Like many graduates I spent the majority of my first year out of uni looking for work in my desired field, and like the lucky few I was offered an amazing opportunity. But, being in corporate life for a year now I can tell you it’s not all sunshine and roses. So I’m going to outline my top tips for managing stress and frustration – because I promise you, you’ll feel every emotion under the sun working in an office.
Manage up
Own all of your internal meetings, no matter how they are booked, as soon as possible put the meetings in your control. So if your manager puts in a 121 that way you will always know when your meetings are, who they’re with, and if they need changing. Often times I would get a meeting change notification but it will get swamped in the inbox and I’d feel so unprepared when it comes time to. So having that control can alleviate that stress.
Work your 9-5
Allocate time to do your tasks for the day but put the priority ones earlier in your calendar, so you can get the more important work done in the day. Leave the bitty tasks to later so that if they run into the next day, you won’t have to stress about the main projects deadline.
Another point to this, go home on time. Don’t do unnecessary overtime, it will just make you dissatisfied and it’ll eat into your home time. Maintain that strict work life balance even if you’re remote working.
Ask for help
If you’re in a team structure and a piece of work you don’t understand gets shafted on you, ask for help. There’s no point sitting in a pool of stress trying to figure out a task when someone else knows what’s needed to be done. There’s a likely chance you weren’t trained in a task and then left to do it because someone of more seniority in your team forgot they hadn’t trained you or assumed someone else had.
Take breaks
If you’re in an office, you’ll notice the workers that smoke take ample breaks, sometimes in groups. Do the same, take 5 minutes here and there to make a tea and scroll on your phone. Give your mind a rest to reduce burnout.
Be honest
If your manager asks how you’re doing, be honest. Maybe not brutally honest to the point of risking your job. But if you’re having a hard time tell them and ask for support. Recently I’ve been having issues getting rest because of my commute to work and the stress of recent work, and I told my manager and she tried to help me sort out annual leave just to rest, and helped me reshuffle the work to take the pressure off.
Remember, you work in a team so everyone should be helping everyone. Utilise your team and don’t overextend yourself. Especially if you’re just starting out in your career. I’m not saying slack off your work and be lazy because that’s just quiet quitting, but don’t put your whole self into an opportunity that may not be 100% where you see yourself in 5 years.
The NewRxmantic 