I believe many people accumulate quite a few "special experiences" during their school years, ranging from competitions and club activities to workshops and internships in the industry. During student years, these experiences all seem brilliant and glamorous—some are even club presidents or top performers in large commercial competitions, making the top three out of hundreds on their resumes.
Therefore, when entering the workplace, most people have considerable confidence that they can do their work well, or become self-inflated thinking they'll be assigned important positions the moment they join the company.
However, reality is harsh. A resume is ultimately just a piece of paper, and university ultimately has no stake in profit; in contrast, corporate team organizations always have hierarchies and division of labor. In fact, much of what you learn in school is useless in the workplace. Beyond different work and thinking patterns, your identity is vastly different.
Therefore, no matter how rich your experience, when you first enter society, you're a blank slate waiting to be colored. Initially, your supervisor won't give you overly complex work—it might just be typing in WORD or organizing spreadsheets, mundane tasks. If you're too arrogant, you might find it dull and feel like you're being trampled on.
However, every company operates differently. A single spreadsheet can vary greatly in font color, size, borders, formatting, required fields, and other presentation methods—all of which you must gradually learn and adapt to meet company standards. With practice comes proficiency. Take Zhang Baiqì from the Korean drama "Misaeng" as an example:
"I came here to build a business, not to do reconciliations, draw spreadsheets, modify corporate directories—these trivial tasks I already did during my internship!"
Because Zhang Baiqì graduated first in his university class and was hired with the highest score at the company, he was extremely resistant to doing these mundane tasks.
His supervisor said, "If you're so eager to stand out and show yourself off, your heart will become anxious. I've already given you many opportunities to understand where you went wrong."
Because of his excessive arrogance, on his first day, Zhang Baiqì immediately presented the department's annual plan to his supervisor without first understanding how the overall organization operated, how people got along, or what the daily routine tasks were. He only wanted to do his own thing, but a company isn't just one person—it's everyone working together and cooperating to complete tasks.
This completely reflects the concept of "trust." When a new person joins an organization, everyone invests considerable effort in teaching them to integrate and adapts, and they privately discuss the new person's work ability and attitude. After a month or two, once the new person is sufficiently familiar with the department's operations—at least to the point where they can handle basic tasks like formatting documents correctly without typos—only then can the supervisor gradually build trust and assign you other tasks that everyone is handling. At this point, you'll also gain more confidence to work hard for the company or organization.
The supervisor will also observe your character and attitude through each different task assignment—noting whether you remember areas for improvement and don't repeat the same mistakes, your understanding of the organization's workflow and whether you can draw inferences and offer your own thoughts, and even whether you proactively give suggestions. These are all things supervisors pay attention to.
These small details are how trust is built in the workplace.
After some time, whether it's communication within the organization or coordination and cooperation with external departments, you'll be able to handle everything smoothly. The company will naturally have opportunities for you to transfer departments or positions. However, each person's luck and timing are quite different.
Some people advance quickly, others slowly. But because each person is a different individual made up of different experiences, there's no need to envy others or chase after them. Just know where you are and where you're going—that's enough.
