Make the most out of EVERY experience

I can’t say this enough. The positions I’ve held in recent years helped me build on skills I’d learned previously, which often resulted in more responsibility, and in some cases, more (merit) pay.
I never really thought much of my 3 years at Burger King, but I worked in Food Prep, cashier, inventory, and was even a shift supervisor for a while. It was here that I learned to multi-task and get the job done. These skills have served me well in all jobs I’ve acquired after this one.
Working in a small organization (our branch had less than 20 employees total) is beneficial too – this gave me the chance to get my hands into different aspects of the office environment. At first I felt like a fish out of water – going from the erratic work hours of the fast food world to a set 8-5 M-F schedule took some adjusting to. But I went from a lowly office assistant, answering phones and following up on orders, to becoming the ISO Internal Auditor for our plant, working with our top salesman on our top account (Chrysler), focusing more on purchasing and inventory management, and training our employees on a new software system that was implemented.
Wherever you work, if you are given the opportunity to learn new things, by all means give it a shot. It will serve you well later on down the road – and looks good on your resume!