You’ve started a new job and you’re scared – and not just because you’re afraid of failing to cope with the tasks and “impostor syndrome” is raging inside. You are worried about how you will be received by your colleagues because you will have to spend at least eight hours a day with them. How to convince strangers that you not only know your business but also a good person?
Be an Appreciative Listener
People love to talk and love to be curious about them. While you’re new, be curious about the professional field. Does a colleague want advice on how to hire developers, build a marketing strategy, and sell designer chairs? Great. Listen and ask a clarifying question. Even if he or she advises you, which you would not do even for the Nobel Prize – still let him speak. Follow the words of a colleague’s, no one will make you, but a reputation for careful man earns.
Never Grasp at Everything
Especially for things that are not directly related to you, but are the responsibility of your colleague. Has your colleague written a stupid summary of a news story on corporate Facebook? Or does he play casino slots instead of working? Hold your horses, don’t volunteer to redo it yourself for him even if you encountered the exact same error on a previous project and know exactly how to do it. If you really want to help – don’t take your zeal to your superiors, tell your colleague about your experience face-to-face. Don’t make your coworkers think you’re just waiting to get under their skin.
Be Subtle With Your Jokes
Even if you used to compare each other to the characters of Daniel Kharms from “Four illustrations of how a new idea disconcerts a man unprepared for it,” your favorite joke has only two censorship words, and about “Game of Thrones” you can snide joke for two hours without interrupting for coffee, wait. Give your coworkers time to like you, and yourself time to get to know them better.
Recuperate at Home
If you feel that you have a cold, do not come into the office. Bosses may appreciate your zeal, but colleagues who the next day will begin to sneeze husbands and children – probably not. Internet, laptop, delegation – these three whales will save the burning work tasks (for everything else there is sick leave and a subscription to Netflix until you recover).
Save Smells
Don’t eat at your desk. Even if work is a shaft, the dining room is full of nuggets and spaghetti, and you need to eat steamed salmon by the hour. Still don’t. The office ventilation might not work, and it’s not people’s fault you don’t want to go to the cafeteria. And with a niche perfume also be careful – what if among the colleagues are allergic? They will remember you (and not because you are a tough professional).
Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
You’re new, and you have a default indulgence for everything from clarifying the details of your business strategy to where the printer is, how to turn on the coffee machine, and what to finally do to the back of this chair to make it more comfortable? People love to help and answer questions, even stupid ones.
