that may or may not even exist. They can at times be as delusional as restaurateurs who think that jam jars are the next wineglass.

自7年前毕业以来，他一直在同一家公司基本上做着同样的工作。他还年轻，而且没有太大的财务负担。但最让我担心的事情是，他似乎患上了一种被我称为“首份工作综合症”的疾病。这种患者开始表现得就像是一只沮丧的小狗，跟着他们认识的唯一雇主。患者极度忠诚，并羞于要求他们想要的东西，如果他们不能如愿，很容易不再采取进一步的行动。缺乏信心让他们相信，其他人不会象现在的雇主那样希望聘用或者重视他们。在某些情况下，他们认为，无论去哪儿都一样糟糕，部分原因是，对他们来说，其他所有地方似乎都是外国，甚至是根本不存在的乌有之乡。他们有时和认为果酱瓶就是葡萄酒杯的餐馆老板一样神智不清。

My view that those afflicted by first job syndrome are better off moving may make me sound like an over-entitled millennial. But being at the upper bound of the demographic, I’ve observed most of my peers’ progress in the job market for more than a decade. First jobbers are disadvantaged by having an information set that’s much smaller than people who’ve moved jobs. Experiencing the willingness of other companies to employ, integrate and teach you are valuable data, particularly for the less confident.

我认为，那些首份工作综合症患者最好跳槽，这让我听起来就像是一个宠坏的“千禧一代”。但作为这个年龄段上端的人，我观察同龄人的职场进展已有10多年了。一直没跳过槽的人处于不利地位，他们的信息量远少于跳槽者。体验过被其他公司雇佣、整合和培训的经历是非常宝贵的数据，尤其是对那些不太自信的人而言。

Management at companies who continue to employ people in their first job may also find the lack of information difficult. It can be hard to figure out the value to place on a person’s skills if they’ve never applied them somewhere else.

对那些继续雇佣首份工作人士的公司的管理层来说，缺乏信息也很棘手。如果这些人从未在其他地方运用自己的技能，就很难搞清楚这些技能的价值。

I’ve long believed that it was a gift of the financial crisis that most of my 2007 analyst class at a global bank were laid off. As interns the previous summer, most of them had witnessed the time when the industry was still completely drunk on its own self-perceived awesomeness. Going suddenly from a well-paid job to no job at all worked out fine for many, as they often followed paths they enjoyed more anyway.

我在一家全球银行的2007届分析师班的大部分同学后来被裁员，我一直相信这是金融危机带来的礼物。作为上一年夏季的实习生，多数人见证了金融业沉溺于自以为的辉煌。突然从待遇丰厚的工作转为失业对许多人来说没什么，因为他们往往走上了自己本来就更喜欢的职业道路。

It looks to have worked out for a colleague’s banking analyst class of 2000 too, according to research he did. Having a good degree, a bit of time at a decent employer, interview skills and a willingness to take a pay cut all count for something.

根据一名同事的研究，这看起来也适用于他曾经参加的2000届银行业分析师班级。有一个好文凭，在一个体面的雇主那里呆过一段时间，面试技巧以及愿意降薪全都有些价值。

It follows that the best advice for graduates may be to get their first job with a good employer in a sector where it’s normal to leave after a couple of years. Consultancy, banking, professional services like the Big Four, are all great places in this regard.

由此可见，对毕业生来说，最好的建议可能是在一个呆两年就离开很正常的行业里，找一个好雇主作为自己的第一份工作。就这一点来说，咨询业、银行业、“四大”之类的专业服务机构全都是好地方。

Knowing that one could leave a job and find another gives a sense of freedom of choice. With it comes a satisfaction, even joy. It can also make tough times more bearable and it’s something I wish that every person suffering from first job syndrome could experience.

知道可以跳槽去找另一份工作让人有一种选择自由的感觉。随之而来的是满意，甚至喜悦。它也可以让人生低谷变得更可忍受，我希望每个患上首份工作综合症的人都能有这种体验。

Having written this, it’s probably obligatory to state that I’m rather happy with the current job. But then I know that I could leave to become a prison warden. If I wanted to.

写完这篇文章之后，可能必须指出的是，我对现在的工作相当满意，但我知道，我可以离职去当一名监狱看守——如果我想的话。