The woes of a young professional

Its tough being a young free-filled professional. People are constantly underestimating you.(Also if you are a bit underweight then its even worse as people view you with this suspicion) They think your ideas, opinions, views are not worthy of consideration. They try & hear you out just to be civil but never actually bother to listen & consider it. If the same idea was put forward by some other experienced, older person it would readily be accepted. There are exceptions of course, but the general perception is young = dumb.You have to prove yourself not once but several times, just because of this stereotyping.

I have been to some clients place on work, who look at you as a speck of dirt. Also if you can speak articulately then they start getting intimidated & try to show whos boss by being aggressive.There are these big bosses who sit in their fancy air-conditioned cabins expecting respect(sometimes undeserving) for their designations & move around with a air of superiority. I once went to this place, where this MD of the company expected everyone in the room to stand up whenever he entered the room(even when he just visited the washroom outside his cabin) as a sign of respect, the poor receptionist & peon had their exercise routine cut-out for them.

The other tough place to be is in a meeting. First of all there is this hesitation ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ say something you have in your mind which is relevant in your head, then after you surmount the courage & put forth your views, it is rejected even before you have completed your sentence. The repurcussions are, it is then a case of ‘once bitten, twice shy’ & then those same individuals complain about you being silent. However I must admit I have been lucky & there are few encouraging seniors as well, to compensate for those haughty ones.

Being young & full of laugh is a sin, you must stare at your workstation screens with all seriousness & be all prim n proper or else be ready to be judged with the same ‘ todays generation …., in our times we…..tch tch!!” Anyway a don’t care attitude, in some of these situations I think is useful. So Goodluck, all you young pro’s & we shall overcome!