First Job Chronicles: Intro & Personalities
8:30 AM
I am far from a career expert. In fact, I just started my career like five months ago. Technically, I'm a career beginner. But since this is my little piece of the universe (or Internet, whatever you call it), I've decided that this will be the place where I share my career experiences, frustrations, excitements and everything else you associate with your first job. If you haven't started the first job of your career, take heed to these tips Since this is my first series, I'm super excited and even more nervous so help me out and share a little.
The first thing that I learned being a "grown up," is that it's really no different than being in college when it comes to meeting people. First impressions are still important, people aren't always who you thought they would be, making new friends is fun but annoying. See? Very little changes. On the first day of my new job, I was introduced to another young lady (my boss is barely) who seemed really cool. In fact, she was awesome: an older, more experienced version of myself. Our interests seemed pretty similar and she was extremely willing to help me with anything.
Unfortunately, that work-lationship changed. Our company began to enter into a phase of transition which left everyone frustrated, especially me. This is my first job! Why am I already having to make compromises with my job duties. My job went from days filled with business marketing, social media and Adobe InDesign to ordering business cards, sending mass emails and Publisher 2007. Over the course of this transition, I became closed off. Call me crazy but when everything I loved about my dream first job flew away, I was pretty upset.
You know that girl that always used to ask questions right before class was dismissed? There was a 80% chance that your professor was going to let you out early until she raised her hand and now you'll definitely be there until that actual time to leave. You don't dislike her, she just aggravated you in that moment, right? That's how my super cool coworker became to me: little quirks that I never noticed started bothering me. It's not that I don't like her, I have just learned that we don't connect as well as I thought we would...and there's NOTHING wrong with that.
Upon taking my first step into the real world, I thought that I would end up being best friends with all of the people I worked with and we would go to happy hour every other day. As cute as that would be, it's not realistic. Regardless of what field you're working with or what coworkers you have, it seems impossible to connect with every single employee you come in contact with. (DISCLAIMER: Once again, I would like to point out that I am not an expert. This opinion comes solely from my current and limited experience. If you know how to make & keep awesome work relationships, I would love your insight!)
The only thing that matters is that you are able to effectively do your job. So what if you aren't best friends with your coworkers? You've got work to do! Making relationships and connections is extremely important, no doubt about it. But don't sit around wishing that you had the Christina Yang/Meredith Grey relationship that you watch every Thursday. My best professional friend doesn't even work with me! She's awesome & I can talk to her about anything career related but she just so happens to work 20 minutes away.
My best advice for dealing with clashing personalities? Bite the bullet, screw on a smile & get to work. Even if you don't meet someone that you instantly connect with, trust me - there are more opportunities to interact with people who you're similar to! As long as you aren't burning bridges or making bad professional impressions, I think it's okay if you prefer Chick-Fil-A to Zoe's Kitchen.
How have you handled clashing personalities in the workplace? What's your advice to a first job-er whose without work friends? I would LOVE to hear!
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