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April 23, 2026 — 1:16pm
What was your first job? Cast your mind back to your early few weeks of working after you signed a lengthy employment contract filled with legal terms you didn’t quite understand. For some, this will jog positive memories of a time when you learned something new every day. Others will only recall the strain of being the bottom rung on the ladder.
Your first real job, with your first real manager and first feeble steps on the long road of employment, is more important than you realise. It can set you up for a successful career, or introduce you to bad habits that it will take a lifetime to unwind.
Now, when I talk about your first job, I don’t mean the part-time effort that you haplessly did because you had to, I mean the first real job that mattered to you. The one where you worked for managers who were invested in your growth, and set you on the career path to where you are today.
I had several insignificant jobs in my late teens, but my first proper taste of work began in the mail room of an advertising agency when I was 18 years old. It was eye-opening and challenging, with an encouraging first boss who took me under his wing.
I quickly learned that opportunities were given to those who worked hard, and how incorporating fun into the workplace made the whole thing a lot more bearable.
The amount of money you are paid in your first job has a direct correlation on the trajectory of your future earnings.
Your early managers have a disproportionate influence over your behaviours. For many, they are the first people outside your parents or teachers who have real authority over you. When you’re young and impressionable, you’re likely to model your behaviour on how they act, which can go both ways.
Crucially, however, not everyone gets the same chances to find fulfilling first jobs. Privilege plays a big part, and the entry-level position you’re offered can be a reflection of opportunities available to people with the right access or networks.
Some fascinating research published last year by Columbia University and America’s National Bureau of Economic Research tracked 80,000 university students in the US to see what happened once they entered the workforce. They found that what you do directly after graduating has long-lasting impacts.
On the financial front, the amount of money you are paid in your first job has a direct correlation on the trajectory of your future earnings. Every extra $US1000 ($1400) that a graduate earned at their first job translated to an additional $US700 in earnings five years later.
That means that two students could sit in the same lectures, and graduate with the same marks and same degree, but whoever can negotiate the higher salary from the start will continue to reap the benefits half a decade on.
The same research also found that graduates who stayed in their first job for at least two years ended up earning thousands of dollars more by the fifth year of working, compared with those who moved around more often.
It might not feel like it at the time – when you grab hold of whatever is available and hope for the best – but your first job is more important than you think. From the behaviours that are normalised, to the salary you receive and how long you stick it out, the early stage of your career is pivotal.
By the time your career is firing, the first place you worked only takes up on a single line on your CV, but it’s a lot more than that. It teaches you what’s acceptable and sets you on a trajectory that’s difficult to shake. That’s why we really should take our first jobs a lot more seriously than we do.
Tim Duggan is author of Work Backwards: The Revolutionary Method to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter at timduggan.substack.com.
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