Avoiding the pitfalls when changing jobs

One of the most exciting times in a professional’s career is starting a new job. However, with the excitement can come challenges and stress.

Make sure to prepare for the transition before your first day on the job. You can minimise the difficulties and concentrate on the next step in your retail career.

Expect the unexpected

The first few weeks of a new job can often be difficult. Even for seasoned professionals, becoming acclimatised to new co-workers, a new office environment and new responsibilities can be daunting. Despite being briefed beforehand on many aspects of the new working culture, not everything will match exactly to your ideal. By anticipating the challenges in advance, your transition into the new organisation will flow much more smoothly.

Be prepared to adjust

A new job means new relationships, new ways of doing things and sometimes in Japan a new language. This can be as simple as having to learn new processes and systems, and even finding your way around unfamiliar buildings. The way you worked in your previous role may have become second nature, but that doesn’t mean you can’t adapt to your new workplace.

Learn to let go

In order to ensure that your new role starts well, it is important that you let go of your old boss. Your previous boss might have preferred more direct communication or holding casual catch-up meetings. But your new manager will have new priorities, a new focus and almost certainly new ways of doing things. This difference can become even more pronounced if you’re moving between companies with Japanese or Westernised management cultures.

By preparing for the transition before your first day on the job, you can minimise the difficulties and concentrate on the next step in your retail career.

Find out what’s needed

It is important to figure out your boss’s communication style, find out how they like to work and how they like things done. For example, does the new boss like one-on-one meetings or team meetings? Are they interested in details or do they prefer an overview? Finding out this information initially will help smooth your working relationship down the line.

Ask questions

No one expects you to do your new job perfectly from day one. So ask questions if you don’t know what you should be doing or how to complete a particular task. Many companies in Japan have begun to adopt English as their corporate language. So don’t be afraid to ask for clarification if you have any language issues to avoid misunderstandings. It is also helpful to find out who is the best person to ask for help with the new role.

Take the initiative

Be proactive and initiate a meeting with your new boss to discuss how they like to work and adapt. This will help you get an understanding of what is expected of you and will help to set clear expectations.

Working under a new boss can be challenging, however, it is also an opportunity that should be embraced. Learn everything you can from the experience and try to empathise with the boss’s situation. This will help to ease the transition for you both. Ultimately, it is just as important for you to manage your new boss, as it is for them to manage you. That's  because it’s up to the both of you to make the relationship work.

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