What to do During Your First Week at Work

Just like the first day at a new school, or your first day at summer camp, there’s a special type of nervous energy that comes with starting a new job. Here are some tips for how to approach this week.

Keep pre-work anxiety to a minimum with healthy life distractions

 There was some fortunate timing to my first week of work. The Monday that I started my job was the same day that I finalized the move to my new place. Anyone who has moved knows the utter stress that comes with making sure everything is packed and its always the last 10% that is the hardest because you have to make so many decisions on little leftover things.

My mind was so preoccupied with finishing the business of moving that I hardly had a second to be anxious about my first day of work.

I locked up my old place at 6am, drove to my new place and changed into the outfit I had selected for the day. I had already filled up my car with petrol the day before and packed my lunch so I literally grabbed those and left for the office.

Allow yourself to fully take-in the new routine

From Monday morning to Friday afternoon was a whirlwind of new faces, company acronyms, documents, office mazes, prepared and simple grab and go meals, and sleep. I didn’t have time for much else and to be honest I knew that would be the case in my first week because there is so much to get used to.

Managing expectations, being realistic about how much of your energy a new beginning requires, and being kind and patient with yourself, and allowing yourself to properly rest are some of the most important things you can do during your first week.

Show up to the office with purpose

In the first week, if you’re in a healthy environment, you’ll be eased into your role and given a lot of opportunity to learn. It’s possible you’ll have enough direction from your boss, but also be prepared to take some initiative. Keeping that in mind, here is a list of things you can focus on in the first week as you’re becoming acquainted with your new company:

·       Ask a lot of questions

·       Learn how to get around the office

·       Get a sense of how people arrange their routines. In my workplace people have fairly flexible start and stop times as long as the work gets done. When you start out you may prefer to stay on exact hours first though.

·       Say hi to people and introduce yourself, if you see someone isn’t totally concentrating on what they’re doing.

·       If you work in an office that doesn’t have a uniform, get a sense of how casual the dress code is. The first thing I noted were the types of shoes women were wearing. I wore a pair of loafers the first day but once I saw the ladies were wearing clean white sneakers like I would, I never wore a real shoe after that, lol.

Debrief and decompress after your day

When you get home:

·       Note down what you learned that day, how everything felt and things you may need to remember.

·       Decompress, then prepare your outfit and lunch again for the next day

·       Sleep early, so you can get another good night’s sleep, it may be more exhausting than usual this first week

This first week is about getting acquainted with your new workplace so you have a better understanding of where you can contribute. Prioritise keeping yourself well; think of this like the newborn phase of your career. For a short while all of the focus might be on your job, but hopefully you’ll soon have a better sense of how to fit it in with the rest of your life.