I'm sure all of us at this point or at least some point in the very near future have started a new job. It's super excited to go somewhere new, to want to have a new experience, but I think people often forget to tell you how insanely stressful it can be. Even if the job is "just this" or "just that," there are always new skills to learn and a new setting to invade--at least that's how it feels. So, let's talk about what to expect when starting a new job and how to cope with some of the more stressful parts about this change. I've had about five different jobs over the last few years that ranged from intern at a major theatre company to being a preschool assistant at one of my former schools. Although I currently have a very basic starter job at Starbucks and the last paid job I had was at the Campus Recreation center, I've noticed a lot of overlap in how it feels to be somewhere new--something I think a lot of people who have done the "new job" thing are so accustomed to they don't think about it anymore.
Here are a few things I've noticed about starting a new job: 1) You feel like an intruder--everyone else already knows each other and are friends or at least friendly, and the people that think you're not in training are sorely mistaken. 2) You don't feel capable when it comes to parts of or the entirety of the new line of work--every place has its own system and that alone is difficult to learn. Throw in some completely new skills and you're a fish out of water. (I had to learn CPR and First Aide for the Rec job so you can imagine how terrified I felt thinking that if someone went down it was my responsibility to save them.) 3) You might want to quit at some point during training--because between the mass amount of information and the short training time, it's completely overwhelming to be thrown into it. 4) Stress dreams--I'm pretty sure I've had one every night. 5) Adapting seems impossible--between the new hours, the new place, the new skills, and the new routine, it's hard to imagine how the current employees learned everything. So, because I'm in the midst of this, here are some mantras and ways that I've been coping (to the best of my ability) that I hope could help you: 1) You were hired for a reason--obviously you're capable in the eyes of the people that hired you. 2) Not everyone woke up being a "professional". It takes some time to get to the place that your colleagues might be in. 3) If people are short with you, that's their problem. You have a right to learn, and sometimes that comes in the form of making mistakes--which you probably won't end up making again anyway. 4) It's just _______--insert appropriate word into the blank (examples include: it's just coffee, just temporary, just paper, just a college, etc.) 5) Think of the grand scheme of things--if you make a mistake, it probably only affected one maybe two people. If you have a bad day, it's just one out of the week or month. Try this: Take out a piece of paper and a marker. Put a little dot in the center of the paper--that's you. Now, put a circle around your dot for your job--it can be wibbly-wobbly or a dotted line or something fancy. Now put another circle around that circle--that's your household, the people you live with. Now another circle--that's your family, extended, immediate, whoever you consider "family". Another circle around that is your neighborhood, another is your city, another is your state, then your country, then your continent, then the world. If something bad happens, look at how small that "bad" is in comparison to everything else there is in this life. Sure, it might suck and it impacts you, the little dot in the center, at the moment, but it's not world-altering. Starting a new job is tricky. Even the most seasoned professionals in their field start over at some point, whether that's in a new position or in a completely new place. No matter how much of a newcomer you may be, I hope that some of these tips and tricks can help you push through and move past the first sticky situations. I hope you have a fantastic week ahead, and I'm hoping to continue to blog more frequently now that we're a little more settled! Yay new beginnings!
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June 2020
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