Do you know the saying, “if your next job doesn’t scare you, it is not big enough for you.” I am embarking on such a journey and a bit nervous, and I know the bar for this new job is high. Curious if people are generally nervous to start a new job (unless it is just me) and how do you deal with that nervousness/anxiety please. Thank you all so kindly!

I feel really hollow inside seeing so many biased treatment taking place towards me. I’m given no support yet my colleagues are given above and beyond backing and support

I was recently advised that I will be providing back up support for this girl that has the largest account at work. I do not want that responsibility. Nothing against her I just see she is stressed and wants things her way. Only her way. I get that and will follow those instructions but not ready to take on that responsibility. I’m new in the field and under a lot of personal stress and trying to focus on my health. I like to be in the background working hard without all eyes on me. I have no clue how to bring this up to my boss. Would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you.

So I work in the food production industry as a quality control technician, and during production today one of our products was refusing to cooperate my entire shift. There is one test that we do for every single product on this line and it kept failing no matter what I tried. It would continue to go out of spec then in spec just to go back out of spec, and this went on the entire day. All while this was happening, the other production lines also needed my attention, and things were going wrong on those lines too. In the final minutes of my shift, my supervisor had asked me and my coworker (but mostly me) if I could have the production team pull some product cases out for me and then retest those products to try to avoid additional work for production. As my supervisor was saying this, I was doing my best to focus on what he was saying, but I could not for the life of me process what he was saying. Eventually I just said, “All of that is fine, but I need to go pick up my son.” and when he asked what time I needed to go pick him up, I said at 2 PM (it was 1:20 PM at the time). My son is four months old and goes to daycare full-time and my supervisor is aware of this. The truth is that I don’t have to pick him up until 4:30 PM, but my supervisor doesn’t know that. I said 2 PM because I was just so physically and emotionally spent, my little baby woke up in the middle of the night again so I was running on maybe three hours of sleep, and all I wanted to do was leave on time so that I can take a nap before I actually have to pick him up. All of this being said, was I wrong for telling my supervisor a white lie about when exactly I had to pick my son up from daycare so that I can finally put this absolutely exhausting, emotionally taxing day behind me? My husband says that I wasn’t wrong for doing this and that shouldn’t feel bad about it since I’ve busted my butt doing literally everything else for my 8+ hour shift to make sure nothing is wrong and that all our lines are running smoothly. Please let me know what you think, I want some outside perspective on this. Thanks! -Overworked new first-time mama

When I respond, I really try to noodle it over. I sit with it, run it through Grammarly to make sure I punctuate and ensure my thoughts are clear. I try to write something clear, thoughtful, and grounded. Yes, I do believe most folks here are trying to help—but I’ve seen a growing number of replies that are overly negative, lack a sense of nuance, or seem to come from a place of personal bias or unprocessed frustration. Sometimes the focus shifts from supporting the original poster to blaming them or picking apart what they didn’t do. There’s a fantastic video called The Secret Weapon for Communication, and I keep coming back to the four filters it offers before speaking or typing: Is it true? (If not, don’t say it. Speaking assumptions as fact helps no one.) Is it kind? (Truth without grace is harsh. “Keeping it real” doesn’t mean being reckless.) Is it necessary? (Not every thought needs a microphone. If it doesn’t build someone up, why say it?) Is it timely? (Even truth can be destructive if said at the wrong moment. Discernment matters.) This community works best when we lift each other up, not pile on. Thoughtfulness goes a long way. It applies here too—especially in an anonymous space. Just because we can post without our names doesn’t mean we should throw empathy out the window.

All roles are entry-level to early-career friendly roles https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19JrgDvtmDaMAWeIjrRfeaSY4DOo3c5vP5St1Bc5NaPM/edit?gid=0 Feel free to explore, bookmark, or pass it along. Will keep updating regularly. ✨

This month, longtime Career Coach Yolanda M. Owens will prioritize questions about how to find a job in a new field (whether you’re pivoting or just starting your career). Register here for free today: https://fairygodboss.com/events/h6u73NOiI/coach-connect-office-hours-with