Walk before you run

职场新鲜人：摆正心态，从小事做起

THE first steps into the workplace can be confusing. Fresh graduates are eager to impress, but usually end up running errands like photocopying, which is frustrating.

刚进入职场的时候，人们往往感到困惑。毕业生迫切地想表现自己，但是通常只是做些复印文件之类的鸡毛蒜皮的小事。这很是令人沮丧。

Newbies have a choice: They can either let these disappointments spoil their new working lives or learn to adapt.

职场新人们可以做个选择：要么放任这种失望情绪破坏自己的职场生活，要么学会去适应。

21st Century talks with several workplace newbies to find out how they handled the first few months of their careers.

《21世纪英文报》采访了几个职场新手，看看在最初的几个月中他们是如何应对的。

1. Learn from basic jobs

1、从基本功学起

Everything starts from the basics. Bankers start by counting notes and sales managers start with door-to-door selling. Tao Pei, 22, spent her first month in Beijing as a trade specialist at a food company faxing and photocopying.

做任何事情都要从基本功开始。银行家先要数钞票，销售经理先要挨家挨户地推销。陶培（音译）今年22岁，在北京的一家食品公司做贸易工作，第一个月她的工作只是不停地发传真和复印资料。

“I was upset,” said Tao. “I was expecting to deal with clients instead of printers.” But she gradually discovered that running errands taught her how the whole business functions.

她说：“我很沮丧，我希望和客户打交道而不是印刷机。”不过，她逐渐意识到，做小事能帮助了解工作整体的运行机制。

For example, Tao is told to photocopy remittance vouchers and client invoices for double checking before the originals are mailed. This helps to avoid any potential disputes later on.

比如，复印汇款凭证和客户发票，反复检查，然后才能寄出原件，这样就能避免之后可能出现的争端。

“Senior workers don’t explain these details to you, but you can learn through doing basic jobs,” said Tao.

“老员工不会和你说这些细节，但你能够在基本的工作中学到这些。”

How to be a happy errand runner:

如何在琐事中寻找到快乐呢：

- Say “Hi” to people and make friends with your colleagues.

-和你的同事打招呼，交朋友。

- Read files while waiting by the printer. They are free “textbooks”.

-在打印机边等待的时候读些资料——这是免费的“教科书”。

2. Learn to handle pressure

2、学会合理减压

Many problems met by newbies are as a result of a lack of practical work experience.

由于缺乏实际的工作经验，新手们会遇到很多问题。

On her first day at work, Tao stood puzzled in front of the scanner. “When assigning tasks to me, my colleagues assume that I can figure how to do things out by myself,” said Tao.

上班的第一天，她在扫描机前茫然的站着。“同事给我布置任务的时候，都当做我已经会操作这些机器了。”

In order not to let them down, Tao even uses her spare time to improve her performance in the office. “The senior staff are able to put work aside when they walk out of the office, but I can’t,” she said.

为了不让同事对她失望，她甚至用空闲的时间提高自己在办公室里的表现。“老员工离开办公室时，可以心安理得地把工作放一边，而我却不行。”

The website 51job.com recently conducted a survey on employee insecurity. Among the 365 interviewees, 43 percent have less than three years’ work experience. About 67 percent of interviewees often feel insecure. The report points out that the main source of newbies’ insecurity is fear about work performance.

51job网最近关于职员的不安定感做了一项调查。在365个受访者中，43%的人工作经验不足三年。大约67%的受访者经常感到不安。这个报告指出，对于工作表现的担心是造成新手们不安定感的主要因素。

Cai Zhiyang, 23, who started to work in an electric power enterprise three months ago in Guangzhou, also admitted to making extra efforts to ease the pressure of his first job. He volunteered to stay on night shifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. “I can afford the loss of holidays, if that helps me to master my job more quickly,” said Cai.

蔡志阳（音译），现年23岁，三个月前开始在广州的一家电力公司工作。他也赞同用额外的努力来减轻工作的压力。中秋假期期间，他自愿留在单位值夜班。他说：“如果能更快的掌握职业技能，我愿意牺牲假期。”

Easy ways to relax:

减压的简单方法：

- Keep a bubble wrap in your desk drawer. Press it and feel your stress disappear with the sound of popping bubbles.

-在抽屉里放一个汽包，挤压它，你就能感觉到压力伴随着汽包的爆破声散去。

- Meditate for 10 minutes during your lunch break.

-午休时间花10分钟冥想。

3. Get used to having less freedom

3、习惯受限制

Gu Zhiren, 22, works at an IT consulting firm in Shunde, Guangdong, an hour from his home in Guangzhou. His job involves endless business trips, which fuel his desire to make regular visits home.

22岁的顾之仁（音译）在广东顺德的一家IT咨询公司工作，距离广州的家大约一个小时的路程。他的工作总是需要出差，这也激发了他经常回家的愿望。

“At college, I could go out on dates and visit my grandma whenever I liked in my spare time. But now, I cannot afford such freedom,” complained Gu.

“在大学里，我可以有空就出去约会或者看我的奶奶，但现在，我没有这种自由了。”他抱怨道。

Office etiquette and rules might also imperil new employees who haven’t yet made the switch from campus mind to office mind.

办公室的礼仪和规则也困扰着新职员，他们还没从校园思维方式转换到办公室模式。

Tao Pei once broke into a run in the office during an urgent task, but was pulled to one side and scolded by a senior member of staff, who said to her: “Slow down and be quiet. You’re in the office now, not at college!”

陶培曾经因为一项紧急任务冲进办公室，但立马被拉到一边受到一位老员工的斥责，那位老员工对她说：“慢一点，安静下来。你是在办公室而不是学校！”

Tao used to feel constrained by such rules, but now she has a fresh perspective: “Respecting office rules is an indicator of professionalism.”

她曾经因为这些规则而感到备受束缚，但现在有了新的看法：“尊重办公室规则是有职业素养的体现。”

Three office rules you must know:

办公室必知的三条规则：

- Clean your desk before starting work.

-工作前先清理桌面。

-Control your time spent on text messages and phone calls if they are not related to work.

-不要把时间无谓地花在与工作无关的短信和电话上。

-Keep your voice down and your footsteps soft.

-降低音量，放慢脚步。