As Gen Z graduates enter the workforce this summer, real estate millionaire and Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran has a warning: Don’t be dazzled by big paychecks. Focus on who will be signing them.
After years of low pay in part-time jobs or surviving on loans, choosing the highest offer can be tempting. However, Corcoran advises that two factors outweigh salary in a first job: a good boss and opportunities for learning.
“Don’t take any job based on how much it pays, but take it on the important thing: how much it will teach you, because that will push you ahead,” the New Jersey native told the class of 2024 in her latest TikTok video.
“Always choose the best boss,” she added. “Having a good boss will have more to do with your happiness at work than actually what you do with your day.”
Although a job may look great on paper now, in the long term a lack of learning opportunities or an unsupportive boss could lead to career stagnation or, worse, daily dread when it’s time to report for work every morning.
Lessons from bad bosses
By the time Corcoran had reached 22 years old, she’d worked over 20 jobs and gone through around the same number of managers.
In that time, she had her fair share of bad bosses and has warned that it can chip away at your confidence and dim your self-worth.
“I know what that feels like,” she sympathized on an old episode of her podcast, Business Unusual, adding that it’s a dangerous situation to be in” because it can leave you feeling so small that you stop pushing yourself.
But once you come out of the other end, Corcoran has consistently said that the experience will be your biggest teacher.
“All the good stuff happened in my life on the heels of rejection,” the real estate mogul revealed last year on Instagram. “I do my best work when my back is against the wall.”
“I think you learn the most from the hardships and the bad things, not the great things,” she previously echoed in Yahoo Finance.
In the end, the biggest lesson that Corcoran says she got from her string of inept managers was that she wanted to be her own boss.
It’s why, in an Instagram post to her 23-year-old self, she wrote: “I know it feels like you’ve had more bad bosses than anyone in the world with those 22 jobs, but trust me, it’s not the end of the road.”
Just a year later, she founded her $6 billion real estate company, the Corcoran Group, with just $1,000.
Don’t let your major define yourself
Corcoran didn’t offer any advice on how to differentiate a good boss from a bad one—but she did give grads a hall pass to job-hop and, in turn, trial as many managers as possible before settling down.
“Don’t let your major define you,” she added. “Try a lot on before you decide what you want to do with your life.”
Likewise, Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy also recently recommended young people embrace a squiggly career if they want to experience success as he has.
“Along the way, you’ll keep picking things up if you let yourself,” Jassy, who worked in sportscasting and music management before joining Amazon, said. “You’ll wind your way around something that you’re really good at.”
Ultimately, trying on many different roles for size will not only stretch your abilities but also help you discover the best management style for your personal growth. Some people thrive under pressure, and others need a more hands-off approach, but you won’t know which camp you sit in until you try both.