GAP YEAR
Lucy Button
One of our most recent graduates has decided to go against the expectations of others - and even her own - and instead of continuing straight to university, she started working full-time. And because she really misses our school and especially all of the English projects, she agreed to contribute to our magazine regularly, sharing her experience in her first-ever full-time job.
So without further ado, let's go back to the beginning of September and see what happens if you put someone with zero experience of "real life" into a full work swing.
Welcome...to Lucy's Work-Life Adventures.
Week 1 - A Gap Year
When I was preparing for the first week of my new job, I expected to learn a lot of new things. And I certainly have but they weren't quite what I thought they would be. This is why I want to share them with you today, just so you know what you'll be getting yourself into, unlike me.
In your first week of work, expect to:
figure out the hard way, which bus is always late and therefore makes you miss the second one
walk into the wrong door and be greeted by very attractive yet very confused people
be forced to acknowledge the fact that no one really wants to introduce themselves to you
figure out which colleagues will smile back at you and which will give you the "what do you think you're doing here" look
figure out what foods will survive a day in your backpack and which ones will definitely not
start writing a list of things you should carry in your backpack AT ALL TIMES
find out that the only type of coffee you enjoy drinking is the only tricky one to make in the company's coffee maker
be too shy to ask for the company's wifi password
be told to do things a certain way yet witness many others doing it the exact opposite way
learn about things and methods you never knew existed
...
All of those things are definitely valuable but I also figured that gaining knowledge and skills is not the most important part of starting a new job. So what is? Making the best out of the whole experience, even if the manuals sometimes make you yawn or even if you find everything overwhelming. After all, it is a completely new chapter of your life, so don't be too hard on yourself. I will try - but knowing me, we're in for a bit of a ride.