Adapting to the Corporate Culture with Ease
It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.
This same formula applies in the corporate world. While we are in school, we are aware of the steps that we will take next. Sixth grade will be ceded by seventh grade, seventh by eighth, and so on. Similar is the situation when we complete high school and set out to complete our graduation. Once that is over a period of uncertainty sets in and we face challenges when we enter the corporate world. These 8 greatest challenges freshers face in corporate world are way too many and differ in their level of difficulty, but they are always there, waiting for you to take a step in the work life.
While we are in college, we live in a fragile bubble enclosed with positivity. Once this bubble bursts, we fall headfirst and see the number of untraveled roads, future opportunities and the unperformed actions that will shape our lives. Not every fresher has a pleasant experience while adjusting to the new environment. A person who might be an extrovert may retreat into a spiral of silence due to the new environment which he/she may start to dislike. An introvert, on the other hand, may take the opportunity and start making contacts. Freshers, who are young and filled with the hope of making a mark in the workplace may find themselves trapped in a series of same days. Some of the greatest challenges freshers face in the corporate world are as follows :
Lack of guidance
When you enter the corporate world as a junior, you will face an identity crisis. There might be a time when you would not want to join a conversation or be a part of a meeting. Skipping a meeting or backing out of a conversation would have been easier if you were in college. But this does not work at work. You have no choice but to offer your opinion and thoughts on an issue being discussed. If you back out, your peers may consider you rude. Another challenge is the lack of sense of direction. You are not clear with the organization’s protocols and rules and may find yourself violating many of the unspoken rules such as speaking loudly, not keeping your phone in the silent mode or leaving without the permission of the team leader or the project manager.
The HR will be there to guide you alright, but most of the times you will have to use your own ideas, creativity, and judgment to tackle a situation. Employees are busy completing their own tasks and meeting their deadlines, you can not force them to guide you all the time. You have to be wary and cautious of the things that you do. Your mistakes may be ignored at first but not always will you be able to get away with it. The smart way is to learn to do it. It is one of the 8 greatest challenges freshers face in the corporate world.
Learning quickly
Companies spend months, sometimes years, to train their employees. A fresh graduate only learns the basics of work from education. Real knowledge is acquired while working on live projects. When your company is offering you valuable training, don’t overlook it, don’t be impatient to work as a full- fledged employee, rather, try to learn as much as you can and establish your domain.
Big organizations are constantly on the lookout for skilled and experienced employees, and if you don’t deliver what they expect from you, your contract may not be renewed and you may end up losing your job. Specialization will keep you going. For the initial years, you may only be a trainee for the organization, contributing nothing valuable to it. Once your training is complete, the expectations from you will increase.
Accepting the workplace culture
When you begin your first job, you may notice that you are smarter than your seniors. You may even be surprised to find that people holding higher positions do not have the necessary skill. Do not start criticizing or discussing it with your friends. Gossips spread like wildfire in an office. Hold your tongue and accept things as they are. People holding top positions have acquired it through their hard work or have fulfilled the job profile criteria. It is not your place to judge them or form preconceived notions about them.
Talent does not mean everything in the workplace. You must have soft skills too. In college, you could easily get away with making a presentation at the last minute. This does not happen at the workplace. You have everyday tasks to complete, deadlines to meet, managers to report to. Accept the workplace culture and try to blend in it.
Making acquaintance –
Freshers are often worried about how they are perceived by their seniors. They do their utmost best to become polite with everyone but end up forming their ‘fresher’ group. They join office together, take their training together, eat together, laugh together and often forget their seniors. Their movement is, however always being watched and monitored. Their behavior and conduct have a great effect on the tasks that they are assigned and the appraisal that they get. One of the greatest challenges that freshers face here is to acknowledge that they are always under the scanner. How they have perceived affects how they are treated.
Trying to impress
Yet another challenge that freshers face is they are constantly trying to impress their project managers. In an effort to do so, they spend long hours and work overtime, often cutting down on the time they spend with their family. Soon they realize the importance of time and how their work is infringing on their personal time. It is too late by then, as their boss start demanding extra work hours from them. It is not their fault, though, because you have built such a reputation for yourself. Instead of devoting extra hours, try to complete your tasks faster. Value your time because a few years down the line you will realize the importance of time.
Using the right words
In your office, you will always encounter the challenge of using the correct words. While you might freely argue with a friend, the case is not the same with your senior. You must know how to use the correct words. You must have a strong control over your language. One should back their arguments with strong facts and data. Also, you will have to work with people who have different age and each one’s opinions will differ from yours. You will soon realize that their priorities differ, too and you must maintain a different tone while talking to different people.
Quantity matters more than quality
You may be excellent at coding or story-boarding but you may not get to perform on the projects that you wish you. Your boss will randomly assign you a project and expect you to complete within a specific deadline. Even if you have world-changing ideas, you have to keep it in your mind until provided with an opportunity.
Your team leaders have to report to their project managers, they have to report to someone else and the process continues. The quantity of your work matters more than quality. You will find a hard time accepting this fact and overcoming this challenge.
Working as a team
Not many individuals are comfortable being a part of a team. When we are in college, we tend to push our responsibilities on our friends or do their bit in a group project. This never happens when you are working as a team in your workplace. You have to contribute your bit and you can not enforce it on others. You may find it difficult to overcome this challenge as a fresher in the corporate world
Challenges make life worth living. In spite of these generic challenges that freshers face in the corporate world, there are always new things to learn and new areas to explore. It gives you a good experience and helps you in becoming a better person. Look at these challenges as opportunities and you may end up climbing the corporate ladder at a marvelous speed.
