I was a fresh grad once not too long ago, flung straight into the working world as a client facing executive. To date, I’ve met a diverse range of people already in my short career span here: big, tall, hairy clients (with equally big hearts) and small, sweet, meek ones who are genuinely nice or can be “nice” if you’re naive enough to allow their harmless facades to fool you…
At the end of the day, I’ve realised, it’s really about understanding the types of creatures your clients are and finding out what makes them ‘tick’. As soon as you realise this, you’ll find that being ‘apolitical’ is not necessarily an improbable task.
It’s true, when you’re in school, no one will ever teach you about the real reasons for using CCs and BCCs in emails.. did you guys even hear about “CYA” (cover your ass)? I most certainly didn’t, and was a little naive at first, much to the chagrin of my superiors…
Sometimes with clients, it could be a personality issue or maybe a ‘confidence’ issue.. but i feel that this is really a matter of time and experience with several positive and negative interactions.. I’ve learned that negative interactions, arguments aren’t necessarily a bad thing with clients, it only shows that both parties are willing to work on improving the partnership, just like how it is for our own relationships…
There’s still so much more to learn, you’ll find that, as time goes by, there’ll be a huge disconnect between what you’re doing now and what you set out to do when you pursued your degree…. don’t feel cheated, this is actually normal, regardless of the industry you’re in (spoke to different friends and friends of friends who feel the same way)… it’s also a case of your own attitudes to change and how this is projected externally to others (peers, clients, bosses etc.)…
One other thing I’ve learnt is, if you don’t put a high value to yourself, rest assured that no one else will raise the ‘price’.