Inspired by working friends’ conversations. Work smart.
It’s a working time. For me, it starts with these words and the many more that you will read on. Work starts off on different paces and times. Some through a shift, others wake up and get on and for some looking for that work is the work. But before getting that work, you have to be inspected and confirmed to be in a state to perform your task. It’s called an interview.
I remember this one along Mombasa Road a few years ago. It was ordinary gig and the only requirement was a secondary school certificate and obviously, a prove that you had common sense. You know that thing sense; isn’t as common. Made it to the last interview and here you had to prove you were worth your juice.
I wasn’t the best because didn’t get the job at this last interview. Before the interview, I was exactly sure that I would nip the human resource manager in the bud. During the interview I had it together. On my way out, I had a feeling that I had not perfectly nipped it. I wasn’t bitter neither sad. It was and is still an experience.
Why is it that one feel nervous on the first day? You remember that first day you went for a serious interview? Do you remember your first days in school? It’s like your first day at work. You get lost in a place that you eventually fear you will get used to. Sometimes you have a question that you want to ask or a compliment that you want to make but …mmh….
Sometimes you feel confused. A shortcut on the first day with a colleague misleads you on the second day when on yourself. It leaves you surprised. “Wasn’t this the building we left on the other side?” You are confused.
That’s how you know your place too. Sometimes you stagger into the wrong but in a nodding sense the right washrooms at the perfect time. Relax. Free. A few steps back, confusion was getting you nervous and stiff but now you are relieved. It’s the wrong washrooms and trouble may sneak on you. Watch out.
Getting nervous is a feeling that fades out and disappears as you start your job. I was nervous as I was starting this but comfort is kicking in. I can feel my fingers preach using words as I type this. Only the conscious will get this. (Sic). Back to getting nervous; you see. It disappears and I had to remind you. Sometimes the people who remind you this are people close to you and other times complete strangers. Its negative energy sliding your path. Do you.
Have you once thought as an impostor? Sometimes you feel like you tricked someone into hiring you. You feel me? You know that sometimes that is your impostor speaking or because you feel you are not actually able to do the job. While at this remember some see your capabilities and give that a shot.
Sometimes people around you may feel that hautoshi gas and you don’t have to die trying to prove that uko na gas. That’s not how the thing go otherwise you will go down the drain as soon. The impostor feeling wears out as you interact with people. You get to know and understand where you stand and sit with people. You have to be comfortable with not being everybody’s cup of tea. To some it’s a drug. A story for another page.
As you wonder with these thoughts, the check-out time soon covers in and the first day is going into the dairy. You feel exhausted. Learning new processes, roles and responsibilities. You feel a tickle of stress. Yes! It’s the new faces that you have been familiarizing yourself with. It’s hard. You can feel it as you take a rest for the day.
By the way, no guarantees. On the second day, you will feel nervous too. It takes a reminder. You are harder if you have been through the Corona virus hardness. It takes time. They say Rome wasn’t built in a day. Maybe they had what it takes to build it in a day but you get the sense. It’s not common.
Word is used as interchangeably for ‘job’
By Calpas
