I believe many people accumulate considerable "special experiences" during their studies—competitions, club activities, training programs, and even internships in the industry. During student years, these experiences all seem brilliant and polished. Some are club presidents or top performers in large-scale business competitions, ranking in the top three among hundreds of applicants.
Therefore, when entering the workplace, people generally feel quite confident about doing well, or become self-inflated thinking they'll be assigned important positions immediately upon joining the company.
However, reality is harsh. A resume is ultimately just a piece of paper, and university ultimately has no stake in your future; conversely, corporate team organizations always have hierarchies and divisions 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 fundamentally different.
So even with rich experience, **when you first enter society, you're a blank slate waiting to be colored.**Your manager won't assign you complex work at first—just basic tasks like typing in Word or organizing spreadsheets. If you're too arrogant, you might find it tedious and feel trampled upon.
However, every company operates differently. A single spreadsheet can differ vastly in text color, size, borders, layout, required fields, and other presentation methods. You must learn all these gradually and meet company standards through practice. Using the example of Zhang Baiqi from the Korean drama "Misaeng":
"I came here to build a business, not to reconcile accounts, draw spreadsheets, or modify corporate directories—those trivial things I already did during my internship!"
Because he graduated first in his university class and was the top scorer in the company's hiring, Zhang Baiqi strongly resisted doing these trivial tasks.
His superior said, "If you're too eager to stand out and show yourself, you'll feel anxious inside. I've already given you many opportunities to understand where you went wrong."
Because of his excessive arrogance, on his first day, Zhang Baiqi presented annual plans to his supervisor without first understanding how the entire organization operated, the interpersonal dynamics, or the daily routine tasks. He only thought about doing his own thing, but a company isn't just one person—everyone divides labor and works together to accomplish tasks.
This perfectly reflects the matter of "trust." When new employees join an organization, everyone invests considerable effort in teaching them to fit in and privately discusses their work ability and attitude. After a month or two, once the newcomer is familiar enough with the department's operations and can handle basic things like proper document formatting and no typos, they can manage these fundamentals smoothly. Only then can the supervisor gradually build trust and assign you other tasks that everyone else handles. At this point, you'll also gain more confidence to work for the company or organization.
Superiors also observe your character and attitude through different task assignments, such as whether you remember points of criticism and won't repeat mistakes, your understanding of work organization, whether you can draw inferences and express your own thoughts, and even whether you proactively offer suggestions. All these are things supervisors notice.
These small details are how trust is built in the workplace.
Given time, whether in internal organizational communication or coordination and cooperation with external departments, you'll be able to handle everything with ease. The company will naturally have opportunities for you to transfer departments or positions. However, everyone's luck and timing are quite different.
Some people progress quickly, others slowly. But since each person is a unique individual shaped by 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.
