First week in a new trainee recruitment job - just try to relax

Finding out that you have been offered a new job is amazing. It’s all excitement and joy, telling everybody about it (bragging!) Then you start thinking about your first day: “what should I wear?”, “should I bring something?”, “I really hope everybody is nice...”, “speaking on the phone with clients…oh gosh, no!”, “should I have lunch/should I not have lunch?” etc.

It is all overwhelming, but in the same time it offers a kind of security and sense of relaxation, especially if you have been job-hunting for a while. Ultimately, you are glad and proud of you!

Without realizing how time passed, your first day starts and you are already well induced into the training programmes. They are intense (regardless how smart or “agile” you are) and you’ll probably go home with a big headache. Your brain is like a sponge at this state, getting bigger and heavier each hour and at some point it’s just a bit too much.

But the next days start to get better; at least you get to remember your colleagues’ names, what they do, and the office layout. It’s something! You know where to go/who to go to in case you need a bit of guidance or just a break.

Good advice which I have recently received is to try and relax and take the training step by step, without skipping anything. Focus on a single task, so you can correctly understand and remember it. After some good and lengthy training, you’ll be able to multitask, which is quite important in recruitment.

- Alex

Comments

[Fiona Fogden]

I agree with everything you say. However I would like to highlight one issue. It is imperative you are clear at interview stage what training or induction you are likely to get or whether they expect you to be a self-starter. I have worked at big organisations that give you two days solid of inductions. I have also worked at large firms where I got half and hour and that involved showing me where the kitchen and toilets were and who to phone in IT to get my password from. I know which firm I was more productive in by the end of the first week! So as a manager I enjoy developing techniques to support and rapid on-board each person who joins. We can all learn from the good and the bad experiences we've had.

[Nick Haust - YourRecruit UK]

There's always that strange honeymoon period when you start your first week of work.