How to Tackle Your New Job in a New Country

Your first day can be a challenging one, especially if you are settling into a new country too. It’s completely normal to feel apprehensive, nervous and excited all at once. After all, you are not only starting a new job but joining a new working culture too. But don’t worry - we’ve been there before and we are here to help!

To ensure that your first day in your new job in a new country goes as smoothly as possible, follow our 4 key tips to minimise your first-day nerves:

1. Be Prepared

Relocating to a new country is hard enough on its own and it’s extremely important for you to feel ready and organised during this entire process. More importantly, it’s crucial that you feel ready to start your new job with a clear mind, feeling organised and ready to take on your next adventure.

What to bring

We recommend finding out about the company dress code before you start your new job. Although it may seem like one of the least important things, it’s important to arrive at your new job feeling confident and avoiding any unwanted problems. Different countries and companies have different rules when it comes to uniform, so just do the best you can to find out beforehand. It may also be beneficial to bring any HR documents with you too. If you are unsure about what to bring, it's always a good idea to bring a pen, a notebook and some water just in case.

Plan your journey

One of the most important things to do is to plan your journey to work. Planning your journey will help to ensure that you arrive early. The last thing you will want is to arrive late on your first day. Leave yourself plenty of time to get there, it’s much better to arrive with lots of time to spare than to be running into the office, late on your first day. You never know what can happen on your journey to work, traffic; journey cancellations etc. so just do your best to allow yourself plenty of time. It may be beneficial to do a practice run beforehand so that you have a good idea about how long it will take.

2. Refresh your memory

When you start a new job in a new country, the hiring process can take weeks, sometimes months and during this time, we can forget particular details about our job role or the company. So, before you start your job, it’s a wise idea to refresh your memory about the job role, the company and the working culture of that country. This way, you can arrive on your first day feeling confident. Don’t panic, your first days at work are usually spent learning the ins and outs of the company anyway and of course, adjusting to the working culture of that country.

Look over the role & the company

Just like you did for the interview, it’s important to refresh your memory about the company. The services they provide, the history and any other extra information that you can gather. This shows your eagerness to start at this particular company and that you are genuinely interested in the company.

As you applied for this role in the first place, you should already be familiar with what the role involves but just to give yourself some peace of mind, have a look over the job advert a couple of days before you start. This way, nothing comes as a surprise.

The general dos and don’ts

When travelling to a new country, it’s important to research the general “dos and don’ts” for that particular place to avoid getting into any trouble or appearing disrespectful. This is particularly important when you are starting a new job in a new country, some cultures can differ significantly and it’s important to avoid any awkwardness with your new colleagues. Learn the best ways to introduce yourself to your new team - firm handshake or a kiss on the cheek?

3. Take your time

When you arrive at your new job, don’t be afraid to take your time familiarizing yourself with the company and your job role and tasks. If there is something that you don’t understand or you want your colleague to repeat, just ask! It’s always good to ask questions and this will hopefully minimise any bigger mistakes further down the line.

Write things down

Just like your interview, it’s beneficial to write things down. By writing down the information you are given during your first few days, you can look back over your notes and refamiliarise yourself with any important processes or information. We can often feel “information overload” during our first few days and it’s completely normal to have to look back at notes or ask questions again. Don’t worry, you are going through a lot of transitions and the best you can do, is take your time with it.

Don’t put pressure on yourself

When we start a new job in a new country or even in our home country, it can take us longer than we expect to get into the swing of things and this is beyond normal! Allow yourself time to get used to the working culture, your new living environment, the language and more. After all, you have moved to a completely new location and this is a big achievement in itself.

4. Positive attitude

Last but not least, it’s important to arrive on your first day with a positive attitude. As the saying goes “start as you mean to go on”. Although it’s completely normal to feel apprehensive and worried, try your best to smile and to embrace your new adventure.

Be polite

Starting a new job in a new country is a challenging process and you may end up working with people from different areas of the world. Of course, we all have different perceptions about what is rude, what is polite, what is overly polite etc. but to make sure that you make a good impression on your first day, you must be approachable. Having this kind of attitude will have a knock-on effect on the rest of your career too.

Display a can-do attitude

You will want to start your career with a positive, upbeat attitude. When discussing your tasks and your job role, it’s important to show that you are willing to collaborate with other team members and to show interest in projects etc. By displaying this kind of attitude your manager will know that you are serious about the job and that you are eager to get stuck in. This will also help to shape your job role.

The most important thing you can do is to make a good impression on your first day. Be enthusiastic, take your time but most importantly, remember to enjoy yourself and familiarise yourself with the people around you! This is the first step in your next adventure and you need to make sure that you start it on a good note!

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