Why Starting a New Job Feels So Awkward - Deepstash
Why Starting a New Job Feels So Awkward

Why Starting a New Job Feels So Awkward

Curated from: hbr.org

Ideas, facts & insights covering these topics:

4 ideas

·

239 reads

1

Explore the World's Best Ideas

Join today and uncover 100+ curated journeys from 50+ topics. Unlock access to our mobile app with extensive features.

The feelings around a new job

The feelings around a new job

Starting a new job is exciting but can also feel uncomfortable.

It's helpful to know what makes these transitions so awkward so you can reduce feeling uneasy.

7

123 reads

Your prediction engine fails

You feel awkward because you don't know what to expect and can't forecast what will happen. When we're uncertain about what will happen, we revert to inaction, convincing ourselves that not doing anything is less likely to cause bad outcomes.

The tendency to be quiet is made worse by worrying that you'll say the wrong thing. In reality, your new colleagues rarely notice the things you thought would be awkward. It's ok to chat with your new colleagues and ask questions.

7

45 reads

You don’t know the language

If you are ready to speak up, there's a set of unfamiliar jargon. Every company has its acronyms for certain departments or processes and its own terms for people, places and things. "I had to get EVPP and VPR to approve a PAR before sending it to OSP."

It's useful to get a translator. See if a colleague can draw up a cheat sheet for you of commonly used acronyms and phrases. Then, get their permission to ask when a new term arise that you don't know.

7

37 reads

You don’t have a squad — yet

You don’t have a squad — yet

When you start a new job, you don't have a group of people you feel comfortable with yet. You may feel like an outsider if you see groups of people talking about shared experiences.

Remember that it takes time and that everyone was new at some point. You can start by having conversations with a few people and find out how the group engage. An easy way to meet a group of people is to get someone to introduce you to others.

7

34 reads

IDEAS CURATED BY

mipham

Holiday representative

Michael Pham's ideas are part of this journey:

Conversation Starters

Learn more about career with this collection

How to ask open-ended questions

How to avoid awkward silences

How to show interest in others

Related collections

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Personalized microlearning

—

100+ Learning Journeys

—

Access to 200,000+ ideas

—

Access to the mobile app

—

Unlimited idea saving

—

—

Unlimited history

—

—

Unlimited listening to ideas

—

—

Downloading & offline access

—

—

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates