Congratulations on accepting your new position! As you prepare for your first day at a new job, you are likely feeling a tremendous variety of emotions. On one hand, you’re no doubt excited and curious about what is in store for you, but if you’re honest, you’re probably also feeling a little apprehension about what the people and the work will really be like day in and day out. 

At Trek Healthcare Staffing, our business is helping professional healthcare workers find and acclimate to new job opportunities. We’ve listened to our team and collected the best tried-and-true tips that will help you excel in your new workplace. They’ll also help minimize the awkward transition time as you acclimate to your new team.

We wish you the best of luck in your new role and remember, we are here to guide and support you every step of the way!

1. Be Teachable

Look for a mentor or a long-standing member of the team and seek to learn all you can from him. A mentor won’t just serve you well as you adapt to your new team but can teach you valuable life and professional lessons that will make you a wiser practitioner.

Humbly ask questions. No one is going to be shocked or appalled that you don’t know everything yet, and most will be more than happy to help someone who genuinely wants to contribute to the team.

2. Take Initiative

Don’t wait for someone else to make the first move. This work environment, the expectations, and the daily routine aren’t new for them. They can just go about their day, unaffected by your presence and may simply fail to consider that everything is new and unfamiliar to you. 

This goes with accomplishing operational tasks too. Instead of assuming it’s “someone else’s job,” step in and serve the team. This will instantly disarm any animosity or suspicion of “the outsider.”

3. Practice Kindness

Take care of yourself, and that includes what you ingest, how you treat your body, and what thoughts you let take up residence in your mind. You need kindness, grace, and understanding as you learn and acclimate. This is a process. Give yourself some time to adjust and be the best new team member you can be as you grow.

Anticipate challenges. They are a part of change. You know yourself and you know what helps you decompress and destress best. Build these activities into the first few weeks and safeguard them against internal pressure to work more, study more, and live only for work. You’ll be a better professional and have greater stamina if you allow yourself breaks and recharges.

4. Pursue Relationships

Strike up a conversation. In quieter moments, at lunch or during a break, resist the temptation to bury yourself in your phone. Introduce yourself, strike up a conversation, and ask open-ended questions that convey your interest in getting to know your new team relationally.

5. Exude Warmth

The old song lyrics from Annie said it best. “You’re never fully dressed without a smile!” Perhaps it goes without saying, but our stress and discomfort level shows on our faces. If we are walking around with a furrowed brow or a scowl, even if that’s just how you look when you’re concentrating on remembering all the new procedures, it can be misinterpreted as coldness, hostility, and standoffishness.

6. Read the Room

Become a keen observer of professional culture. Does the team laugh, joke, and have a good time? Is it all business all the time? Does everyone observe a strict hierarchy of leadership with little interaction between the higher-ups and the patient care providers? This is a very nuanced aspect of joining a new team, and you can learn a lot…as well as avoid faux pas…by taking a watch-and-see approach.

Pay close attention to your supervisor. How does she handle things? What is her communication style? What does she want from her employees? Learning the best way to engage with her, her personal quirks and preferences will set you up for maximum success and far fewer conflicts. 

7. Minimize Criticism

No one wants to hear from a “know it all”.  Even if the systems at your last job were incredible, work dynamics were fantastic, and communication stellar, bite your tongue if you find yourself tempted to be critical of your new team or point out how it’s better elsewhere. Build relationships and rapport first, and then you may gently make suggestions to improve one element of the team at a time.

Make “Grace” Your New Favorite Word

We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to practice extending grace. Extend grace to your new patients, who will be getting acquainted with you at the same time as you are with them. Extend grace to your supervisor who is seeking the best way to utilize your talents on the team. Extend grace to your new co-workers, who will all have their own unique perspectives and attitudes toward travel workers. You may be the latest of a long series of temporary workers they’ve welcomed to the team, only to say goodbye a few months later. Most importantly, extend grace to yourself as you learn, grow, rise to the occasion, and excel. 

If you have not yet embraced the incredible opportunities awaiting you out there as a traveling medical professional, we invite you to learn more. Trek Healthcare Staffing would love to talk to you about your career goals and how we can help find you the perfect placement to achieve them. Give us a call today!