Picture this: you just completed your first day of your first “real job”. Maybe you had a new hire orientation; maybe your boss had you dive straight into your responsibilities. Regardless, it is now 5 PM, and you are heading home for the day!
To me, the greatest part of coming home from my first day of work was the feeling of “I don’t have anything to do until tomorrow.” No homework, no studying. Any extra work I needed to do could wait until I went in the next day. The amount of free time you gain once you start working can be shocking – I know it was for me!
The transition from college to your career is huge. Your schedule changes, your environment changes, and overall your life is overall going to change. It can be easy to let your job take over your life if you don’t give time to your outside of work priorities. So how do you keep your balance in transitioning from college to your career? Here are my top 5 tips to help as you start your first “real job”.
1. Remember that you are in charge of your work life balance.
When you’re the new college grad at your job, it can be really tempting to fall into the mindset of “I need to prove myself.” However, starting to work long hours as soon as you start your career is going to quickly lead to work life balance issues. While it is important to try to do well when you start a new job, be mindful of how much you take on early in your career.
Something that helped me in my first few months of work was setting clear expectations with my manager on what I should accomplish and at what point. Setting goals in this way will help you know how much responsibility to take on as you start your career.
Learning the company culture can also be helpful in managing your work life balance. Ask your manager or your fellow coworkers what the core business hours are for your workplace. When do people tend to arrive in the morning? When do people tend to leave in the afternoon? Learning when you are committing time to your job early on will help you in finding your work life balance.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
The best part of being a new college grad is that everyone at your job knows that you don’t know much about your job yet. While that can be a startling realization to face, definitely take advantage of it! What you learn in college tends to be very theoretical, and it most likely isn’t going to be directly related to what you do in your job. The on the job training you get will be the most helpful to advancing your career and learning the skills you need to be successful.
While it is definitely important to learn the technical skills of your job, don’t forget to learn the basics of your company as well. How do you use the printer & copier? Is there a cafeteria or common area that people like to do lunch at? How do you schedule a conference room? The logistical nuances to your job can be nearly as important as the technical aspects.
3. Create a budget if you don’t already have one.
Regardless of your financial situation, making a budget is crucial for your post college life. In college, you may have been living paycheck to paycheck, and maybe even taking on some debt to pay for your expenses. However, you’re hopefully making more money now that you’re working full time. I personally like to have a “zero-based budget”, where every dollar of my income is allocated toward my expenses, saving, or giving. There are a ton of resources on this method of budgeting, so I won’t go into too much detail here.
Try to avoid taking on additional debt if you don’t have too. It’s easy to be tempted to buy a new car, go on vacation, and buy more expensive things now that you have the means to pay “monthly payments” if needed. However, getting into any amount of debt can deter you from creating an emergency fund, saving for retirement, or any other financial goals you may have.
4. Expand your network.
You likely won’t get any “real work” until a couple months in at your job, especially if you’re at a larger company. Use this time to focus on building relationships with your fellow coworkers. Attend those after work happy hours. Go to lunch with your coworkers. Your job is where you spend 40 of the 168 hours in a week, so it’s important to make friends with your peers.
It can be difficult to focus on building relationships at first when you want to start working on real projects – I know it was for me! However, knowing who can help you complete your job is critical to early career success. You need help to do your job effectively, especially when you’re new in your career, so knowing who to go to can make or break your projects.
One aspect to expanding your network is finding mentors. However, avoid asking people directly to “be your mentor.” Mentorships are best built organically without the pressure of “officially” being defined. Find the people at your job who you want to connect with – whether it’s for their technical expertise or leadership experience – and just ask them to grab coffee with you. People love to talk about themselves, and most leaders tend to say “yes” when you ask to learn more about what they do.
5. Take care of yourself.
In college, making enough time for self-care is extremely challenging. However, when you start your career, you tend to have more free time, so take advantage of this!
For me, self-care means eating healthy, having some sort of pamper/skin care routine, and maintaining my daily habits. Making time to do these things week to week is something I prioritize as much as completing my projects at work. Scheduling specific days of the week to do these things tends to help me stick to them better. For example, I try to cook on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings, and I try to do an at-home facial once every other weekend.
As for daily routines and habits, I usually write down “5 focuses” of every week in my planner. These are 5 habits that I want to do every day during that particular week, whether it’s drinking enough water, tidying my space, going to bed and waking up at a certain time, making the bed, or anything else that helps me feel more at peace with my environment and myself.
Transitioning from college to your career can be one of the biggest changes in your life. However, you can make the best of the situation by taking charge of your work life balance, asking for help when needed, and finding mentors at work. Outside of your job, creating a budget and taking care of yourself can also help as you transition from hectic college schedules to a more steady professional schedule. Following these tips can help you successfully move into your first professional job!
