Stupid work problem

LegacyUser

I have one more year left in college before I receive a degree in marketing. I decided I should try to get some office experience this summer for when I am looking for a fulltime job when I finish college in 2007.

This is my problem. I have quite a weird personality, I say weird because sometimes I can be really shy in certain environments but once I have settled in I kinda open up and its not noticeable, with close friends I could be very extroverted at times. Since I was 15 I have done my best to avoid specific jobs, that would have been uncomfortable to do because I was shy. Over the past 5 years I have really come out of my shell but sometimes my shyness/nervousness still gets the better of me but at others I feel confident.

I have never worked in an office or a job that dealt with the public before, now that I am looking for an office job I feel I will be completely out of my depth in that kind of environment, especially when it comes to making and answering calls and general responsibilities.

Opinions, please.

Ruu_Old

Well in this day and age, its so easy to change careers, whether dealing with the public or not. I have done a number of them. Internet cafe, computer assembly line, factory worker, computer and mobile phone sales. Now I work for myself and am continuing my education
I dont think you will have a problem, you will probably adapt well to it more than you think. Good luck with it anyway.

chuckles30

Just believe in yourself and go for it. It doesn't matter how long you are working, I still get nervous if I get even new responsibilities in my current job and I'm doing it for almost 10 years now. I would be quiet shy too, but the best way to deal with it is to try and face it. I'm always afraid that I'll make a mess of it, but it doesn't actually happen. All you can do is try your best and give it a chance. It's only natural to feel 'out of your depth' as you say when you go doing something you haven't done before. Best of luck with it all and try not to worry about it too much.

Static M.e.

I think you will find dealing with the public very easy once you get use to it.

The public is 99% nice imo

coffee_cake

It's a good thing to try - once you get into it you'll probably gain a lot more confidence in general. I was nervous and shy as hell but I got a job in a fast food place for the summer one time and once I got into it I was grand. Same for some office work - I had to deal with a lot of phone calls. In that case, remember that the hold and transfer buttons are your friends Seriously.
It's scary as hell once you start - I was completely freaking out for the whole day the first time I tried office work - but by a few days you'll get into it and you'll be fine!

marilynM

Don't worry about it, literally it's all in your head! Plenty of people suffer from shyness or a lack of confidence. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. If you have to go into an environment where you're gonna be dealing with lots of people, give yourself some time to get used to it. You'll meet lovely people - you'll meet absolute a**holes. Tis the way of the world.

cooker3

lemsiplemming wrote:

I have one more year left in college before I receive a degree in marketing. I decided I should try to get some office experience this summer for when I am looking for a fulltime job when I finish college in 2007.

This is my problem. I have quite a weird personality, I say weird because sometimes I can be really shy in certain environments but once I have settled in I kinda open up and its not noticeable, with close friends I could be very extroverted at times. Since I was 15 I have done my best to avoid specific jobs, that would have been uncomfortable to do because I was shy. Over the past 5 years I have really come out of my shell but sometimes my shyness/nervousness still gets the better of me but at others I feel confident.

I have never worked in an office or a job that dealt with the public before, now that I am looking for an office job I feel I will be completely out of my depth in that kind of environment, especially when it comes to making and answering calls and general responsibilities.

Opinions, please.

Hey, I could have literally written that word for word and it would have been correct for me, I am exactly the same and got a job last year in customer care, what I hate most in anything is starting something new and not knowing what I am doing, I always feel really uncomfortable but you just have to work through that, you will get through that and you will settle down and you'll be fine. Like others have said vast majority of public are fine, get a few annoying people but they are humourous more then anything. So once you get over newness then you will fly through it.

Briony Noh

Confidence and shyness aren't two different sides of the same coin - Hell, they're hardly in the same monetary unit. When you have a job to do and you know its value and its purpose, it becomes irrelevant who you're dealing with. The over-the-counter stuff is a breeze because you know what you're doing, why you're doing it and when to stop doing it.

You'll be trained in the necessary skills for your job. In some cases, you'll be scripted in your phone calls. From then on, it's all just performance - but with a goal: to do the job right, execute your responsibilities and get into the car park for a smoke as often as possible - that might be just me.

In break time, fellow workers will encourage you to mix in because people are nosey by nature and want to hear all about you - they're the pack, remember, they've already established their individual roles in the group and need to know where you're going to fit in. Anyway, it's all very friendly and then you find out who's worth knowing and who's worth avoiding. Eventually you'll find your conversations including subjects that aren't work-related with some of them, with others it'll be all confined within strict parameters. Again, this is fine, it's how we all mix and interact.

I can't emphasise enough how little shyness has to do with being able to deal with other people on a work level. Besides, everyone you'll be working alongside will be total brain-dead ninetofive idiots and you're much better than them.