--- title: First Job: This Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do description: Get on the right path canonical: https://time.com/3882985/first-job-important/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-17T20:06:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:25:32.675Z article:section: Ideas og:title: This Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do at Your First Job og:description: Get on the right path og:url: https://time.com/3882985/first-job-important/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24cf035ec65c56f7/69884d0b5f570f2fedb1b2d5/468837887-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: businessman-looking-graphs-charts og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do at Your First Job twitter:description: Get on the right path twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24cf035ec65c56f7/69884d0b5f570f2fedb1b2d5/468837887-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do at Your First Job by [Auren Hoffman / Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Auren Hoffman / Quora Jun 17, 2015 8:06 PM UTC  Businessman looking at graphs and charts on glass wall in office Businessman looking at graphs and charts on glass wall in officeGetty Images by [Auren Hoffman / Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Auren Hoffman / Quora Jun 17, 2015 8:06 PM UTC [_Answer_](http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-best-advice-for-someone-looking-for-their-first-job/answer/Auren-Hoffman)_by_[_Auren Hoffman_](http://www.quora.com/Auren-Hoffman)_,_ _CEO of LiveRamp_ _,_ _on_ [_Quora_](http://www.quora.com/)_._ The most important thing to optimize for on your first job is growth.Growth is king, queen, and emperor combined. Optimize for growth above compensation, above location, above lifestyle, and above anything else. Getting a young person on a high growth path will set that person up for success much more so than even the quality of the university they attended. That’s because so many super talented people grow way more slowly than their potential. In your first job, you should be growing at least 25%/year. That means at the end of the first year, you are at least 25% better and by the first three years you are roughly twice as good. Unfortunately, most people grow way slower than that. When you are old (like me) and presumably at a much higher base, growing at 10%/year is very acceptable. But early in your career you need to grow much faster to get to that very high base. Your compensation change should lag your growth — but there will likely be a correlation. If you are growing at 30%/year you likely are getting a higher percentage raise than if you are growing at 10%/year. _This question originally appeared on_ [_Quora: What’s the best advice for someone looking for their first job?_](http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-best-advice-for-someone-looking-for-their-first-job) _More from Quora:_ * [How do I effectively use LinkedIn to find a job?](http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-effectively-use-LinkedIn-to-find-a-job) * [Should I let my manager know if I am looking at new job opportunities?](http://www.quora.com/Should-I-let-my-manager-know-if-I-am-looking-at-new-job-opportunities) * [What’s the best way to get your résumé noticed?](http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-best-way-to-get-your-r%C3%A9sum%C3%A9-noticed) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3882985/first-job-important/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3882985/first-job-important/"},"headline":"This Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do at Your First Job","datePublished":"2015-06-17T20:06:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:25:32.675Z","description":"Get on the right path","url":"https://time.com/3882985/first-job-important/","keywords":["Careers & Workplace","Business topic","career"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24cf035ec65c56f7/69884d0b5f570f2fedb1b2d5/468837887-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Auren Hoffman / Quora"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24cf035ec65c56f7/69884d0b5f570f2fedb1b2d5/468837887-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"businessman-looking-graphs-charts","caption":"businessman-looking-graphs-charts","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3882985/first-job-important/","name":"This Is the Most Important Thing You Can Do at Your First Job"}}]}] ```