A few weeks ago, I wrote about my decision to leave government. I’ve now started a new role and have been working here for the last three months. Moving to a new job is a stressful time, though particularly so when moving to a new sector or shifting career. For me this was also combined it with moving countries, as well as having to do so during the pandemic which just made everything more complicated.
So I thought I would share some early reflections of what helped me settle into my new role, and the pitfalls to avoid when shifting careers, based upon my recent experience.
- Before starting – think about your new role, but don’t sweat the details
For me, I was shifting topic area into the world of climate change and sustainability, something that I didn’t have direct experience in. So when I knew I would be moving into this role, I tried to start building my understanding, reading books, listening into webinars and generally getting my head around some of the complexities of the subject.
That said, I realised that I was putting pressure on myself to know everything before I even started. I was hired based upon my current skills, and there was always an expectation that it would take time for me to get to grips with the new work. I was fortunate enough to have a break between starting roles (which I would also definitely recommend), and there came a point where I realised the best thing I could do was resting to feel fresh for the new role. Whilst some preparation did help, realistically I would never be able to learn it all within a few weeks. Instead, it was more important to set myself up mentally to take in lots of information when the job started.
2. On your first days and weeks, spend more time listening then talking
I remember my first day as a mixture of some nerves and excitement. It was a fairly intense introduction into the work we do and meeting people. Meanwhile, setting up IT and going through inductions took a while and was fairly tedious.
Sifting careers at a mid-level role brings its own challenges. Whereas when you join as a graduate or from an entry-level, there is an implicit understanding that you are there to learn your role from your seniors. For me though, I knew that my role was to set direction, with expected management responsibilities. So there was certainly a temptation to start impressing my colleagues with my knowledge and ideas from the first week to demonstrate that I was ‘up to the task’. In reality, this was more an internal anxiety rather than a particularly helpful reflex. If I had done this, I probably would have made some blunders as it is hard to give useful suggestions without knowing much about what is going on.
The first few weeks are the point you can learn the most, simply by approaching people with an open mind and listening to their thoughts and opinions. I took this opportunity to have different intro chats and have conversations to get to know my colleagues better, rather than jumping into the work to start crunching out the tasks I knew I would need to do. This allowed me to get a better idea of different projects, personalities and work cultures before diving head first into work.
3. Be open to a different way of doing things
Moving roles naturally means going to somewhere else where things are done differently. That’s obvious, right? Nonetheless, having worked around five years in government, I quickly became accustomed on ow ‘things should be’. So moving roles outside, there were basic things like meetings, HR and IT which were different to what I had previously been used to. So it was important for me to observe what this looked like to learn the way things were done here.
For me, I had to be open to a different style of working, particularly so as I was both moving from government (where decisions are made internally) to my current role where we look to influence through engaging from the outside. Furthermore, moving from the UK to Belgium also brought changes in terms of work cultures and the way in which people interact with one another, which is an area I have needed to adapt.
4. When the time is right, do not be afraid to demonstrate your value
The previous points were around listening and adapting. However, it is also important to remember that you were hired for a reason – you bring valuable experience and insight into your new organisation. For example, I bring a particular interest around certain areas such as wellbeing and diversity and inclusion, as well as project management having completed numerous courses on all of these areas. So I also have found it important to demonstrate that I have these skills when the opportunity arise. It has helped me to visibly demonstrate what I bring to the team in terms of experience, where my values are and how I can be helpful when integrating within a team.
There also came a point when I shifted from being a passive spectator, instead expected to drive my own work. In other words, hesitating and waiting for others to tell me what to do constantly is not what I was hired to do. Here I could pull in my experience from previous roles which set me up nicely to lead projects which were similar to what I had done before (which makes the penny drop somewhat as to why I got hired in the first place!). It was important for me to be humble about the things I did not know, which is fairly natural when starting in a new organisation, so building good relationships and asking for help is also key.
5. Don’t forget about your hobbies and outside interest
I was certainly tempted to put my life ‘on hold’ whilst I got accustomed to my new role. Whilst this is naturally going to be a stressful period, it is also important for your own wellbeing to find things that you enjoy doing. This has been particularly important during the pandemic where it has been hard to get away from work, due to the limited activities still available.
For me, I have been writing these articles on LinkedIn for over a year now, and I found it an extremely valuable source of accomplishment and wellbeing, since I can channel my creativity and provide a benefit for those that read it. So whilst I did take a little time before restarting, I’ve been keen to continue in writing these throughout the first few months. It is also good for my own confidence, as doing something I know how to do can counterbalance a day where I may have spent feeling quite lost or unsure about the new topic I was grasping with.
These are my reflections three months into a job transition. I would love to hear your views – has this been helpful for you, are there other pieces of advice you would give?