Starting a new job is always scary. Everything is new and you have no idea what you are supposed to do. Thankfully, we have seven tips for surviving your first week at work!
One of the hardest parts of starting a new job is trying to remember everyone’s names. It can help if you make a list of them in your notebook with a note of their job beside it. If you have a central email server, you can add all the people you work with to your contacts list and that way you can refer to it when you need it. This will make it much easier to learn your colleagues names and roles.
At my current job, someone started only two weeks before me. That was really comforting for me. Ask around your colleagues to see who joined the organisation most recently. They should be able to impart some wisdom about how they survived the first few weeks, and will hopefully be able to calm your nerves. They will also prove to you that other people felt just as confused during their first weeks as you do now.
It can be so easy to hide away during your first week at a new job, trying to stay out of everyone’s way and avoid causing trouble. This only makes you look antisocial. If people are chatting, join in! Make yourself one of the team from the get go. Everyone will appreciate you making the effort. If you keep this up, you will probably get invited to the next staff night out!
The first week at a new job can quickly become overwhelming and you might want a few minutes alone each day to collect yourself. Find a quiet space in your workplace. This can be the bathroom, a supply cupboard, a kitchen, or outside in the car park. If you need a break away from everyone, take yourself off to your quiet space. Just don’t do this so often that people start searching for you.
It can be really scary asking for help during your first week. You worry that it makes you look as if you don’t have a clue what you are doing. The reality is that everyone knows you are new and no one is expecting you to understand everything right away. Just ask someone for help! They will be glad you are being proactive in trying to get your work done.
If you are working in a location you don’t know well, this can be quite unsettling to start with. Make the effort to go out at lunch or after work and have a wander around the neighbourhood. You might find a shop you love, a nice cafe for lunch, or a relaxing park you can chill out in. It will make this area feel like home in no time.
The most important tip for surviving your first week is to believe in yourself. It is easy to become overwhelmed and wonder why you were ever hired to do this job when you don’t understand what you are supposed to do – but they hired you for a reason. You’re still learning – don’t be so hard on yourself. You will get there, and when you do you will wonder how you ever felt so confused to start with.
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