Change Equals Stress: Adjusting to your New Job

 

Change, even positive, exciting, beneficial, seizing-a-great-opportunity change creates and environment of stress.

And, if there were storm clouds brewing, alligator-filled swamps boiling, backstabbing cutthroats plotting, or don't get it bosses at the old site; the "nervousness" might be stronger than if the last job experience had been happy.

Making Change Profitable
 

The key to a smooth transition, or a "hit the ground running" strategy is preparation.

Here are some things that you can do...
 

• Set new habits quickly

   

  • One stressor is making adjustments
     
  • Set new routines and stick to them, even if "tweaking" might be more efficient
     
  • The new routines can be streamlined later, once you settle in to your new environment

  
   

• Learn all you can about the new job situation
   
  • Talk to the new "boss"
     
  • Visit with colleagues and neighbors
     
  • Explore by walking around, even aimlessly
     
  • Familiarizing, not memorizing is the key
     
  • Your internal mental processing will organize and develop internal maps more quickly if you provide lots of sensory information (that you acquire by exploring)

  
   

• Find a friend/ buddy/ mentor
   
  • Grab "insider information" because this is the "fast track" to
     
  • But, learn who you can trust
     
  • Trust your intuition
     
  • If you feel, sense, intuit that you should not trust someone, keep a clear path away from them

  
   

• Keep in touch with friends, neighbours and colleagues from the last job or neighbourhood
   
• Talk to your New Boss
   
  • Your job here is to establish rapport
     
  • This does not mean "impressing" your new boss, unless you want to impress your boss with your listening skills
     
  • Pay conscious attention to what your boss says and does, but your job is really to acquire unconscious information that will help you in the supervisory relationship over the long run
     
• Make the First Move in Making Friends
   
  • Most people you meet are glad to help
     
  • Most people don't want to seem to be pushy or meddlesome
     
  • You overcome their
     
  • Volunteer for something that will keep you in touch with your new colleagues or new neighbors

  
   

• Make the new environment as "homey" as possible
   
  • Pictures, posters, old bulletin boards are all soothing at the unconscious level
     
  • Unless the old situation was really terrible, bring a few mementoes to the new location
     

Feel free to ask for help during your transition to your new job, and you will find lots of new friends and colleagues who are happy to help.