Being a new employee in a company is tough enough but more challenges await fresh graduates if they are the youngest as well. There are ways to work with these difficulties, though.
There are several challenges that fresh graduates will face in terms of being the youngest employee in the office. One of the issues that they will encounter is feeling like an imposter and thinking that the company made a mistake in hiring them.
Another one, which falls on the other end of the spectrum, is when fresh graduates become know-it-alls. It's good to believe in one's self and share one's ideas but they should also learn to ask for help and get feedback from their colleagues.
USA Today College shared the challenges that young employees face in the workplace. Along with these issues are the things that fresh graduates can do to take their situations in stride and continue with their career goals.
Being stuck with the "low-level tasks"
Doing some grunt work is a normal part of being an employee. Oftentimes, it is beneficial for fresh graduates to be able to go through the basics for them to have the right foundation for higher-level tasks. Of course, it's also not good to just keep on accepting meaningless tasks that could distract young employees from their jobs.
The solution for this is to develop one's communication skills. Fresh graduates need to be open to their bosses about how to balance these tasks with their other work. They can also check if they can use these tasks as entry points to more engaging work.
Needing more time to learn how things work
Fresh graduates need to learn a lot of new things in the workplace such as the database as well as the different processes involved in the company's operations. This can pose a challenge if their colleagues forget this fact and keep on telling them to catch up.
The solution is to give them a gentle reminder about how they are still new and are still getting the hang of things. It still boils down to communication. They can also ask if they can get extra time for that task just for them to get the job done right.
