Managing the Management

What if when you get your first job, you find yourself all alone? What do you do when your manager doesn't manage?

Coming right out of college, it can be difficult to cope with the fact that not everything is as straight-forward as it is in school. Get Ready.

There aren't any directions, there is no defined problem, there is no assignment. You have a job and part of your job is figuring out what you are supposed to be doing. Some companies have extensive training programs for new-hires, some have teams that you work with, or maybe you'll get lucky and have a really great manager that will "spoon-feed" you your work. That's not likely.

I had a professor a couple of years ago that had a great sense of humor. He assigned us a project at the beginning of the semester and gave us a due date. He never mentioned anything about it again. Part of the lesson involved was to teach us that we aren't always given a rubric or an outline. In the "real world", you have to go figure out what you're supposed to be doing by asking questions and confronting your "manager". Needless to say, the class was furious, but I think we all learned a very important lesson.