What to Do When Youre the Least-Experienced at Work -The Muse

What to Do When Youre the Least-Experienced at Work -The MuseWhat to Do When Youre the Least-Experienced at Work You just started a new job and youre so excited. Theres just one catch Youre clearly the least experienced person on the team. Maybe youre the youngest, or maybe youve changed careers, or maybe you just made an internal transfer. Whatever the scenario, everyone around you knows their work like the back of their hand, leaving you feeling like youre lagging behind. While thats not the fruchtwein comforting or enjoyable feeling, the fact is youll face challenges specific to having less experience. But since you know that, you can be prepared for- and address- the four most common issues. 1. Challenge You Have Imposter SyndromeWhen you learn co-workers have a lot more experience than you, your first thought might be, OMG they made a huge mistake hiring me. But, unless you lied on your resume (in which case, yes, it was a huge mistake), your new employer knows youre new to this kind of work. And they decided to hire you anyways.That means they landsee great potential in you, and believe you can do this. (Its true Theyre not going to put their neck on the line for someone they thinkll fail.)SolutionThe first step is for you to believe in yourself, too. Youre here because you threw your hat in the ring- and probably put in a lot of legwork applying. So, reconnect with the ambitious self that thought you should go out and apply for this role. What did you argue made you qualified? Lean on those traitsSecond, if you notice anything you feel especially nervous about, see if you cant bolster those skills. Take a class or reach out to a new colleague or a networking contact and ask how to develop the skill you feel youre lacking.2. Challenge You Think You Know it AllSome people fall on the other side of the spectrum, and this challenge threatens to derail you even more, because its harder to self-diagnose. Maybe you know youre the least experienced, but you thin k I got this and therefore have zero interest in listening to others, learning from their prior experiences, or asking for help.As you can imagine, this can hurt you in many ways.First, you dont have the benefit of institutional knowledge. Maybe your idea is brilliant- and thats why someone pitched it six months ago, only to see it fall flat for an unforeseen reason. But you wont be able to learn from that, if you steamroll their feedback.Second, its not going to gain you many friends. Often, theres a degree of paying your dues when youre new. While its not always the most stimulating work, it can go a long way to garnering respect among your colleagues and making you look like a team player. SolutionBy all means, be confident and share your ideas- but dont confuse that with acting like youre the smartest person in the room. One of the best things you can do is work on your listening skills. During a brainstorming session, dont aim to be the first one to speak. Instead, listen to wh at your colleagues have to say and see if you can support, build on, or ask to learn more about their ideas.Additionally, ask for help and feedback, instead of going it alone and guessing. Admitting you dont have all the answers not only makes you more approachable, but it makes people more likely to trust you when you say you know what youre talking about.3. Challenge You Catch All the Low-Level TasksSome grunt work is par for the course. It may even be useful- giving you a foundation so youll understand higher-level tasks that youre going to be assigned in the near future. However, you dont want to be taken advantage of, and some people can tend to dump meaningless tasks on less-experienced colleagues. While you want to be seen as someone with a good attitude, you dont want behauptung tasks to distract from your actual job.SolutionThe best way to handle this challenge is to use open communication. Talk to your boss about the reality of balancing these annoying to-dos with your oth er work. Ask her to help you prioritize your task list, and if she can share how these tasks add value to the team or your future work.If you have colleagues who keep asking you to pitch in, see if you can use these assignments as an entry point to more engaging work. Say, Im happy to help with x, and Im also able to y and would love to make a larger contribution to the project 4. Challenge You Need More TimePhrases like get up to speed and catch up are time-related for a reason. As you know, youll be more efficient at a task the 10th time you do it- and even more so the 100th time.But your co-workers may forget that the database isnt intuitive, or that, before all of the shortcuts are committed to memory, youll have to keep clicking in and out and cross-referencing. If you arent allowed enough time, youre in a perpetual state of scrambling.SolutionThis challenge has an easy fix, because theres no shame in wanting to get things right- or being new. So, often all you need is to give a simple reminder Say, Im new to whatevers taking you a while. Do you have any suggestions for how I could do process faster?Then, ask if, in the meantime, you could have extra time for that task- stressing that you want to do it correctly. Thisll also give them a chance to tell you if times a factor and theyd rather have it done than perfect. Youve leapt to the next level and now are feeling a little out of your league. Take heart thats how it feels at the beginning. But soon enough, time will pass, someone new will be hired, and theyll be coming to you with questions.