5 Things to Do When You're the New Person at the Office

Starting a new job can produce feelings of fear, excitement, anxiety, and a combination of other emotions. You want to start out well and make a good impression, right? Well how do you go about this?

Here are a few tips:

1. Accept your emotions. No matter how you're feeling understand that it is fine to experience some fear or anxiety when starting a new job. If you don't accept these emotions you can end up being too harsh on yourself, further increasing your anxieties or fears and causing you to struggle longer in the job.

2. Seek out a mentor. This doesn't have to be your direct supervisor, but find someone who can mentor you through your initial period of adjustment. Maybe it's someone who's been at the company a long time and can help you understand the company culture and power dynamics specific to the company or your particular area or division.

3. Get to know a wide variety of people. Don't eat lunch alone. Take the initiative to invite others for a coffee or out to lunch, and get to know people from all areas of the company, and people with differing areas of expertise and levels of seniority. This will help you better understand the job and your place in the company, increasing your comfort level.

4. Be humble and ask questions. This is often the easiest time in your career to ask questions and learn. There are no expectations that you know everything about the job so do what you can to learn as much as you can about the work you're doing. Don't be afraid of looking like you don't have all the answers; you don't and you just started. And that is fine.

5. Volunteer to help out. Offering to help others provides a great opportunity to get to know your colleagues and increases your understanding of your work.