“Help!!”
I’m a little bit lost.
While people globally strive to adjust to ‘the new normal’ I’m in one of the groups who are working towards a new chapter in their lives.
College graduates, the class of 2019/20, worked for four years only to have those final exciting months derailed by Covid-19.
The final weeks and months of the college experience, gone.
The chance to say goodbye to the people we’ve worked with and the friends we’ve made, gone.
Extra assignments at home replaced final exams; many felt cheated and not really content with ‘homework’. I’m in that boat.
But reality bites and the job search is now truly underway.
Many will face a new struggle; even though businesses are reopening there’s an obvious drop in confidence across many industries.
In some cases, those industries hardest hit by the pandemic are in fact struggling to retain all their pre-Covid employees.
For IT graduates, like myself, this is not necessarily the case.
The IT sector enables and encourages new and existing staff members to work remotely.
However, for those of us entering the workplace as IT graduates the prospect of being able to work from home presents new difficulties and anxieties.
How will I become familiar with the company systems, the company structures and how to complete necessary training in a remote environment?
While inside the academic structure we endeavored to learn to self-teach, become more self-sufficient and move away from the school mentality of ‘hand holding’, the step into the remote-world is still something that can cause undue stress and anxiety for some.
But it’s a hurdle that must be overcome to progress in this new phase of life as a graduate and as working professionals.
I have a plan – tell me if you think there’s legs in this??
Find the right fit (i.e. a company where the gut feel is good), where you feel excited by the prospect of work every day.
Find a mentor, someone who sees me as an asset and not a burden to bear.
I know nothing – the beginners’ mindset, how can I overcome that fear and anxiety?
Eat the elephant (take on the work in small chunks – the same way as you’d eat an elephant), learning anything new is always a process and not a race.
You’ve all been graduates and experienced the early days of the workforce – what tips and guidance will you offer me?
Please.
