What Does Starting A New Job Look Like At Home?

Lindsey Hamm

June 16,2020 at 8:10PM UTC

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Today I had a Women's Network meeting with my steering committee, and I brought up how much anxiety and hesitation I had with applying for a new job at this time. I am a very "people-oriented" person. I also prefer to learn work hands on.. So now-I have this new fear of going to the next step like I wanted to this year, because it could be possibly mean starting this new adventure, at home. That gives me anxiety. It's not a way that I'm used to learning or working. So how do I get myself through that? What advice would you give someone like me? Who wants to move excel in their career, but is a little scared to do so with there being so much of the unknown?

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NeerajaJune 18,2020 at 2:20PM UTC
Hi Lindsey! I totally understand how you feel, it's such a different experience being onboarded and training from home as a new employee! As an HR manager that is in charge of onboarding, this is something that I struggle with too because in-person interactions are so important. I would suggest that as you start interviewing, dig into the company's onboarding process and what changes they've made now that everyone is working from home. Will they schedule online intros with people on your team? Do they have policies around employees turning on videos for meetings? What about screen sharing? Will you have a chance to have online intros and training with people from other departments? Do they have some sort of social aspect to onboarding online (virtual happy hours, etc) so that you can chat with people and get to know them?
I would also suggest that you also ask about video during the interview process. Will all interviewers have their video on? That itself will make a huge difference!
These are all things that we've put in place at my organization and I think a lot of companies are doing the same. It's definitely worth asking about if it will help with your anxiety as a new employee. Hope that helps!
Lindsey HammJune 18,2020 at 3:10PM UTC
This definitely helps me! I haven’t heard from our HR department about what this looks like yet. So I’m definitely going to follow up and see how they are working now. Thank you so much!