Many people may have experienced perfect and traumatic first day emotions but |uncertainty| is the common rule.
After the recruitment process, which is usually a funny episode, begins that part of your life when you’re the new one.
Depending on the current environment of the company, it can be either disappointing, frustrating or, if you’re lucky, just perfect. But no matter if you experienced any of these sensations, it is always stressful, not because of the people or the company itself, it is just because we tend to push ourselves into that dark room where we think there are no light bulbs or people to help us, and yet we still think that we need to know the best way to enlighten the whole room without asking for any help because that was why the company hired you at the first place. WRONG
Once HR people presented you to your new co-workers, comes the time of sitting in your brand new assigned workstation. You have a PC, you have a notebook, you have people on both of your sides and finally what you don’t have is a bit of clue of what to do next. — Do I turn this on? — Should I ask these people how is their day going? — Should I go to the bathroom to lose some time? — Of course that last question comes with the expectation of a really detailed list of my tasks and a chocolate upon my desk once I come back from my long journey to the bathroom. I am sure this thing happens to more people than we may think.
I have spent some time thinking on the tasks list issue
HOW I EXPECT THE LIST TO BE:
HOW I AM SURE THE LIST WILL BE:
HOW IT REALLY HAPPENS:
A girl/guy approaches and invites you to a meeting room where you will be introduced to the rest of the team of the project that you will be working on.
The session begins with a big “Nice to meet you” and then a guided tour about what the project is about, what are the team roles and which one you will take.
— A small light starts shinning in the room —
At the end of the meeting you have a bunch of documents to read and a more grounded idea of what your next steps will be until the end of the day.
Final message: We are not alone. No matter if you see a dark gray sky after you step in for the first time in your new office, there is always nice people willing to help you make it at least a little bit more comfortable…
Never assume that you must be already prepared for every particular situation at the very beginning of your new job. University gives you the basics but working is a completely different stage where you must do your best to learn, not only about work but also about personal and relational skills that in many cases, mostly for leadership positions, are highly valued.