擺脫首份工作綜合症 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.

當年我處於需求曲線的錯誤一端：經濟學畢業生的供應遠遠超過經濟學家的實習崗位數量。這是我在讀這門“沉悶科學”第二年時的頓悟。爲了尋找替代之路，我來到了一家職業中心，參加了一場職業適宜性測試。就像一般的大學生那樣，我沉溺於想象自己未來對社會有多麼重要，於是坦承了所有的偏好和傾向。我其實應該努力成爲一名外科醫生？或許是一名律師？或許是首席執行官？測試結果顯示這些全都不行。結果稱，我將是一名優秀的監獄看守。

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?

儘管（或者說因爲）我的職業發展並未聽從此類建議，經常有人讓我提供職業方面的指導。最近的一個例子是，我的一個朋友的朋友在某天一起喝酒的時候談了想要離開媒體業的想法。工作遠非悽慘，但他解釋稱，他大部分時間都在做自己不喜歡的事情。他當時認定，跳槽至金融領域（我曾經工作過的行業）可能更好一些。但是我的看法呢？他應該離開嗎？

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

我告訴他，離開吧。嘗試其他行業的工作，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年前畢業以來，他一直在同一家公司基本上做着同樣的工作。他還年輕，而且沒有太大的財務負擔。但最讓我擔心的事情是，他似乎患上了一種被我稱爲“首份工作綜合症”的疾病。這種患者開始表現得就像是一隻沮喪的小狗，跟着他們認識的唯一僱主。患者極度忠誠，並羞於要求他們想要的東西，如果他們不能如願，很容易不再採取進一步的行動。缺乏信心讓他們相信，其他人不會象現在的僱主那樣希望聘用或者重視他們。在某些情況下，他們認爲，無論去哪兒都一樣糟糕，部分原因是，對他們來說，其他所有地方似乎都是外國，甚至是根本不存在的烏有之鄉。他們有時和認爲果醬瓶就是葡萄酒杯的餐館老闆一樣神智不清。

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.

我認爲，那些首份工作綜合症患者最好跳槽，這讓我聽起來就像是一個寵壞的“千禧一代”。但作爲這個年齡段上端的人，我觀察同齡人的職場進展已有10多年了。一直沒跳過槽的人處於不利地位，他們的信息量遠少於跳槽者。體驗過被其他公司僱傭、整合和培訓的經歷是非常寶貴的數據，尤其是對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.

對那些繼續僱傭首份工作人士的公司的管理層來說，缺乏信息也很棘手。如果這些人從未在其他地方運用自己的技能，就很難搞清楚這些技能的價值。

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.

我在一家全球銀行的2007屆分析師班的大部分同學後來被裁員，我一直相信這是金融危機帶來的禮物。作爲上一年夏季的實習生，多數人見證了金融業沉溺於自以爲的輝煌。突然從待遇豐厚的工作轉爲失業對許多人來說沒什麼，因爲他們往往走上了自己本來就更喜歡的職業道路。

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.

根據一名同事的研究，這看起來也適用於他曾經參加的2000屆銀行業分析師班級。有一個好文憑，在一個體面的僱主那裏呆過一段時間，面試技巧以及願意降薪全都有些價值。

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.

由此可見，對畢業生來說，最好的建議可能是在一個呆兩年就離開很正常的行業裏，找一個好僱主作爲自己的第一份工作。就這一點來說，諮詢業、銀行業、“四大”之類的專業服務機構全都是好地方。

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讓人有一種選擇自由的感覺。隨之而來的是滿意，甚至喜悅。它也可以讓人生低谷變得更可忍受，我希望每個患上首份工作綜合症的人都能有這種體驗。

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.

寫完這篇文章之後，可能必須指出的是，我對現在的工作相當滿意，但我知道，我可以離職去當一名監獄看守——如果我想的話。