I recently received and accepted an offer from a  new company. I will be starting a new job in a few weeks! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably heard about this news. But on Cubicle Chic today I want to share with you what I’m doing now that I am between two jobs, and how I am preparing myself for the next phase of my career.

This is how it goes: after many sleepless nights, numerous interviews, the final negotiations, the constant anticipation, finally, came the phone call. THE phone call that changes everything! 

Celebrate, give yourself a pat on the shoulder, and go out and get something nice for yourself because you deserve the reward. And after the adrenaline rush subsides, take a moment to think about what your next steps are. 

Leave your current employer on a good note

Do your best to leave a good transition plan for your replacement, and close all the gaps you can foresee. Be honest in your exit interview, provide constructive feedback if there are things you think your current employer could improve on. Lastly, write a heartfelt but concise farewell email to all that you’ve worked with; include your email in there, and a link to your LinkedIn profile so people can stay in touch with you. This is the last chance for you to make an impression on this professional network, make it count. 

 Romper: NastyGal Stripe Her Down Romper  Bag: Louis Vuitton Empreinte Montaigne BB Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta 215

Mentally separate yourself from the old, and be ready to embrace the new

This is more of a philosophical note than a practical one. I’ve seen in the past people that join my team, and cannot stop themselves from using the lingo of “this is how XYZ used to do it” or “the way that we did it before was…” Let’s just conclude once and for all that there is no good end to this kind of lingo. If you have good recommendations, don’t position it as “the way that XYZ did it”; make it yours! If you don’t have good recommendations, well, you shouldn’t be making them in the first place. But by associating it with your old company, you come across as still attached and not able to adapt. For example, try to say “it’s better to ask why do WE do it this way”, and not “why do YOU do it this way” as a tactic to show you are ready to embrace the new culture and environment (Career Girl Daily). 

Be strategic in the way you build your new brand

The same way you prepared for all those interviews, you should be thinking about how to rock your first day of work, the first week of work, and the first month, and the first quarter, and so on. Read up on the 30-60-90 Day Plan (Business Insider) and think about the personal goals you’d like to reach on Day 30, Day 60, and Day 90. Think about what you want to be known for, because that is going to be your professional brand.

Also, fine-tune your elevator pitch (MyDomain.com). As part of your introduction to the new teams and new people, one of the first things they will ask you is “where did you come from” and “what did you do before”.  Be ready to have a concise but to-the-point summary that will effectively summarize your past experiences, and even impress your new co-workers just a little bit. 

 Romper: NastyGal Stripe Her Down Romper  Bag: Louis Vuitton Empreinte Montaigne BB Heels: Kenneth Cole; similar here Sunglasses: Oscar de la Renta 215

Use common sense

Listen more than you speak, turn off your personal phone, curb your (hyper)enthusiasm, and observe the culture and blend in. These are all more common sense than actual tactics, but the trick is to remember these things while you are under the pressure of adjusting to a new environment, constantly meeting new people, and wrapping your head around how to hit the ground running with the new employer. 

You should also be ready to throw the work-life balance out the window for a while (The Every Girl) and be ready to log in some extra hours just to get up to speed.  These extra hours spent in the beginning will pave the way for your success later on, and also leave a good impression on people around you that you are committed and dedicated to success.

 Romper: NastyGal Stripe Her Down Romper  Bag: Louis Vuitton Empreinte Montaigne BB

Re-think your strengths and weaknesses

Take stock of the work history with your last employer and think of all your successes and failures. Think about how they made you feel, how they changed you, and what you did to make sure you can replicate the success, and avoid making the same mistakes. It may help to write these things down so you can visualize them more clearly. Take the highlights from this list of historic success and failure, and make sure that’s your starting point for your next job. Lean on your strengths, and find ways to develop things you are weaker in. 

What were the things you did right, or wrong, when you first started your job? 

All photography by Natalie Alvarado @ STYLENFUSE.COM

The post How to Prepare for a New Job || The Work That Comes After the Job Offer appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Experiences in the past have indicated something about my personality, and it’s that I may have a more serious demeanor, especially at work. I even had one person that told it to me directly, that I am an intense person to work with sometimes. Having been an outspoken person my whole life, I’ve taken comments like that as a compliment. That sentiment changed slightly in a recent incident. I had a 1:1 teleconference with someone I was trying to make a really strong impression with, and in the teleconference the video capacity was enabled. For the first time, I was watching myself as I spoke, in a way that I thought exuded confidence. I was mentally gasping at the image of myself on screen – I looked SO serious and definitely intense!

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Needless to say, there is a bit of a gap that exists between the internal visualization of myself and, when I get the chance to get a glimpse of, the way the world actually perceives me. It’s uncomfortable to face this realization, and quite honestly, a bit unsettling.

Working in Corporate America for half a decade has taught me a thing or two. Number 1, 2, and 3 are as follows: Your image is everything, your image is everything, and your image is everything. Yes, in case I didn’t make it clear, your image is everything. For me, the ideal image consists of the following adjectives: strategic, conscientious, and poised. The challenge, though, is that I am human and made of flesh. So while I can be strategic, conscientious, and poised, I am also passionate and dogged, and I really do care. So at times I have to be dial up certain qualities, in order to balance out the way I carry myself. As a result, I deliberately try to behave more assured, authoritative, and firm. This is reflected in the following ways: 

1. I am very conscious of something a lot of women fall victim of, something called “Uptalk” – where you raise the end of your sentence with an upward inflection to make it sound more like a question/suggestion, rather than a statement or a demand. (It’s a thing, officially called High Rising Terminal, look it up!) I do everything in my power to avoid it.
2. I pay attention to body language. Twirling the hair, sitting in the back of the room, crossing my arms, or sitting in a “minimizing” posture (including slouching, looking down, folding your arms) all indicate the lack of confidence. I do the opposite – I sit in the front, sit back and try to relax, make direct eye contact, and speak up toward the front of the room.
3. I keep small talks to the minimum. I have a select group of people that I would consider friends at work, and outside of this circle, I don’t engage in small talks too often. I prioritize being professional and effective over being someone’s pal to chat about the weekend with.
4. When the circumstances are so that I have to pick between making progress and keeping the peace or that “good feeling” environment, I usually default to the former. There are good ways, tactful ways, to create a win-win situation and achieve both, it’s true. But when deadlines are real and decisions need to be made, something’s gotta give. For me, making progress usually wins out.

 Dress: Kit And Ace; similar here Vest: Boutique; similar here Mules: Asos; similar here

So maybe, just maybe, in the process of upholding that image as a professional woman, I lost touch with the core of my being – the warm, open, caring, and easy-going side of me.

Or maybe, just maybe, in the corporate world, room for an individual to exhibit these characteristics is just limited.

Or maybe, just maybe, could it be because I am a woman, therefore the trade-off exists?

I would definitely be re-visiting this topic soon. What are your thoughts so far?

All photography by Natalie Alvarado (Stylenfuse)

The post How I Came to Be an Intense Woman at Work appeared first on Cubicle Chic.