Starting a job at a new company can be tough. Luckily, there are certain processes that aim to help the new employees get used to the new environment, role, ways of working. How did Julia, our People Manager, find herself in this new situation? What did the first day look like, and what can she tell us after 2 months at Gorrion? Let’s find out!
Hello there! Here’s Julia speaking (or more like writing) – Gorrion’s very first People Manager at duty. I wanted to share the story of my first 2 months at Gorrion with you. Who knows, maybe it’ll put someone’s mind at ease or motivate you to finally change your career path? (PS. we’re recruiting – what a coincidence, right?)
Before the start date…
Changing the workplace is not easy – we don’t know what to expect, if we didn’t make a mistake and, most of all, we don’t know how work in a new place really looks like (besides the stories we heard during a job interview or read online).
I was working in a cool team before and didn’t know how I’ll fit into the new one… To sum up, we don’t know anything for sure when changing workplace which is definitely scary and stressful.
These two paragraphs above honestly describe how I felt right after accepting an offer to join Gorrion. Thankfully, this state of uncertainty quickly did a U-turn. How did that happen? Well, the pre-onboarding process kicked in.
Before the first day at Gorrion
We started working on my contract right away, which was very ensuring, and I had a feeling that I won’t be left without a job. A couple of days after signing the contract online, I received an email with Gorrion’s handbook (a.k.a. podręcznik Gorrionka), and then my jaw just dropped. It was so cool to see so many happy faces in the handbook! It just gives you a vibe that Gorrion is a place where you really want to work, and these people will support you, no matter what (and three months into the role, I still agree with that initial thought).
But the handbook is much more than just photos – it tells you exactly what to expect during your first days (not everything was covered, but I’ll get back to it in a moment). Thanks to that handbook PDF, I learned what values the company has, its history, the internal events & initiatives, essential info about the mentoring system, and even what software we use. It was when I got super excited that I’ll be joining such a great team!
A little side note: one of my first tasks at Gorrion was improving the onboarding and pre-onboarding process. Now you don’t need to wait for your first day to see pics of the office building (and our parking), see a parking map, and find out if we’re prepared for yerba-drinkers.
The first day: welcome to a new reality
Monday, January the 3rd, 10:00 AM – my journey at Gorrion begins! I remember being so excited (and stressed) but the latter quickly passed because I was so warmly welcomed in the office.
First, I was given an amazing welcome pack (seriously, I didn’t expect such nice gifts!) and a Christmas gift which was extremely nice. Then, my mentor gave me an office tour, and we dived into discussing the plans they had for me. What is great, and I guess rare, is that they listened to me at all times and considered my suggestions, even though it was my first day here.
The day was filled with new information and meeting many new people… so as we all know, it wasn’t the easiest one. What was helpful was that I didn’t have to be there for the full 8 hours. Once we finished with all the topics that were planned for that day, I was free to go home and recharge my batteries before the next day.
The first week – introduction to Scrum & first obstacles
What you should know is that we work in Scrum at Gorrion. If you’re in the IT industry, you probably have heard about it, but let me just say – the theory is not the same as practice. My mentor is a big Scrum enthusiast, so it was extremely interesting to learn about the practical aspects of working in this methodology.
New work routine
As said before – it was different and unusual to me to finally work in a fully implemented Scrum, even an HR department! Now I understand the advantages of this methodology. Still, in the beginning, it was a challenge to completely switch my habits and adjust to this new reality of sprints, plannings, and clearly set priorities.
What I appreciate is the opportunity to share feedback at retro meetings that are part of our weekly plannings. Someone smart once said that feedback is like milk – if we let it sit for too long, it’s going bad. For this reason, feedback is very much appreciated, and it was great to find out that there’s plenty of room for that.
First two months: when the fun really began
I plunged into work. Was it all great and with no slip-ups? Of course not! I introduced myself to a person I forgot I already met (I’m so sorry for that once again!) or couldn’t work out how our microwave works.
But it’s not like I was left alone with that; I asked (and still ask) many questions, and not once did I feel that they weren’t welcomed. Every person at Gorrion was nothing but patient with me and never refused to help me when I needed it.
Feedback on every corner
During these first months, I got a lot of feedback from… everyone, actually. We all know that if we do not receive feedback, we can’t grow professionally (or as people in general). That’s why it’s great to be surrounded by people who understand that.
Did you know that period of around 2 months into the new workplace is called the Valley of Doubts or Valley of Despair? I actually forgot about this difficult period after a couple of years in the previous company. But here I was listening about the mentioned Valley at a webinar. And it made me think. Have I really entered this toughest time right now?
Because it didn’t feel like that, I was really happy that these 2 months were concluded with a meeting where I received feedback collected from my closest colleagues, and I could share my feedback towards the company.
How would I sum up my 2 months at Gorrion?
What is great about Gorrion is that it’s not all about work. One of my first tasks was to make sure that the dartboard was hanging and ready to use. Since I joined the company, we have had a couple of events already – starting with Gorrion Unplugged meetup, through board games nights, planning Cover Day (music event), and the work anniversary party for the Gorrions.
So not only do we build a great community internally, but we also share our knowledge and attitude with others, for example, via our Discord server called #GorrionDevCorner.
Besides the great atmosphere, I really feel that I could spread my wings at Gorrion and learn a lot. I had a chance to participate in awesome external workshops about LinkedIn and even prepare one workshop about communication for everyone in the company.
And all of that in only 2 months. I can’t wait to find out what the next months will bring!
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