Adversities of being rookie employee

By Baek Byung-yeul, Nam Hyun-woo, Park Ji-won

Thousands of recent college graduates will get their first taste of professional working life during this autumn's recruitment season.

Amid the prolonged economic slump, it is inevitable to compete with other jobseekers for limited opportunities, but once they succeed in landing a job, they have to overcome equally tough challenges ahead of them — surviving the work place.

According to a recent survey of 911 new employees conducted by Career (www.career.co.kr), a Korean job portal, 72 percent of them answered that they didn't receive proper guidance about their job specifications and office life from their seniors.

Writing proper reports was also cited as one the major challenges confronting recent recruits, accounting for 14.4 percent. Another 13.9 percent said that they don't know when to leave the office.

Others reported to be in dilemma about using the correct titles for their seniors. Then there is the issue of how to respond when petty gossip takes place.

For many rookie employees, reading the countenance of their boss or senior co-worker is another unpalatable feeling.

Park Kyung-soo, a 30-year-old office worker of an investment company in Seoul, said what he learned after 11 months of working in the office is to read boss' facial expressions and butter him up.

"The first thing to do at work was to read the face of my boss," Park said.

"If he looks blue, I try not to be caught within his sight during office hours."

"Showing good results is not the point in our office. Showing big motions to bosses is the key to show that I am doing ‘something' hard for him," Park added sarcastically.

He gave hints about some of the ways he uses to get around his boss, especially when presenting written documents.

"I choose the font style and size that my boss likes when making reports for him. After finishing my work, I try to exaggerate the extra effort I had to put in, just to impress him. Similarly, when he ordered me to make a photocopy of a paper, I said ‘I made it boss. Even though the copy machine didn't work. I had to run down to the other floor and ask other co-workers to let me copy the paper. Here is my work.' Most of them are exaggerations."

Jeong Chan-hu, 28, an employee of a law firm, insists that keeping a safe distance from the boss is the key to getting used to life in the office.

"In order to communicate well with the boss, I needed to know that he or she cannot be a friend of mine. That makes me better communicate with my superiors," Jeong said.

Choi, 28, another employee of a local broadcasting company in Seoul, believes that some flattering words can take one far in the office environment.

"Sometimes I leave some flattering messages to my seniors like my mom said you are beautiful," Choi said.

She added sending a thank you message after completing a joint task with her colleagues is another way of having a stress free office life.

Kim Jin-hong, 36, has worked at a sales department of a Seoul-based book publishing company for six years. Kim still remembers his experience on the first day he reported to work.

"I felt at home at first. I was given a warm welcome by every senior employee," he said.

But things went totally differently at night when the team went out for drink.

"They just poured the beer and soju (Korean liquor) into my mouth, saying that they were testing how much I can drink," he said.

Kim loves to drink with his friends but that night things were different.

"My seniors asked me to drink more and more in different ways. They said it was a rite of passage to become a well established salesman," he said.

"I thought they were right. I thought I needed to know how to create a smooth atmosphere in order to make deals with my clients."

That night Kim drank several bottles of beer and soju and he was almost about to pass out.

"That was not a good decision. I had a hangover for days after that welcoming party. I should have told them it was enough or it was impossible for me to drink any more, but I couldn't do so at that time," Kim said.

"Now I know what my seniors had done to me was just because they wanted to have some free alcohol with the company paying. As a six-year-experienced salesman, the most important thing is trust and faith, not the power of alcohol."

Two weeks ago, Park, a 28-year-old employee of a construction company in Seoul, heard his senior colleague speaking ill of the boss of his team during a late-night drinking session between the two.

The senior's backbiting ranged from the boss's poor performance at work to private details like having an affair with a mistress of his daughter's age.

Though they were both drunk, Park acknowledged to being able to exactly recall everything his senior colleague said, but the colleague in question could barely remember the conversation they had.

"He seemed so drunk, so I was not sure whether he remembers that he spoke ill of the boss in front of me, and if he remembers it, he may feel nervous for fear that I may tell the boss, though I will not," Park said.

Park recalls being restless afterwards, out of fear that his senior colleague may act coldly toward him because of a perceived guilty feeling.

"That would not have been the case if he were just one of my friends, but the fact is that I'm his underling who has to read his mind and be careful in front of him," Park said.

Out of desperation, Park lied to the senior saying: "I can't remember anything about what happened last night. I only remember that we went to a karaoke room."

"That was the best I could do to make him feel free from guilt," Park said. "Being a loyal underling of seniors at workplace would be the assignment of young or rookie employees."