(f) He must not be too easily discouraged because his pay is not increased, others being promoted ahead of him. He should, on the contrary, seek to make himself more valuable to his employer. If others get on faster than he, he must search himself for the reason.
(g) He should not change employers without very good reason. Business men are always suspicious of a man who has worked for a number of concerns, but never long for any one. They assume that some thing is wrong with him, and the assumption is usually correct.
(h) He must not seek to avoid the disagreeable tasks. A man who always wants a smooth, easy, pleasant job, never gets a high rating in business.
(i) He must not be a listless, perfunctory worker. Thruout the day Ile must be absorbed in his job. He must give the best of himself to it, then be may be chosen for high-class work.
( j) He must not make mistakes thru carelessness, Ignorance is bad enough and may be forgiven, for a routine worker is not expected to know everything, but a second mistake of the same kind cannot be excused on the plea of ignorance. It is the result of carelessness, heedlessness, thoughtlessness. The routine worker who blunders thru carelessness is usually not interested in his work and is letting his mind wander away from bis job. The careless worker soon comes to grief.
(k) He must not seek to defend himself by lying or misrepresentation. If he has made a mistake, it is much better for him to admit it bravely and frankly than to seek to shift the blame to somebody else. Em ployers demand absolute candor from their employes. One break of this rule may give a man a reputation which will forever keep him out of positions of trust and responsibility.
12. On getting a start.—Young men from the high school or college are often greatly puzzled by the` seemingly insurmountable difficulty of getting a fair start in business. As a rule they do not know what kind of business they want to go into, and even if they do, they do not know how to get their first job. They answer advertisements, but are everywhere told that men of experience are wanted. If they are al ways to be turned down because they have not had experience, how shall they ever get experience? A young man looking for a start in business should bear in mind three most important things : First, after advising with parents, teachers and friends, be should decide just what lie wants to be. If he finds it impossible to decide, then let him for a time forget the matter. Second, he should go after his job him self, and not alk somebody else to find a place for him. If unaided he lands his first job, not only will
he enter upon it with pride and with some confidence in himself but, more important still, he will have proved to himself and to his friends that he has some genius for business. Third, if he finds after trying for a time that he cannot get the kind of job he wants, he should take the first one offered.
Friends and relatives are always willing to help a young man get his first position, and it is quite proper for a young man to make use of such help both in finding the job and then in landing it. He will doubtless need letters of recommendation with ref erence to his character and ability, and he should not hesitate to ask his friends and teachers for such let ters. But it is best that he find his own job. Let him think of himself as being already in business. He has a job as salesnzan. He looking for a buyer of his services. The rebuffs and disappointments he en dures are the common lot of most business men. Let him know that if he gets discouraged and gives up he is proving himself unfit for business.
The beginner should watch carefully the adver tisements in the newspapers, but he must not rely en tirely upon these. Many first-class business houses never advertise at all when they are adding to their force of routine workers. They have other ways of finding desirable young men; sometimes they use the aid of their own employes, or they make known their wants to the heads of high schools or schools of com merce or colleges, and sometimes they make use of employment bureaus. But the be-ginner should watch the advertisements and follow up those which seem to offer him a chance. If the application is to be sent by mail, he should by all means make his letter brief and to the point. He will learn how to do this if he reads carefully the Modern Business Text on "Business Correspondence." Usually a young man is able to get a clue to an opening from some of the friends he has made at school who have already got into business. They know the stuff he is made of better than anybody else, not excepting his father and mother. They are also in a position to hear of chances for a new man. The more friends a young man has made, the easier he will find it to get a start in business. If he lands a job by the aid of friends he himself has made, he may credit himself with having found the job; but if he lands it thru the aid of his parents or relatives, or their friends, he deserves no credit.