From Disappointing First Day At Work To Champion
Have you ever had a disappointing first day at work?
I have.
And I’d like to share my experience.
I thought I was going to get booted out after my first day at work.
A full-time remote job with a marketing agency.
Robert and I were newly recruited for a technical support role.
We had truckloads of training videos to watch and other materials to study before our first onboarding session.
And we had a whole week to do that.
The expectations were high, so fear began to creep in.
I had never done a full-time remote job before then.
So I told myself that the only way to impress was to give a good account of myself at the first meeting.
I then convinced myself to watch the videos twice and do a summary of everything I had learnt in a notebook.
It was tough doing all of that but I didn’t mind the stress.
I just wanted to impress.
So on the day of our first meeting, I took out my notebook and started going over everything I had jotted page by page.
Then something happened!
I slept off with the notebook on my chest.
What was supposed to be an innocent eye stretch became a 40-minute nap.
By the time I opened my eyes, they were already 20 minutes into the meeting.
It felt disappointing, to say the least.
But like an errant child who knows how to beg for mercy, I dragged myself into the zoom meeting.
You could bet that several thoughts were running through my mind as I joined.
Is this how I’d lose a job I worked so hard to get?
Will I be fired on my first day at work?
My manager was already waiting for me with a ready-made question.
“Why are you late, Hafiz?”
“What happened?”
Em. Em. I tried to gather my thoughts.
“I dozed off while preparing for this class. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again”
I didn’t even think of telling a lie.
Because, what’s the point?
Luckily for me, she somehow sensed the honesty in my reply.
“Okay, I’m willing to give you a second chance but just so you know, you already created a bad first impression.”
“But how are you going to prevent this from happening next time?”
Not sure how I responded, but I think I said something convincing enough to make her give me another chance.
“Fantastic! So let’s continue…”
“Here’s a recap of what we’ve done so far.”
She said…
After that event, I made a firm resolve not to make any silly mistake again.
I did my job diligently, followed her instructions and made some personal sacrifices for the team.
Months into the job, I was everybody’s favourite team member.
I was so good at the job that I got the free pass to recommend competent guys in my network.
We all gave a good account of ourselves.
Although we had a few skirmishes here and there, the experience was great overall.
Even now that I no longer work there, I still have a good relationship with my employers and old colleagues.
I’m also grateful to my manager for giving me a second chance.
That really motivated me to give my best.