领导力内部网络是一个在线社区，商界最具思想和影响力的人士会在这里及时回答关于职业生涯和领导力的问题。今天的问题是：“对于即将进入职场的应届生，你有什么建议？”回答者是Your Career, Your Terms的创始人，Global Partners的首席执行官和《Get Ahead by Going Abroad》的作者佩里•耶特曼。

恭喜你从大学毕业。现在该干点什么呢？目前对你来说，最重要的事情是强势开始自己的职业生涯。作为应届生，你的目标是成长，所以你需要尽可能寻找最重要、最大胆的工作。根据你掌握的技能和兴趣的不同，至少有三个领域可以满足这一点：

咨询公司

咨询公司和代理机构的工作内容比绝大多数其他环境都要更加多样化。你会被不断调入新团队接手新项目，面对新行业的新客户。这里的节奏很快，工作时间很长，任务往往很艰巨。但至少从最近几年来看，这类公司在吸引和挽留人才，并促进他们成长上做得很棒。所以如果你想学习如何分析问题，融入团队，准备出色的演讲，很少有地方能比咨询公司更适合成为你的培训基地。

成功品牌

著名企业往往比咨询公司规模更大，节奏更慢。你被容许冒险和犯错的余地都会更小。不过被各种规模的成功公司雇用，都可以增加你简历的公信力。对于希望工作少点刺激，多点指导的人而言，根深蒂固、饱受尊敬的公司和非盈利机构会是很好的选择。

初创公司

最后，还有一些初创公司或发展很快的小型企业。他们可能会成功，也可能失败。这些地方的管理肯定会有些混乱——别在入职时问人力有没有规章制度手册了。不过脚踏实地从头做起，会让你获得超出同龄人的实践经验和责任感。你将会在这里迅速培养起思路敏捷，自己解决问题，弄清自己究竟擅长什么的能力。当然，这里的报酬可能不高，不过之后你会发现这份经验是无价的。

无论你之后做什么，优秀的第一份工作都会带来巨大的回报。我25岁时只是一家小型代理机构的客户经理，却在10年内成为了一家跨国公司的副总裁。为了做到这点，我承担了其他人不能或不愿意去做的事情：我去新加坡做了旅游营销，三年后又去莫斯科帮助开展了俄罗斯私有化的公共教育，最后我来到伦敦，成为了联合利华（Unilever）公司事务部的主要顾问。

通过这些充满信念的大步跨越并努力工作，我在10年内积累了很多人一生也难以企及的大量经验。这并不容易，当然也不可能没有压力。但那些日子里，我跳槽只是为了快乐，并在这个过程中充满自豪。而且实际上后者的成分更大。在经历了这段奇妙的生涯初期之后，我在36岁时转型成了我想要扮演的妻子和母亲，与此同时我仍在与聪明的人共事，做一些有意义的全球工作。

我喜欢现在的自己，如果我开始没有想去拼搏做出一番大事业，就不可能实现这一点。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

The Leadership Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question, “What advice do you have for college graduates entering the workforce?” is written by Perry Yeatman, founder of Your Career, Your Terms, CEO of Global Partners, and author of Get Ahead by Going Abroad.

Congratulations, you’ve graduated from college. Now what? The most important thing for you to do right now is launch powerfully into your career. As a recent graduate, growth is your goal—so you need to go for the biggest, boldest job you can get. Depending on your skills and interests, there are at least three ways to go about that:

Consulting

Few environments offer you more work diversity than consulting firms and agencies do. You are constantly being pulled onto new projects with new teams and new clients in new industries. The pace is fast. The work is long and often hard. But, especially in recent years, these types of firms have become excellent at attracting, retaining, and promoting talent. So if you want to learn how to analyze a problem, play on a team, and write a killer presentation, few places offer a better training ground.

Blue chip brands

Well-known organizations are usually bigger and slower than consulting agencies are. You won’t be allowed to take as many risks or make as many mistakes. But getting hired in nearly any capacity by a “blue chip” establishment will add credibility to your resume. For those looking for slightly less excitement and slightly more guidance, established and well-respected companies and nonprofit organizations can be great options.

Startups

Finally, there are startups or small, fast-growing organizations. They may succeed or they may fail. They will almost certainly be a bit chaotic—don’t even bother asking for the HR policies manual when you arrive. But getting in on the ground floor will give you hands-on experience and responsibilities way beyond your years. Your ability to think on your feet, figure things out for yourself, and determine what you are really good at will exponentially increase. Of course the pay may not be great, but down the road the experience can prove priceless.

No matter what you do later in your career, launching well will pay big dividends. I went from being a 25-year-old account executive in a small agency to a global corporate vice president in just 10 years. I accomplished this by taking assignments no one else could or would: I moved to Singapore to do tourism marketing; then to Moscow three years later to help run public education efforts related to Russia’s privatization; and finally to London to become a leading corporate affairs counselor for Unilever.

By taking these leaps of faith and working hard, I built a portfolio of experiences in one decade that most people don’t in a lifetime. It wasn’t easy and it certainly wasn’t stress-free. But there were days when I literally jumped for joy and glowed with pride. And in truth, there were more of the latter. Then, at 36, I converted this amazing launch period into being the spouse and mother I wanted to be, while still doing meaningful global work with smart people.

I love where I am today; it never would’ve happened if I hadn’t gone big early on.