No, they don't. At least, not if you don't let them.
The important thing to remember about any job -- at any time
in your life -- is that you are never a "slave." You can
leave at any time. That's the extra-special beauty of an
entry-level job. No one expects you to stick around forever.
Entry-level jobs have entry-level salaries, so companies know
that the position will encounter plenty of turnover.
But does "entry-level" mean you're working for peanuts? Yes,
sure, sometimes. But there is a silver lining: few
entry-level jobs are exempt from overtime. If you're suddenly
expected to work 20-hour days, you may be exhausted, but your
paycheck might take a nice boost. Save that money whenever
you can. Trust me, when you hit middle management and stop
earning overtime, you might find yourself longing for the
time when longer days meant bigger paychecks.
Yes, as an entry-level employee, you'll get the entry-level
assignments. The boring assignments, the hard ones, that ones
that require you to fetch coffee for meetings and pick up
visitors from the airport. But you'll also be gaining
valuable experience, meeting people, and getting a chance to
get into the nit-and-gritty of your chosen field.
Don't let your first job take total control of your life. You
still deserve a chance to have some fun and relax. You're
allowed to take days off. You're allowed to be sick once in a
while. And you deserve it to yourself to spend at least a few
minutes a week looking for the next opportunity that might be
waiting around the corner.
Have some loyalty to your boss -- the person who gives you
your first chance -- but don't let them or anyone else walk
all over you because you're the new guy. Once you illustrate
to people that you're a peon who can be dumped on, you'll
always be that person.
Similarly, don't feel bad about leaving when comes time to
tell your boss that you're moving on, either when you get
another opportunity or when you can't stand it any longer.
That first boss gave you a shot, but they'll only really
respect you when it's time to move on.
That's another good thing to keep in mind about the
entry-level job: your exit strategy. Advancing within a
company is always good, but it's also a good thing to see how
different companies operate, especially when you are in the
first decade of your career. Jumping to a new employer is
good strategy: you get to start fresh and you get to take
what you learned in your entry-level job and apply it into
something bigger and better.
So don't worry about being chained up. Entry-level chains are
weak. They aren't designed to keep you down. An entry-level
job may have you singing the blues once in a while, but it
sets the stage for a great career to come.
