Semester break & graduation are coming and so do the internship & new job you scored. While you might begin your first day feeling excited, starting a new job in a new workplace & figuring out the politics of a new office can be disorienting on a personal level.
So here's a quick roundup from "This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live" by Melody Warnick, applicable on your new workplace.
2. It doesn’t matter how much self-confidence you have, starting a new job in a new
workplace & figuring out the politics of a new office can be incredibly disorienting
on a personal level. While you might begin your first day all excited about the new
challenges ahead, you’re also likely to be feeling nervous, daunted and quite
stressed.
This is all perfectly natural, however, and it’s important to remember that your new
employer, as well as the colleagues you’ll be working with, will not be expecting
miracles straight away and that they’ll want to help you settle in as quickly and as
smoothly as possible. They’ll have been the ‘newbie’ too at some time or other,
remember.
Here's how to feel like you belong according to "This is Where You Belong: The Art
and Science of Loving the Place You Live" by Melody Warnick.
3. The process of making new friends can be
challenging. However, you still have to go
through that process. It’s important you don’t
overpower your new work colleagues with
‘chit-chat’ during your first few days and
don’t get involved in office gossip either –
you’re there to work after all. However, that
doesn’t mean you should bury your head in
paperwork or hide behind your computer
screen either. Take your cues from your
colleagues and if they are chatting away as
they’re working, make sure you join in too.
The sooner you get to know your colleagues,
the more settled, comfortable and ‘part of
the firm’ you’ll feel.
Be considerate and respectful too.
STEP 1: FIND YOUR TRIBE"The most disheartening thing about moving to a new place is the lack of social
network."
4. STEP 2: ASK FOR HELP
Your supervisor & colleagues don't expect you to know everything
straight away so they’ll be expecting a barrage of questions from you
anyway so you shouldn’t feel stupid asking a lot of questions.
Remember, companies would rather you asked a hundred questions
than blindly try to carry out your duties as it can prove very costly both
in monetary times and in time lost if you carry on regardless only to
find that the errors you’ve made need to all be fixed later.
Also, people love to give advice. It makes them feel closer to you and it
makes them want you to succeed. Every office has the equivalent of the
local town historian. Spending time with this person can save you from
jumping on a project that everyone knows is doomed or office local
culture.
"Identifying people who can tell you about the local culture and how things
work is incredibly valuable."
5. Whether you have an office job or you
work in a manual capacity, you’re
bound to come up against some kind of
tools or machinery that you’ve never
worked with before so find out the
equipment you need to use and how it
works. It’s often handy to scribble
down a few notes or stick Post-It
instructions up as learning how new
machinery works can sometimes be
complex and, if someone has taken a
fair amount of time explaining how
something works, you should try to
grasp the basics straight away so that
you don’t have to keep pulling them
away from their work to repeat the
instructions.
STEP 3:
LEARN HOW
THE EQUIPMENT
WORKS
6. As a ‘newbie’, you’ll probably find that you won’t often be given too much to do over
the course of your first few days as your employer will be more interested in helping
you settle in initially and to just give you a ‘feel’ of what you’re going to be faced
with later.
However, if you find that you’ve taken to your new role like a ‘duck to water’, don’t
just sit there playing with your phone and staring out of the window but be proactive
and ask your supervisor or colleagues nearby if you can do anything else for them.
They may be glad of the extra help.
STEP 4: BE PROACTIVE
7. STEP 5: GO ALL IN
A sense of belonging requires accepting a paradox. In an at-will
economy, you or your employer could end your relationship tomorrow.
For sheer self-preservation, it feels wisest to hold back emotionally,
and yet happiness comes from going all in, putting in the extra effort
that can improve any situation in the long run.
Warnick believes that it is possible to hold these dueling ideas in your
head simultaneously. "Acknowledging that moving on is part of life
doesn’t prevent us from investing and becoming engaged while we’re
there," she says. After all, most of us are willing to go all in with our
family relationships, even though these can end too. We recognize that
the joy of authentic connection is worth the potential pain.
It’s pretty much the same at work.
"Go the extra mile and you’ll be sad to leave, which is actually kind of what you
want"
9. REFERENCE:
F a s t C o m p a n y ( 2 0 1 6 ) . N e w J o b ?
H e r e ' s H o w T o F e l l L i k e Y o u
B e l o n g . R e t r i e v e d f r o m
h t t p s : / / w w w . f a s t c o m p a n y . c o m / 3 0 6 2
0 6 0 / n e w - j o b - h e r e s - h o w - t o - f e e l -
l i k e - y o u - b e l o n g
