Overcome the New Job Anxiety & Tips on How to Be Successful
Congratulations on your new job! You’ve put in the hard work it takes to get to this point and that deserves a celebration. You may be going through a career change, just graduating college or moving up on the corporate latter. No matter what it may be, congratulations on beginning your journey whether its new or old. Even though it’s really exciting to be beginning a new phase of your career, it can also be stressful and a little scary. However, whether you’ve been doing this for awhile or this is your first time at the rodeo starting a new position or job can be a bit overwhelming for the average person. Are you become more anxious as the day it becomes closer? Unfortunately, there’s a lot of uncertainty that comes with a new job. You’ll encounter new people, a new environment, new cultural norms, new experience, and a new set of responsibilities. To set you up for success, we’ve put together these tips to guide you through your first milestones.
First Impression:
First thing first is to always have confidence, but don’t confuse confidence with arrogance. No one likes an arrogant person. When introducing yourself do not shy away, provide a strong hand shake, clear tone when speaking and smile a lot. Your first impression is your lasting impression. Therefore, ensure your appearance is appropriate for your new office, showing up on time in the morning is essential. So, while you may have already thought about what you’ll wear and whether or not you need a haircut before your first day, it’s also a good idea to plan the most efficient way to get to your new job well before you start.
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions:
Next, ask questions and seek feedback. If you can carry around a note book for the first, two to three weeks filled with questions that you’ve asked and answers to those questions, so that you can refer back to them in time of need, so it does not seem as if you are asking the same questions over and over again. It shows initiative, motivation and that you are ready and willing to learn. However, if you are stumped, it’s better to ask for help than to do it completely wrong. Try to solve as many problems as possible on your own or with input from colleagues at your own level. If you do need to ask a question, preface it with the steps you’ve already taken to solve it on your own.
It’s Okay to Make a Mistake:
Be humble and open minded; when you first start you are not going to know everything and you WILL make mistakes. Learn to own up to those mistakes and be humble enough to take constructive criticism. Remember when you are getting corrected it is only to make you better not worse.
Office Culture:
Do, familiarize yourself with cultural norms of the office. If it is not appropriate etiquette to hang out at coworker’s desk, chatting during work hours then don’t do it. You don’t want to be that person. Do your job, because that is what you are there for. You don’t want to come off as looking unproductive and fruitless.
Build Professional Relationships:
To help you succeed, identify star performers at your level and analyze what has made them successful in their roles. This can give you an idea of what skills, abilities or accomplishments are valued at the organization. Develop positive working relationships with staff at all levels of the organization, with particular emphasis on the people with whom you’ll be working regularly. Not only will strong relationships enhance your overall work experience, but most organizations perform 360-degree evaluations of staff, so it is important to be on good terms with colleagues who may be evaluating you.
Set Goals:
Set goals for your job and execute them with victory. Being a great employee is a sure conquer obstacles. Once you learn and conquer one task it makes it easy for you to conquer them all. Which will allow you to successfully move laterally into different positions within different departments in your organization if you chose. Or even heading straight to the top and up the corporate latter. Challenge yourself often. The only way to become better at something is to do everything within your power to work hard at it and achieve necessary goals set in place.
Change is always difficult and don’t let anyone tell you different. Coming into a new environment with new responsibilities and learning new skills can cause a bit of anxiety. We want to be the first to let you know that you are not alone. We hope these tips and tricks helps.
