5 things I learnt from every onboarding while changing jobs
Let’s just ponder over this for a while — How many of us have changed jobs and how many times? Well I, for instance, have started working when I was merely 18 year old. I started out as a tutor and school teacher before and during my engineering days and then started my developer journey a few years later with India’s one of the largest consulting company — Infosys. Then, I changed job to another role as a consultant and then again moved back to being a student while doing my masters. And now, two months back, I joined Volvo Cars as a software developer. So, A count of 6 for me then. Take a moment and do this exercise for yourself as well.
Now, we know that change is the only constant, even in practice. But in retrospect, I realized that the process around in and getting out of a role/job is the same. And, this insight is something I want to share with you, Let’s dive in.
Onboarding
A fancy term for just starting. For me, this always means starting something new and somewhere new. In my experience, it always brings butterflies in my stomach and a weird nervousness. And the best way to deal with it is to embrace it. I always try to embrace my first day with no biases and no judgements. Whoever I meet and whatever I do, I take it with full conscience and only positivity.
Making your presence felt
Okay, first of all, I do not mean that you shout on top of your voice to make yourself felt or heard. But, what I mean by this is to be the best version of yourself, especially when you’re starting out. Be the best dressed as much as you can because that, whether we like it or not, matters a lot for people who see us for the very first time. And then, be curious. Be curious about the team, the people you are going to be working with and what they are working on exactly. This makes your team realize that you’re here to stay and are actually interested in working with them. So they’ll start remembering you when they have a task at hand and help you take that opportunity to prove yourself.
Understanding the culture
This one is quite underrated, to be honest. When it comes to understanding the culture, it’s a bit tough but not impossible. And this helps us even more to be inquisitive and observant — to read between the lines, to understand people better and to make us infer things which are unsaid. The culture of any organisation resides in its core values, the latest things they are working with, their plans for next 5 years and the way they treat their people. And this is what we should aim to understand especially for the first day, week and month.
Starting to learn from Day 1
This is the easiest one, I feel. The reason is simple — we WANT to learn. This must be the underlying reason of changing a role or a job that we want to learn more and learn new stuff. But the important things is to remember this fundamental reason. First days are really overwhelming, emotional, tiring and just mentally exhausting. And that’s why, I keep recalling this in my head that I have to focus on things I can learn while starting my new role.
Networking
This just goes without saying. But in my experience, first days are the best way to improve your networking skills. I have realized this that people genuinely want to know you when you start within any team or group. They will happily tell you about themselves and ask about you which is kind of how you get to know people really. And this opportunity slowly starts fading away when you turn from new joinee to experienced employee because then it just all becomes about the tasks you’re working on and not who you are as a person.
Well, this brings us to the end of this blog and I, for one, can say that I had a great time writing this one as it made me reminisce about my first days at various jobs. I remember how nervous I was on the first day of my first job which relocated me first time out of my house and hence my first experience of living alone in an unknown city.
