How to Not Look Like a New Grad at Your First Job
I started my first job after college almost 6 years ago. I remember being incredibly nervous about getting lost in the office building and then feeling like an idiot when I accidentally locked myself out of my laptop a few times. On your first day, you have to open up a bunch of accounts with various credentials, and I was getting all my passwords mixed up.
Fast forward to now and after hiring and witnessing new grads start their first job, I’ve noticed that most of them share similar traits that make it apparent how young they are. It can come off as immaturity and makes it harder to treat them seriously. Below I outlined what these traits are and how to change your behavior to not look like a new grad.
1. Rushing through the work and making mistakes
A few months ago, a new engineer started at my company. He is full of energy and ready to get work done. However, I quickly noticed that while he was getting work done, there was often careless mistakes. For instance, he had a task that need to be repeated for multiple vendors. The task would be incorrectly done for some of the vendors yet he would mention how he found ways to do the task faster and more efficient.
As someone who likes to execute and move quickly, I get the temptation to speed through tasks with hopes and dreams to move on to the more challenging projects. However, I realized I wouldn’t get there if I couldn’t nail down the basics. Whenever I get caught up on wanting to speed things up, I remind myself the importance of having a good foundation. If I understand the basics, I will be able to anticipate the implications which helps with risk mitigation and overall better planning. It also demonstrates to my manager that I can be trusted with more responsibility since I have the foundation down.
How to avoid this: Slow down! You are no longer in a sprint where you can cram for the next midterm or final. Working full time is a marathon which means it’s better to be consistent than to be fast and full of mistakes.
2. Not setting boundaries
Especially during a time where work from home is extremely prevalent, it is harder more than ever to establish boundaries. I’ve seen seasoned professionals get burnt out when they feel like they have to keep up with people who work 24/7. Once during a holiday party, a C-suite executive at my company was talking about her work hours. She would wake up at 5am, go to her closet and start answering emails, sitting on the floor. Her excuse for working in the morning from her closet was to not disturb her kids.
One of the C-suite executive’s direct reports was burnt out for trying to keep on top of work during all hours. I saw him physically change from losing weight and growing more grey hairs. Once he changed jobs and was able to have a healthy work/life balance, he became happier. It’s great to have the flexibility to work the hours one chooses to but that means level setting expectations.
I currently have a manager who tends to work odd hours, sometimes sending emails at 11pm on a weekday or during the weekend. I once had to convince him to let me move a meeting so it didn’t happen when he was on PTO. However, early on, he established that it’s not expected for me to work late hours or on the weekends. It’s something he chooses to do but doesn’t expect from others.
How to avoid this: Make sure you are setting boundaries by understanding the company culture and being upfront with yourself on your hours. Don’t feel guilty for logging off at 5pm if there isn’t any urgent work that needs to get done that day.
3. Overly eager
A few years ago, I was at a work happy hour, and I was chatting with a few of the new grads. One of them was offering to buy his boss drinks while the other new grad wanted to talk about her performance. They were trying to show their boss how enthusiastic and hardworking they are. However, both new hires were exhibiting inappropriate behavior as the work happy hour wasn’t the time and place to buy your manager a drink or talk about your performance.
I am guilty as well about being overly eager, wanting to prove my worth and hit the ground running. When I started my new job, I was frustrated with how slow onboarding was and felt like people were talking to me as if I’ve never been in this industry before. I soon became overwhelmed and burnt out from the volume of information.
How to avoid this: Know when it is the time and place to have certain conversations. 1:1s are an excellent time to go over performance, and if you want to buy your boss a drink, feel free to do that during a time when there isn’t a work happy hour. With my new job, I used 1:1s to convey how I was doing, if I wanted more on my plate or if I needed more time. It’s great to communicate but make sure to read the room before doing so.
Starting a full time job is terrifying and there’s so much to acclimate to. It can be overwhelming to absorb not only the technical information but also the company culture. Be proud of how far you’ve come and acknowledge all of the hard work you’ve done to get you where you are now. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, take a step back and just breathe. You got this!
