Graduating from college, no matter the level of degree and entering the professional workforce, is a rude awakening. Your schedule is becoming more eight to five and less class schedule. You have bills to pay, dress clothes to wear daily, and new work culture to learn and navigate. There are basic guidelines that you will have to learn to succeed, but below, you will find six tips that will help make you indispensable to your new supervisor and workplace.
- Anticipate and Take Initiative
Anticipating needs and taking the initiative applies to your work and the needs of the office. Think through what your results need to be and consider extra steps you can take now to make later stages of the project more manageable. Also, take the initiative around the office. If you just made 200 copies of a document, refill the paper drawer in the printer. No one likes the inconsiderate guy, and little things like that get noticed! You will not have to tell people you did these extras.
- Evaluate Yourself
Assess your work as you go. Do you think you could have done better on a project or listened better during a meeting? If so, do your due diligence to be better next time. Self-examination without a billy club will allow you to grow personally, and it will also show your coworkers that you can better yourself.
- Don’t Stop Learning
Just because you no longer spend your days in the classroom doesn’t mean you have nothing left to learn. Every person you encounter at work has something to teach you. Some of those may be best practices; some of those lessons may be in worst practices. It would help if you also took every professional development opportunity that comes your way. Successful people read.
- Communicate
There are many ways to communicate at work. First, ask questions, even if you are worried, you should know the answer. Admitting you do not understand something is better than messing something up. It would help if you also talked to your coworkers. Ask how their day is going or compliment a well-done presentation.
- Show Yourself
Anyone can talk a big game, but keeping your head down and crushing goals and projects is a great way to show that you can complete a project. Show your worth and value to the job.
- Be Nice, Don’t Be a Doormat
It isn’t that hard. Be helpful to your new coworkers. Offer to help with a project or a jammed printer. However, do not let coworkers walk all over you. It will take work to find the balance between being an enjoyable coworker, and not being the office punching bag.
Learning to find your way in a new office is difficult for everyone. Doing so when you are first starting is even more difficult. Working hard, playing nice, and pitching in will always go a long way.
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