“ The number one charecteristic of students who later become
heads of companies is the ability to withstand uncertainty”
The transition from college to your first professional job can be an exciting yet emotional and stressful experience. You will be required to meet challenges, make adaptations, and deal with a number of decisions and frustrations during this process. Understanding the transition process itself can help reduce the stress you experience and hopefully enable you to feel a greater sense of control over your life as a new professional.
As you make your transition, keep in mind that there are two transitions occurring at the same time.
• Your professional transition - learning the ropes of your new job.
• Your personal transition - adjusting to life out of school and on your own.
The Transition Process
There are three basic stages in any transition.
Separation: End of college and end of being a college student
The first stage of transition is marked by some type of ending. In your case, it is the completion of college marked by the ritual of graduation. During this stage you may:
• Experience reality
• Feel a need to reflect on your college years in order to make sense of it all
• Resist letting go of this phase of your life that you have come to know so well
• Experience how to cope with the changes that are implicit in professional life
Temporary Disorientation: Beginning full-time employment and becoming a new professional
In this second stage, the process of letting go may bring feelings of disorientation. You know that you are on the threshold of something new but have little or no idea what it looks like. The good news is that this disorientation is only temporary. Being aware of this can enable you manage it better. Included in this stage is your first year on the job where you must:
• Learn the norms of your employer's culture
• Shift your own perceptions and behaviors as you adapt to your new work environment
• Fine tune your adaptation strategies so that you begin to feel you fit in
• Begin to gain a feeling of competence as one of the group
Connection: Completing your first year on the job and becoming a fully integrated professional
In the final stage of transition, you will feel increasingly comfortable in your new environment. The newness and strangeness wears off and you experience the feeling of having more control again. During this stage you will:
• Continue to settle-in with purposeful intention
• Feel less resistive and more accepting to additional changes
• Take more control of how you accommodate the demands of your work
• Be better able to seek balance between all aspects of your life
It Takes More Than Book Learning
No matter what your field, the transition from college to work involves moving into a new culture where people will dress, communicate differently and be recognized for behaviors unlike those expected of you while in college. Just as you had to develop new skills and strategies for being successful at College life, you will again have to discover new skills and strategies for being successful in your new work and living environments.
Acceptance into your new work environment has to be earned and evolves over time. This is why the first year on the job can be a critical one. Unfortunately, employers of new graduates often complain that their new professionals are naive and immature. Why? Because they are perceived to:
• Hang on to their college behaviors too long
• Try to behave like a seasoned professional too soon
While college generally prepares you for many of the task-related aspects required for your job, it may not prepare you for the non-task related aspects such as how to:
• Fit into the new culture
• Earn respect and credibility
• Learn the informal structure
• Understand the policies and practices of the organization
• Discover the unwritten expectations
• Build effective working relationships
• Become accepted as a team member
• Understand the power and reward structures
• Learn how to accomplish things
Basic First Year Strategies
Be aware of your first year tasks.
The first step to success is an understanding of the big picture that provides you with tasks typical of your first year.
Learn the culture.
Every organization has a unique culture and set of rules and norms about how things are done and how people behave. Take time to learn about and understand the culture and politics of your organization. What is the basic mission and philosophy? What do people expect of you? Observe how people communicate with each other. Find ways to fit in to the existing culture. You can't begin to make changes in the culture until you have been accepted into it.
Maintain a good impression.
In the beginning you may feel like you are in a fishbowl and all eyes are on you. They may well be! People will watch you and try to assess your skills and abilities. Everything you do early will be more visible and its impact. Be aware of your attitude and keep your "best self" forward as much as possible.
Learn the art of being new.
Being new requires different ways of thinking. Instead of thinking you have to stop being "new" as soon as possible, understand that being new is an important part of your transition process. Your primary tasks are to learn about the organization and become accepted by your colleagues.
Manage your expectations.
Identify and understand your own expectations. Often a new graduate's expectations do not match their new reality and then disappointment can result. Regularly give your expectations a reality check and adjust them as needed.
Become a savvy subordinate.
The most important person is your boss. The boss-subordinate relationship is likely to be different from any you have had before. It is your boss that sets your agenda and supporting him or her should be a primary task.
Seek out mentors.
Whether a mentoring relationship develops informally or formally, mentors can be a big help during your first year.
Making a successful transition is your responsibility. Awareness of the three transition stages, Separation, Temporary Disorientation, and Connection will help you recognize where you are, accept it as part of the process and manage it more successfully.
