Beginning Worklife

• How to adapt yourself to a new work environment
  
• Attributes of Favourable Employees
  
• Attributes of Unfavourable Employees
  

How to adapt yourself to a new work environment

Being employed not only puts a stop to the job-hunting process, but also marks the beginning of a new episode in your life. Are you very excited about your first day of work? Don’t worry. Remember the following points and complete your job assignments step by step, you will be able to adapt to the new environment quickly.

Be friendly and modest

• You will meet many new colleagues on the first day of your new job. Probably you cannot remember all their names!
• Be focus when remembering the names. But don’t worry! At the beginning, you may not be familiar with the environment and people around. However, if you are sincere, friendly and modest, you will soon get on well with your colleagues.

Nice impression on the first day

• Your performance and demeanor on the first working day always leave an unforgettable impression on your colleagues. They may have great impact on your future development in the company:
• You must be punctual; act and dress properly to create a good impression to your supervisors and colleagues.

Concentrate on your work

• You may not be assigned too much work during the first few days or weeks. The first few tasks you have to handle may be simple or tedious. You may even become idle at times.
• Don’t feel disappointed. Remember to finish your job in time. Concentrate on your own job and wait for chances. After you have taken up the new duties, your supervisor will usually delegate more important tasks to you.
• Spend the spare time to read company files and observe what your colleagues and boss are doing. You will know more about the operation of the company and the job itself.
• Try to help your colleagues as far as you can to build up a good relationship with them.

Approach your boss or colleague for guidance

• Your supervisor or colleagues may not be able to squeeze time to coach you. In this case, ask them politely if you have a question and don’t wait until they discover your problems.
• When you encounter any difficulties or have doubts about your job, try to find out the solution by yourself first. In case you have no idea how to solve them, request assistance from your boss or colleagues politely to avoid making mistakes.
• Your supervisor or colleagues may be very busy doing their own job. Find the right time to ask question or request assistance.

Maintain good relationship with your colleagues

• Good communication is built up by more listening, less speaking.
• At the same time, too quiet or too passive may also hinder you from building up good working relationship
• Teamwork is more important than individual performance. Maintain close co-operation with your colleagues and don’t isolate yourself at work. Show to others that you are a trustworthy partner.

Lunch and off duty arrangement

• If nobody tells you about the lunch arrangement on the first working day, you can ask your colleague politely about the timing and arrangement of lunch. If they invite you to join them lunch, accept the invitation with pleasure. If they do not invite you, you may need to have your own arrangement.
• When it is time to come off duty, don’t act so quickly. If nobody in the company is leaving, you may want to find something to do, e.g., browsing the website of the company. When individual colleague starts to leave, you can also prepare to leave. Before you leave, ask your boss if you can give him further help. You can come off duty when he says no.

After the transition period, you will get familiar with your new job. With a good start, you still need to work hard to accumulate experience and acquire skills through training to reap the harvest.

Attributes of Favourable Employees

Before making any personnel decisions about promotion, demotion, dismissal, retention or renewal of contract, an employer will consider many factors. Obviously employees with good performance can keep their jobs. Check the following points to see whether you are an ideal employee.

Personal characters and abilities:

• Diligent and responsible
  If you are a hardworking and responsible staff, your boss will delegate important tasks to you. If you are indolent and passive, you will only be given some boring tasks or even be dismissed.
• Positive
  Not only at the beginning, you should always maintain your active and positive attitude. Seize every opportunity to learn more and improve yourself.
• Patient

  - It is always advisable to review your work twice to achieve better results before submitting to your supervisor.

  
  

  - When you are asked to do some complex and time-consuming tasks, you should maintain your patience and avoid becoming rash. Finish the job step by step.

• Confident

  Confidence is fostered by successful experiences the prerequisite of which is to grasp every opportunity to learn and upgrade yourself.

• Can work under pressure

  - When you are given numerous assignments and are required to finish them within a short time, don’t panic. You should stay calm and work out the sequence of actions according to the priorities. Then finish the tasks step by step.

  
  

  - Always remember that although new duties may bring along new mistakes, a golden opportunity to learn new skills also comes before you. You should take the opportunity to prove your competence. Perhaps your boss will appraise you highly after you have completed the tasks to his satisfaction.

• Flexible and highly adaptable

  In a dynamic and ever-changing society like Hong Kong, you may find yourself in new circumstances and amid new problems everyday. Each problem is unique in one way or the other and there is no universal answer to all questions. You should always respond flexibly according to the different circumstances.

• Good analysis and judgment

  - Sound judgments are often the sum of personal experiences, good observation skills and relevant training. During your early work life, you may not be able to make the right decisions in most occasions. You can observe how other people are handling things and solving problems. Ask them for advice if appropriate.

  
  

  - You may also find out other people’s viewpoints and how they think and make analysis by reading the editorial or commentary columns in newspaper or other publications.

• Energetic and creative

  Companies expect new recruits to bring in fresh ideas. You may raise constructive suggestions when the situation warrants it.

Personal Skills

• Good communications skills
  

  When dealing with people having different background and roles, you should speak their ‘language’. For instance, when you are promoting a new product to customers, you should avoid jargons. On the other hand, when you are talking with your colleagues or business partners, you may use jargons or technical terms occasionally to facilitate communication.

• Good inter-personal skills
  

  Every person has his own strengths and weaknesses. On a complementary basis, team members can work together to achieve the best results. Good inter-personal relationship can facilitate your co-operation with members of different teams and enhance work efficiency.

• Basic computer skills
  

  Word processing, preparing statistical charts and reports and Internet surfing have become routine tasks to many employees in Hong Kong. Most employers will very much appreciate employees with high proficiency in computer skills.

• Broad knowledge and professional skills
  

  - Apart from your own professional knowledge and skills, learn more about other fields such as information technology, economics, public policy and law to broaden your horizon.

  
  

  - You may have more opportunities for advancement if you are acquainted with different aspects of work within the company at an early stage.

Attributes of Unfavourable Employees

• Avoid workload
  After you adapted yourself to the new environment, your workload may increase significantly. You may be pressured and lose your zeal. At this stage, you should brighten up yourself and complete your tasks with enthusiasm. Don’t try to evade responsibilities and act passively.
• Unrealistic
  Youngsters with little experience always have to start at a junior post. After you have strengthened your foundation, you will be able to seize the opportunities to advance.
• Calculative
  Do not become over-anxious about monetary rewards or short-term promotion prospects. Rejecting extra duties persistently will also upset your colleagues and employer. At the same time, it indicates that you are lacking long-term career planning.
• Lack initiative
  Competition is very keen in the working environment. If you do not make an effort to enhance your skills and knowledge, your work efficiency will deteriorate and your future development will be hampered. In the worst case, your role will be sooner or later taken up by your competitors in the fast-changing world.