How to Be Comfortable When Starting a New Job

It is estimated that we, as average Americans, have between eight and ten jobs in our lifetimes. While many of these job changes may be for positive matters a more challenging career, better advancement, more lucrative pay the fact remains that starting a new job can be one of the biggest stresses in life. The reasons for this vary. For some of us, learning the technicalities, the ins and outs, of a new job may be the biggest burden. For others, learning the way around the building how to get to the coffee pot and the restroom - may prove difficult. And, for some, simply learning where the new office is located may be the biggest inconvenience.

However, for the majority of new jobbers, chances are the greatest intimidation factor, the one that causes the most anxiety, is simply meeting new people. Walking into a job where everyone seems to know each other patting each other on the back and asking about little Johnnys soccer game can be overwhelming for the person who knows no one. It causes a fear resembling high school, as the newcomer wonders who they will sit with at lunch. Though this may seem like an occasion drowning in discomfort, there are a few things that can be done to make it as smooth a transition as possible.

Dress the Part

Its hard to gauge what kind of clothes to wear on the first day of the job. While many offices are listed as business casual, the term casual leaves a lot to be interpreted. For some of us, casual may be wearing slacks and a button down shirt, for others it may be wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Still, for a few, casual may simply mean wearing to work what was worn to bed.

For a new job, its best to err on the side of caution and prepare to be overdressed rather than underdressed. Wearing a suit while everyone else is wearing slacks and blouses will go over much better than wearing jeans while everyone else is wearing a suit.

Dont One up People

There seems to be an unwritten rule laced within the insecurities of each person, a rule that tells us to try to impress people when we are nervous. While this may sometimes serve the intended purpose, more often than not, it backfires. Take for instance this example: as a newcomer overhears an established coworker say that they just had their first paper published in a medical journal, the newcomer steps in to speak of their two articles previously published. While the person who is new is just trying to look good in front of coworkers, trying to impress them can come across more as arrogant, and a little desperate. To make matters worse, when the impressing is tagged onto a coworkers own boasting, the newcomer looks like someone out to one-up everyone else. This, ultimately, results in not impressing others, and just depressing yourself.

Ask Questions

People like to talk about themselves, about their kids, about the time they landed a merger between two giant corporations. Showing interest in a coworker will make them interested in you: people are often their own favorite subjects. If youre having trouble mingling with others, simply pick something out about them and ask questions. Point to a picture on their desk and ask if thats their spouse, ask them where they grew up or how it is they landed a job at the company. And, if youre having trouble with an aspect of your job, ask questions about it. People are often more than willing to share their knowledge; most people will jump at the chance to convey their own intelligence.

Be Professional

Everyone is not professional at their job at one point or another. If you work somewhere long enough, a few flawed moments are sure to creep in. People show up late, or put their legs on top of the desk, stretching out as they type a memo. People take too long making personal phone calls or spend an hour in the bathroom talking about their coworkers botched perm job. People take an extra long lunch, sneaking back into the office when their boss isnt working, or take a ream of computer paper home for their personal use. While everyone is guilty of being unprofessional at times, dont use these times at the beginning of your job. You see, we build to that.

Take People Up on Invitations

Jobs are often filled with the opportunities to be social. From a happy hour to a lunch outing, from a Tupperware party to a company softball game, behind every cubicle wall there is the ability to get to know your coworkers. While you may hold onto the notion that you are at a job to work and not at a job to make friends, its proven that those who enjoy their coworkers enjoy their job much more. So, when coworkers invite you to after hour get-togethers, take them up on it. You dont have to show up to every outing, or be the life of the party, donning the proverbial lamp shade on your head, but attend and get to know the people with whom you work. Show them that you are a team player both in the office and outside of it.

Starting a new job can be uncomfortable, but its something everyone goes through. Heeding the above advice and just relaxing can make it easier. If that doesnt work, keep this in mind: the person at the company who has worked there the longest the person who knows everyone, who remembers peoples birthdays, who gives the toast at the company Christmas party even they were once a new employee.

Jennifer Jordan is a senior editor for http://www.foamsource.com. When she isn't sleeping on a FoamSource mattress, she concentrates on living as comfortably as possible.

Getting Referrals For Paid Online Surveys

Getting refferals to sign up to online survey sites that you are a member of is a tough task, IF you don't know how to go about it. Even people that think they know how to get referrals end up falling short.

As you have probably found out the hard way, it is not how many referrals that you get, but it is the quality of those referrals. You want to attract people that want to get paid for taking an online survey. You don't want some unmotivated browser, that will join and do absolutely nothing. There are many easy ways to make your referral number skyrocket, and most of them do not involve you having to pay for internet adverstising of any sort. This involves everything from homemade flyers to pass out at a local college, or telling each and every one of your family members and friends (you won't believe how good of a referral a friend/family member can be).

