May is graduation season. Soon, many beautiful Black students will be leaving their undergraduate institutions and, if not going to graduate school, starting the process of looking for a job. It’s an exciting time for so many to start the next step of their lives…but I need to issue a warning.
It seems like this generation of Black students are not ready for life in corporate America, a graduate program or anywhere on God’s green earth where they must report to someone. As a professor at Oklahoma State University, I’ve seen it firsthand.
Many of my students have unrealistic expectations of what it is like to work in the real world. Social media work influencers are giving such bad advice that they will have Black kids starting jobs on a Monday and end up fired by Thursday afternoon.
I want the next generation of Black folks to be successful. So, if you are a student who is about to hit the job market (or know someone who will), let me help you out. Below are five of the most common pieces of terrible advice about work my students believe to be good advice.
You don’t need to go into the office…even if the boss expects you to
Before COVID, most people went into some kind of office regularly. Believe it or not, many worked in these things called cubicles. Working from home was a luxury few enjoyed, then the world shut down and Zoom took over. (What happened to Skype?) Now, many have an expectation that they don’t have to go into an office and can just do their work at home.
Research shows that when people are in offices, they are more productive. That’s why many employers like to have workers come into an office and physically interact with their coworkers. This is not to say that there will never be days you work from home, but don’t expect to do that every day.
You don’t have to listen to criticism from your boss
You are not perfect. You don’t know everything. A major reason why your boss is in the position they are in might be because they have…
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