LEARNING AFTER THE POSITION IS FOUND
The first few days, sometimes even the first few weeks, are often a little difficult for the girl who has found a position and goes to work for the first time. But she can take with her a few simple resolutions which will make most of her difficulties disappear and which may even change them into helps rather than hindrances. She can remember that all the responsible people she knows have had these same difficulties and have overcome them. This thought will encourage her to believe that what others have done she can do also. There is much that she may gain from this new position. It is like an open door whereby she may enter a new world.
The girl who is in her first position will find that she must adjust herself to conditions very different from those of home and school life. At home all her personal concerns have been of supreme importance, and she has been the object of unceasing love and care. At school her best interests have still been consulted, and she has been taught how both to work and play. She now begins to give back value for the care which has been taken of her at home and the teaching which she has received at school. After she is able to work for herself, it is really no one else's duty to support her. She cannot expect that busy people in the office or workroom will stop to listen to her. If she is feeling dull or discouraged, or if something has gone wrong in her private affairs, these things have nothing to do with her fellow-workers. They also have their private affairs. Therefore she must learn to be cheerful, not to talk about her own troubles, and to be, in brief, a grown-up, sensible, considerate person.
Two illustrations may help the girl to understand this difference between life in paid employment and school days or life at home. A girl once was offered a position in a large establishment by the man who was the head of the business. She had certain training and gifts which made him believe that she could do good work in his business. After her appointment she found that she was under the direction of the manager's chief of staff, who, as she soon discovered, had wanted someone else. She began to think out the position in which she found herself. "It is quite plain," she said to herself, "that the chief is a more important person than I am. He is not going to lose his position because he does not like me. It would not be just or right or good business if he did. The truth is that if I do not get on with him and convince him that I can do good work I am going to be a failure. It is part of my business to get on with the chief of staff." She had made the important discovery that it is wise to put oneself in the background and to work harmoniously with one's associates. After a year's hard work she had the satisfaction of being told by her chief, that, notwithstanding his early dissatisfaction with her appointment, she had won his approval, for she had convinced him of her efficiency.
The other illustration can be given in a few words, but it teaches a truth about paid employment which many girls need to learn. One day a woman called to see an important public man on a matter of business. When she came he was dictating a letter. He saw his caller as soon as he had finished. Before the conversation had well begun, his secretary came to the door and asked him to what address he wished the letter sent. When the secretary had gone out again, the man looked at his visitor and said laughing, yet with an expression of annoyance, "I cannot teach my secretary that it is her work to look up addresses. She is here to save me trouble. I am not here to save her trouble. But I cannot get her to understand that." The girl in question was behaving in her work as if she had been a spoiled child at home. It is to be hoped that she would have been ashamed to ask her mother, for instance, to tell her an address which she could look up for herself. Yet this girl was being paid to find addresses as part of her work.
The girl who is beginning paid employment will have to learn largely from others how her work ought to be done, but she must learn to depend on her own observation. Questions must be asked occasionally, but it is unwise to ask too many. Ask information only from those who are willing to answer. Everyone in the world of work is busy as a rule, and comparatively few people will stop their work to explain to someone else how a task ought to be done. There are two classes of workers—those who require direction always, and those who are able and willing to take responsibility. The girl at first begins under direction but, as soon as she is familiar with what she has to do and understands a good deal of the purpose of her work, she should try, if possible, to develop responsibility. It is a good plan to study how other people do their work. There is sure to be someone among one's fellow-employees who is a specially good worker. Study the methods and character of this worker and learn from your observation how to do your own work. The girl in a new position should resolutely avoid association with lazy, indifferent, and idle fellow-employees. One of the first lessons for her to learn, and sometimes one of the hardest, is that her time is not her own. It belongs to her employer, who is paying for her work. Therefore her own social engagements have no claim on her working hours.
It is apparent that certain qualifications and characteristics ensure success in paid work—good temper, self-control, common sense, kindness, and a sense of what is fair are of inestimable value to the girl worker. Moreover, she must be in earnest in her determination to find work and keep it. She should have some secondary employment at which she can work if her regular employment is slack. And through all the changes and difficulties of her working life, a girl should know how to keep well, for health is a great asset.
She should add to these essentials a feeling of responsibility and a desire to understand the problems of management in the business in which she is employed. In addition, let her have that sense of honour which will keep her from a betrayal of confidential information. The loyal worker is always valued and respected.