You may want to dive into the paid advertising portion once you get comfortable with what works and what doesn't work, but, who knows, you might not even NEED to pay for any sort of advertising (ex: google adwords). You might end up making a nice amount of money getting people to join survey copanies doing free marketing. The trick is to know what survey sites are good and reward well. You want your referral to feel comfortable with the site they join and you want them to be able to make money themselves. That is why you want to join AND get paid from every single online survey site that you promote. That way, you know that your referrals will enjoy the site enough to keep making money. The longer yor referral is active, the longer you will get paid from the work they do!

Sign up to one of the top online survey sites and get a feeling of what it is about. DO surveys yourself. Earn money. Get paid from them. That way, when you promote it, you can tell your referal exactly what to expect and what to do to make the most money possible from that particular online survey site. Remember, you want a Quality Referral, that enjoys making money taking surveys. The better you lay everything out and give good information, the more likely they are to jump right in and become a consistant money maker for months, or even years to come.

Join 5 or 6 of the highest converting survey sites on the web and spread your referrals between them. You will soon find out which ones are keeping your referrals interested, and you will be able to target a couple of your higher converting survey sites for your referals to join.

Adam Woodham is an expert on Paid Surveys. He has extensive experience making money online with these unique survey websites and runs the web site http://www.surveyquickcash.com

Five Ways to Get in Front of Your Target Audience

It's worth the effort spending some time and energy figuring out who you work best with. Once you've figured that out, then what? You feel good, you've chosen a niche. How do you find the people in your niche and get your message across to them? And how can you do that without feeling like you are selling to them?

Here are a few things for you to think about...

1. Does this group of people, this niche, have any outside interests in common? For example, you may find there is a large group of engineers in the Midwest that enjoy hunting in their spare time. Or know some graphic designers in the Rocky Mountains that are avid rock climbers. Is there a better way to share a common interest and get to know each other in a relaxed environment than to join them on their excursions? Establish trust, build new friendships - it all leads to enjoyable work opportunities for you.

2. Do you help out with your kid's soccer team or are you on the PTA at school? Doing things that YOU enjoy will naturally lend yourself to meeting new people with like interests. Your co-volunteers could work in the niche you've chosen or may have friends that do. Doing things that you enjoy doing, especially if it is involves getting out and meeting other people, will help YOU meet new people and make new contacts. Don't like the people you've been hanging around with? Try something new and totally different. Put yourself in a very different environment and you'll meet totally different people and have a very different experience.

3. Get involved in local networking associations. I'm not necessarily talking about the chamber of commerce. If you can, get more targeted than that. If you would like to meet more people involved in naturopathic medicine, find out what they do. I bet they attend trade shows on maybe natural health or are interested in yoga, or vitamins, or the natural food stores in your area. How can you have a presence there? Are there groups that meet that are rock climbing enthusiasts? Roller blading groups?

4. Are there any small, local publications that your target market may read? For example, there are a few free magazines and newspapers in my area and they are often looking for content for their readers. Classified ads are very inexpensive because the publications are small, and I've also found that these smaller publications are very open to bartering to keep their pages full. One publisher offered to run ads for me for free if I delivered the free papers to 20 or so places around town once a month. I am too busy to do that of course, but the point is to be creative.

5. Look at where your strengths and weaknesses are. If you're comfortable writing and doing marketing related tasks on the internet, you may be doing enough of that already. Get away from your computer and meet some people. The same can be said if you are an extrovert. You need to balance your marketing efforts both online and off. I do get a lot of business from my online marketing efforts, but I also know that it compliments anything I do outside my office. Meeting people and having them experience you and your energy can't be beat.

Have you seen a common thread here? All of the tips I gave you involved you getting out and meeting people. As a writer I admit I like to stay home and do stuff on my computer. I have an awesome system in place for marketing myself online and publishing articles and even coaching and working with people on the phone.

Getting out and meeting people means taking off my favorite slippers and actually moving - not what I always want to do. Looking over the successes I've had the past few years, there's no doubt in my mind that when I do get out and speak to a group or get involved in an organization my business gets busier. And the people that I meet in person and have felt my energy and enthusiasm give me more referrals, and bring me more word of mouth marketing than the clients I have online. And we are more likely to become friends.

Copyright (c) 2006 Kelly Robbins

Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed, Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection (http://www.healthcaremarketingconnection.com), a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, "5 critical things you must know when writing for the healthcare industry" - info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com or 303-460-0285.