Jay Leno started his career at McDonald's! Will you?

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, American comedian Jay Leno and the CEO of McDonald's Corporation Jack Skinner all started their career from McDonalds. Prakash Iyer, MD, Kimberly-Clark Lever and Executive Coach tells us what we can learn from each of their lives about career success.

What's common between the founder of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos, the American comedian Jay Leno and the CEO of McDonald's Corporation Jack Skinner?

They all started their careers working at a McDonald's restaurant!

Funnily enough, most of us in India never consider taking up a job like that. We find such job opportunities ego-deflating and not challenging enough.

If you are about to start your career, you might find some valuable lessons from the people who started off working at McDonald's.

No job is too small. Many young people keep waiting for the 'right job' to come along. The jobs they get are in their opinion, either too lowly, or not well-paying. So they continue to wait. In hope. And in vain.

Several successful people chose to take on the rather ordinary job at a McDonald's outlet. And it did wonders to their careers.

Don't wait. Take the job you get -- and get to work!

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Boring is Normal.

The job in a burger restaurant can be boring and monotonous. And that's probably true of many jobs out there.

Young people get bored easily, and seek change – almost too soon. Long-term success requires the ability to stay disciplined, and keep performing a task day in and day out.

Jeff Bezos recalls having to crack 300 eggs a day at McDonald's. Doing that right probably helped him ensure Amazon.com gets it right across millions of transactions everyday! The ability to accomplish simple tasks, time after time, is priceless.

The customer is always right. Never mind what role you play and how high you rise in the hierarchy, you will find that you need to serve customers.

The customer could be internal -- within your organisation -- or external. Many people allow their egos to come in the way of their serving other people. Starting off in a sales role -- or in a fast food joint -- is a good way to put your ego in its rightful place.

Success does not come in an instant. It takes hard work, increasing levels of responsibility -- and consistent performance -- to progress in your career. Don't expect to be rewarded for flashes of brilliance.

Take heart from what happened to Jack Skinner. Three decades of doing it right and doing it well saw him rise from just another guy behind the counter – to the global CEO of McDonald's. And he didn't even go to college!

Roll up your sleeves, dirty your hands. Great corporate leaders never fight shy of doing the 'small tasks'.

Even today, the CEO of India's largest FMCG company will happily dust a shampoo pack lying in a store.

And most heads of automotive companies enjoy getting under the car and getting some grease on their hands. These are habits that you imbibe early in your career.

Jay Leno recalls a time when someone spilled a huge can of tomato ketchup on the floor of the McDonald's restaurant where he worked -- and he had to help clean up the mess. If he could do it, you should too!

The magic of teamwork. In a fast food outlet, you quickly learn that you are only a small part of a larger team. Someone does the burgers, someone pours the shakes -- and yet another person takes the orders and the payment.

Good lesson to learn: You can never do everything all by yourself!

No matter where you choose to go to work, remember the lessons people learn when they start out at McDonald's.

And in case you are looking for your first job -- be willing to do all that they do at a burger place. Remember, the pay may be small. But the impact on your career will be big!