Early-Career Engagement Starts with Care
Research consistently shows that employees who feel engaged at work perform better and stay longer. Gallup’s meta-analysis of employee engagement shows that highly engaged teams experience higher profitability and productivity, along with lower turnover, compared to disengaged teams.
In other words: people who care tend to perform better.
What happens when you are in your first job out of university or high school and it isn’t your dream role. My first role was an entry-level auditor. The hours were long, the work was not glamourous, and to top it all off, the clients hated having us there.
So how do we help our early-career employees in tech care about something that isn’t always ideal?
Caring Before It’s “Perfect”
We don’t want our employees waiting to land their ideal role before they shows signs of care and engagement. That’s not sustainable for them, and it’s not sustainable for our businesses.
Authentic care doesn’t require perfect alignment with your long-term vision. It requires a shift in focus. Instead of asking, “Is this the dream job?”, a better question might be:
“What in this role is worth caring about right now?”
Care About the Skills You’re Building
If you have a future role in mind, today’s role is likely developing skills that move you closer to it.
Communication
Execution
Building your network
Understand the customer
Project or stakeholder management
When you care about the skills, not just the title, your perspective changes. You’re no longer just completing tasks — you’re training for something bigger.
Care About the Customer
Even if your role feels removed from the end user, your work supports someone.
When early-career professionals connect their effort to real human impact, motivation becomes more durable. Work shifts from “another task” to “a contribution.”
And contribution fuels engagement.
Care About Your Financial Growth
Money matters.
Compensation, raises, and promotions often follow performance and reputation. Caring about your work — and doing it well — builds credibility. It expands opportunity. It creates leverage over time.
This isn’t about overworking or burning out. It’s about recognizing that effort today can increase financial opportunity tomorrow.
Care About the People Around You
Not everyone gets to work with a team they respect or a manager they can learn from. If you have that — even imperfectly — it’s worth caring about.
Relationships built early in your career often shape opportunities later. Caring about collaboration, trust, and shared success builds a professional foundation that lasts.
Authentic Care Isn’t About Intensity
Caring authentically isn’t about faking it ‘til you make it. It’s about choosing where your energy goes.
It’s about connecting your current role to:
The skills you’re developing
The people you’re helping
The income you’re building
The relationships you’re strengthening
Most early-career professionals won’t start in their dream role. But they can start building a career they care about — today. And when organizations help early-career professionals think this way, engagement becomes sustainable, not forced.
Need support for your early-career?
Check out the Authentically Care workshop in the Essential Series for how Taber Coaching can support that shift to higher care, deeper engagement and greater impact.