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How to act on a job: Present solutions not just questions

Last day (for now) of how to act as an entry-level worker. You’ve gotten to work on time, dressed appropriately and gone through some training. Now what?

Usually at this point people realize they’re expected to know a lot of stuff, but aren’t quite sure what to do when, well, they don’t know something. This is where your notebook comes into play. Businesses will always want you to ask questions; they just don’t want you asking the same questions every day. Moreover, IT’S HOW YOU FRAME YOUR QUESTIONS THAT COUNTS.

For example, here we have a classic question from a new salesperson: “What do I do when a client calls and asks me a question I don’t know how to answer?”

Seems like a reasonable request, right?

But what if the employee presented it like this, instead:

“If a client calls and asks me a question I don’t know how to answer, I think I’d say that, ‘I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you shortly after discussing it with my colleagues.’ Would that be the right response?”

Now as an employer, I hear you taking initiative by offering a potential solution AS WELL AS seeking counsel regarding your judgment, both of which portend future success, and both of which make me confident that I made the right decision to hire you.

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