How to Make a Success of Your New Remote Job
Our clients are still recruiting office support roles in London throughout the latest lockdown. As a leading recruitment agency in London, we’ve gathered some top tips from our team to help you if you are among the fortunate, and growing, few who have secured a new remote office support role to take them into 2021 and find yourself working from home during lockdown:
1. Make sure you’re switched on when the laptop arrives
You’ll likely be onboarded via video and will want to make sure you’re switched on and ready to go for the technology set-up phase. Making a good first digital impression counts and being ready to go and picking things up quickly as you’re taken through the initial set-up is a great place to start.
2. Freshen things up at home if you can
New job, new you? Perhaps not, but new job, new surroundings is a definite winner! Try to mix things up a bit at home – rearrange your bedroom, office, or general set-up to refresh and reflect your new role. This is an exciting time in what has been a challenging period – make the most of it!
3. Think “backwards”
Tinker with the background and the lighting with a friend online, until you arrive at the most professional and welcoming environment prior to logging on for the first time with your new employer.
4. Understand what “great” looks like to your new manager
You can’t be coached day-to-day in your new office support role as you typically would have been in an office. You need to know what activities and what volume of activities are expected so that you can meet and exceed them. Your first few weeks and months are a chance to exceed expectations – even if the calibre of your work may be affected by the lack of immediate “on the job” feedback. Being able to demonstrate you are working really hard under your own supervision will reassure your manager that things are going well. Remember – they are getting used to this too!
5. Give yourself a break
This is brand new and it is likely to be difficult. Don’t make it harder by giving yourself too much of a tough time. If you honestly know you are doing your absolute best working from home, but aren’t progressing as quickly as you feel you normally would, or don’t feel you have fitted in as quickly as you would like, just consider the fact that any new job can normally feel like that even when you are working day to day “within the culture”. Starting remotely adds that extra layer of difficulty – take this into account and you’ll be more likely to feel positive about how everything is progressing.
6. Get the ‘corporate chat’ right…
Ask more questions than you normally would when starting a new job, and focus particularly on how different stakeholders prefer to communicate in differing scenarios. This applies especially to your new manager!
7. …and think about tone
Work out specifically how people communicate: relaxed smiley faces on emails? Highly professional subject headers? Adapt to your surroundings and avoid “Reply All” until you truly know who “All “ is!
8. Keep introducing yourself
There will be little or no “kitchen catch up” opportunities in your first three months, very few of those times when you get to know people socially, which can be particularly difficult when you are starting an office support role. If you’re on a group Zoom for example and don’t know all the attendees, be sure to reintroduce yourself – who you are, what your role is, and when you started. This will automatically help your audience understand how you fit into the company’s organisational structure.
9. Be aware of your shared workspace
Many of us are working within flat shares which can provide its own set of challenges. Headphones are essential when on calls or meetings, both from a consideration and a confidentiality point of view. If you can’t arrange a separate working environment, communicate with your flatmates and try your best not to have an important meeting in the kitchen during lunchtime!
10. Your calendar is now part of your visibility
Now more than ever your calendar will be used by others to check your availability. It’s important to make sure it is up to date and you are using the tools within your calendar correctly showing bookings as free, busy or out of office.
If you are a candidate looking for your next temporary or permanent office support role in London, or a client requiring assistance in recruitment please contact our team so we can help you with your search at hello@australasian.co.uk
Take care, stay positive and we hope to see you soon!