Jobhop Jobhop's blog : The Best Tips For Starting a New Job in 2022

The new year is a reflective time for us all. A stereotypical time to reinvent yourself, start again, and become the person you want to be, which is so important to live a fulfilling and happy life. Perhaps you’re making a bold career move, starting a new job, or thinking about taking the step to make your dream career a reality.

If you’ve decided 2022 is the year to step into a new career scene, here are our best tips on starting a new job this year.

Set new boundaries with your job

If the pandemic taught us anything, it showed us how putting ourselves first, caring for ourselves, and making rest a priority are incredibly important for our mental wellbeing. You can’t give 100% on an empty tank and that’s why you need to make time to refresh and recharge. Starting a new job can be an opportunity to embrace this mindset and set the boundaries you need to give a top performance.

Speak to your manager about their thoughts in terms of mental wellbeing and how staff prioritise that. Take regular breaks, always go away from your desk in your lunch hour and aim to figure out where your limit is in terms of workload. By doing all these things, it’ll give you a boost up in terms of feeling your best and working better with your colleagues. Remember, you’re only paid for your contracted hours so as much as going above and beyond shows value in your job, you need to respect yourself for others to respect you too.

Understanding that "new job anxiety" is common

You’re not alone in feeling nervous about your first day, the first week, or starting somewhere new. Change is scary for everyone, even the most confident people and everyone has been the new person before, so really, we’re all in the same boat. Utilising that anxiety can help because it shows that you’re honest and just like everybody else in the workplace. That honesty will help people connect and relate with you easier.

Prepare for your first day

Preparation is key for everything in your life, especially to ease nerves and get you in the mindset to achieve something big. There aren’t many ways you can physically prepare for a new job unless your employer explains to you beforehand what you’ll be doing on the first day. However, you can prepare in how you present yourself, with what you wear, how you look, your confidence, and the passion you bring. Plus, you can purchase a diary to keep you organised and show your eagerness to begin.

Introductions are important

Starting a new job can be an anxious prospect with a whole new team to learn names, faces and get your head around a new company. However, it’s those things that make it also a very exciting prospect to learn and flourish. Who you work with can be as important as your actual job role because it’s how you work together which makes the job a success and creates better outcomes for the company.

Finding your place in the team can take some time as often, many fellow colleagues will have good relationships with each other and time on their side for how long they’ve worked together. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t follow suit. This is why introductions are important. Plan out how you’re going to introduce yourself to each member of the team, think about getting the most out of every interaction with them and learn what they do. First impressions mean a lot, remember.

Be aware of your surroundings

A new work environment can take some time to get used to, but the best advice to offer you is to embrace it. In your first few weeks, walk around as much as possible (when you can) to get your bearings and discover where the toilets and break rooms are. To figure out the rooms you’re going to spend the most time in and where you can eat lunch. Although this isn’t a priority, it will help you settle in better and find your feet.

Ask a colleague out to lunch

You’re going to be spending more time with your colleagues than your family and that’s why it’s important to develop relationships and connections with people at work. It’s not to say, you need to be everyone’s best friend, but, it can help build a great connection with someone to maximise working better with them. To do this, ask one of your colleagues out to lunch or for a coffee on your break. It’s a simple thing to do but will allow that time away from the work environment to talk about non-work-related things and get a chance to learn a bit more about them.

Learn to establish positive work habits

With a new beginning in a new job, it’s the perfect time to establish some positive work habits. After finding your feet in a job and knowing exactly what you need to do, this is when the opportunity arises to work on your time management skills and organise yourself, so you can feel fully accomplished in your every day and give your all. Buy yourself a diary, set up an online calendar, a to-do list board, and get the post-it notes at the ready.

Understand the manager’s expectations

A managers’ role is to not only manage the team in terms of their performance but also ensure their team members are feeling their best selves. Every manager is different and that’s why, it’s important to speak to yours in a new position and find out exactly what they need from you in terms of your job role, work ethic, and how you report back. Knowing all this initially can make it easier to pace through your first few weeks without feeling too overwhelmed.

Always ask questions

No question is a stupid question and it’s that mindset every work environment needs to embrace to get the most out of their staff. You shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions, you should make it a priority. Be curious about everything, ask questions to help you understand your job and the company, and to better the input you can give overall. After all, knowledge is power and the more you find out, the more you can put into your work.

Learn your strengths

As humans, talking ourselves up doesn't come easy. But, we all have strengths, the same way we all have weaknesses, and knowing what yours are can help you perform better in your new job role. Over time, you’ll discover what parts of the job you do better or what you’ve done well in previous roles and it’s those skills that you can put forward in this new job.

Avoid complaining

New jobs are exciting and that’s the energy you need to bring to the table. Every workplace has different expectations and goals to work towards and as a newbie, you want to take everything head-on and with a positive smile. There’s no need to sit and complain as it won’t show a good work ethic and also, it won’t help with forming connections with your colleagues. If there are things that you aren’t enjoying or think can be improved, offer suggestions and advice rather than taking a negative approach.

Take the job in your stride

Starting a new job is exciting and you should be proud of this step you’ve taken in your career. Despite the initial nerves and finding your feet, try and take the job in your stride. Walk with confidence and enjoy every moment of learning, growing, and evolving in the career path you want to take in your life.