The Canadian Girl at Work: A Book of Vocational GuidanceWillison, Marjory MacMurchy, Lady
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The Canadian Girl at Work: A Book of Vocational Guidance
Willison, Marjory MacMurchy, Lady
Women -- Employment -- Canada; Women -- Vocational guidance -- Canada
The first few days, sometimes even the first few weeks, are often a little
difficult for the girl who has found a position and goes to work for the
first time. But she can take with her a few simple resolutions which will
make most of her difficulties disappear and which may even change them into
helps rather than hindrances. She can remember that all the responsible
people she knows have had these same difficulties and have overcome them.
This thought will encourage her to believe that what others have done she
can do also. There is much that she may gain from this new position. It is
like an open door whereby she may enter a new world.
The girl who is in her first position will find that she must adjust
herself to conditions very different from those of home and school life.
At home all her personal concerns have been of supreme importance, and
she has been the object of unceasing love and care. At school her best
interests have still been consulted, and she has been taught how both to
work and play. She now begins to give back value for the care which has
been taken of her at home and the teaching which she has received at
school. After she is able to work for herself, it is really no one else's
duty to support her. She cannot expect that busy people in the office or
workroom will stop to listen to her. If she is feeling dull or discouraged,
or if something has gone wrong in her private affairs, these things have
nothing to do with her fellow-workers. They also have their private
affairs. Therefore she must learn to be cheerful, not to talk about her own
troubles, and to be, in brief, a grown-up, sensible, considerate person.
Two illustrations may help the girl to understand this difference between
life in paid employment and school days or life at home. A girl once was
offered a position in a large establishment by the man who was the head
of the business. She had certain training and gifts which made him believe
that she could do good work in his business. After her appointment she
found that she was under the direction of the manager's chief of staff,
who, as she soon discovered, had wanted someone else. She began to think
out the position in which she found herself. "It is quite plain," she said
to herself, "that the chief is a more important person than I am. He is not
going to lose his position because he does not like me. It would not be
just or right or good business if he did. The truth is that if I do not
get on with him and convince him that I can do good work I am going to be
a failure. It is part of my business to get on with the chief of staff."
She had made the important discovery that it is wise to put oneself in the
background and to work harmoniously with one's associates. After a year's
hard work she had the satisfaction of being told by her chief, that,
notwithstanding his early dissatisfaction with her appointment, she had
won his approval, for she had convinced him of her efficiency.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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