After all those struggles and countless applications and interviews, you finally landed a job! That’s indeed a very proud and happy moment for anyone. But as your first day at work approaches, you are again full of anxieties and even behaving like a normal professional seems like a rocket science.

Well. Thankfully it isn’t so. You just need to calm down and follow the below list of our fresher job tips about dos and don’ts to make your first day at work fruitful and stress-free. Here you go!

Do

• Show up in proper dressing code

It’s your first day and in all probability, you will be excused for not dressing as per the guidelines. But make sure it doesn’t come to that. One day of excuse won’t do much good to you. On the other hand, it will highlight you in the office and that’s not positive for your first-day experience.

• Introduce yourself to everyone

Prepare a lucid introduction for yourself to help you meet and greet with other employees and staff. In most offices, someone from the team makes the job easier for you by taking you on a formal trip around the office. If they don’t, briefly introduce yourself to your colleagues working on the same team, floor, or department.

• Thoroughly read your orientation documents

Apart from other behavioral things to do, there’s one more important thing often ignored. You are here for work and that should be your first priority. Read your orientation documents carefully and put in efforts to understand your job role in the office.

• Be friendly but no excessive socializing

While being friendly and polite to everyone is a positive sign, overtly socialising at your first day at work can be harmful. Make sure you aren’t aligned to one person or group from the very first day.

Also Read: Why is it important to earn a reputation at your first job?

• Observe

More than actually doing anything, you need to observe how things go about at your workplace. This will help you gel-in with the office environment and learn about your job role better. Also, observe but don’t make judgments as it’s just the first day at work for you, and one day is too short to understand an organization.

• Ask Questions

Based on your observation and doubts, ask questions from your immediate senior. Make a list of questions to be asked at one go instead of bothering them now and then. The questions and queries should be related to your professional work and shouldn’t be personal in nature or regarding any individual or group. 

• Memorise your co-workers names

It can be difficult at the very first day at work, but start with learning the names of your immediate seniors and colleagues who sit next to you or are supposed to work closely with you. Not remembering names doesn’t reflect a very good impression on the other person and it can be personally embarrassing to you as well.

Don’t

• Be late… Ever!

It’s your first day at work and you don’t want people to assume you’re are a latecomer. Also, the first impression does matter to a great extent. So, set your alarms correctly, take a cab if required, and as every other fresher job guide will tell you, “Don’t be late for your first day at work!”

• Request day-off(s)

If you have a vacation planned already or something really important to take care of, you can request your start-date to be pushed ahead for a few days. But once you start, make sure you do not immediately ask for leaves.

• Suggest your way of doing things

You might have a better idea but forcing your ideas into everything at the first day of your work can be toxic. It negatively spreads your intention and tells that things have been going wrong till your arrival. Do, just sit back and relax till your real job starts and then eventually you can put forward your new ways!

• Decorate your workspace like there’s no tomorrow

It’s natural to feel excited for your first job and probably you have already got all the stickers, quotations, and artifices you will decorate your workspace with. But wait till you adjust in the new environment. Do not attract unnecessary attention and criticism on your first day at work.

• Try to outperform everyone

Of course, you want to impress your boss but outperforming everyone on your first day can form a sour relation between you and your colleagues. You have to work together with them throughout your stay here so make sure you don’t disturb your repo with them.

• Be busy with your phone

Your friends and family must be excited to know about your office but it can wait till the end of the day. Do not keep yourself busy with your phone. Excessive calls are strictly not advised. Also, put your phone on silent mode to maintain the decorum of the office space.

• Send friend requests to everyone around

Are you that social-media freak who checks in their profiles every other minute? Well, not only do you need to change now that you are working but also control your urge to send friend and follow requests to everybody in your office, that too at the very first day. Gradually, once you sync with the office culture, you can choose your social-media mates.

• Take part in office politics

Let’s be honest and accept that it’s a real thing. But being a newcomer you don’t need to take sides or take part in any kind of office politics. It is best to stay away from it in the long run as well, but being a fresher you barely know anything and anyone so keeping mum about it is the best way to deal with it.

Also Read:  Lessons You Can Only Learn from Your First Job!

These are some general rules to be followed on your first day at work. Other than these, it depends on the individual environment of every office on how you need to carry on with your chores. Don’t try too hard to do and prove things and you will be all right! You have the leverage to make mistakes as long as you are willing to learn and not repeat them often. All luck for your first job, you are going to rock it!