Long story short, I am not a very expressive person (somewhat socially awkward).
I recently accepted an offer to join a firm, but am having some trouble expressing my enthusiasm (even though I am really happy, but exhausted because of the relocation pains).
I feel like this is giving the wrong impression to the new firm, and I wanted to see if anyone has any guidance about what i can do to radiate positive energy?
( I am trying to sleep a little more to shed my exhaustion, but want to hear other ideas)
Don’t worry about it. Just put out, work hard, and manage up. Be yourself, don’t try to force anything, you should be fine. It also could be a result of your diet (and sleep as you mentioned), as well your exercise routine.
Every job offer I’ve gotten has resulted in me getting asked if I’m happy about it haha. Just show your passion through your work and their doubts will fade
IMO, actions speak louder than words. If you can make people’s lives easier, you’re good. Ask people, “is there anything I can help you with?” most of the time they will say no but if they do, do it really well and really timely. They liked you enough to hire you, now it’s time to be yourself and deliver, good luck!
Not all about hoorrahh and high fives and stuff. It’s totally fine to be introverted.
Good ways to show you’re keen are:
Take notes, lots of notes and let people see that you’re taking notes. Even when you dont think you should be taking notes, take them anyway. People will be like ‘this dude is keen to learn’
Ask questions, but not the same question more than once, you should write the answers down.
Make an effort to speak to people, say hi.
Make people feel important, by asking them for career guidance and informal mentoring. Make sure these people are strong within your firm.
Build trust, go out for drinks with your colleagues and have a good laugh… make some work friends.
Most importantly, don’t assume the women are there to get you coffee. On my first day of my job, I said “hey, babe”, can you get me an Americano, two Splendas. Turns out she was the company CFO. Oh boy.
I completely disagree with the spirit of the first few answers. Working hard and just delivering outstanding product which “speaks for itself” will only get you so far and will rarely be appreciated sufficiently by people higher up the food chain other than your direct supervisor. If you don’t project enthusiasm for the job, you will be swimming upstream and making your career progression that much harder.
First off, it’s great that you’ve identified this character trait and are thinking of ways to manage it. Lots of people don’t even realize why their career growth is stunted despite doing outstanding work.
Second, you don’t need to change your personality - ever. You don’t have to engage in meaningless water cooler banter and small talk that would just come out forced anyway.
The best way to address it is to put in some effort in advance and do your homework. Review stuff diligently before meetings, always have 2-3 questions prepped in advance - make sure you ask them! Worst thing to do is take orders silently thinking everyone assumes you’d know what to do. Even if you do, ask a couple of questions. Follow up later with a question or better yet, some thoughts on how something might be done. When you deliver your work product, don’t just send an email attachment with a self-explanatory email subject - add a few bullet points highlighting some $hit even if it’s obvious. Better yet - stop by your boss’ office and make these (trivial) comments in person - just make sure you have a couple of prepared remarks in advance. Lastly, ask for feedback after you are done and thoughts on what they’ll like to see next time that would make their life easier.
This will require some effort on your part and advance prep, but it will make a big difference in how you are perceived (even if your work product would be essentially the same without engaging in any of these steps).
You said working hard isn’t enough, then you outlined how to work hard.
I don’t think you understand what it is like to be motivated/dedicated to a cause yet outwardly lacking enthusiasm.
You think M&A IB people are enthusiastic about working 100hr weeks, staying all weekend, and sitting there at 2am on a Sunday morning (Saturday night) when everyone else is at the bar?
Hell no, brah. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t do the task and do it well.
On the other hand, you could have an enthusiastic guy/gal that puts out little to nothing. What would be the point of that?
No. I said working hard is necessary but not sufficient condition for career progress. Then I outlined how to work smart in order to demonstrate that you are engaged. It’s only difficult because it requires that you step out of your comfort zone. People spend 20+ pages on threads trying to decide if automation is killing the industry, then give advice about how to be a better robot… ironic.
Yea, I am with ACE on this one (and that pains me!). I don’t see how your paragraph is any different than excelling at the job. Also, your advice seems to be a rules based system that seems a robot could do. I’m a big fan of effective systems, but I’m not understanding your desire to be a contrarian here. I suspect we are using different definitions for some terms here, but it will take 20+ pages to sort that out.
Generally speaking, I look for creativity, hustle, and someone that plays nice in the sandbox with everyone else. In an investment role, I look for someone that is thoughtful especially around understanding downside risks, and isn’t going to pass the buck if he/she makes a mistake in investment judgment. Everyone makes mistakes, so I’m really most interested that someone learns from their mistakes and has a relentless drive to get better at their job.
"I completely disagree with the spirit of the first few answers. Working hard and just delivering outstanding product which “speaks for itself” will only get you so far and will rarely be appreciated sufficiently by people higher up the food chain other than your direct supervisor. "
I have watched people work half as hard as others and simply network their way around the office and get promoted. It is unfortunate companies operate this way but executives like that people ask for their opinion and advice. So back to your original question, if you are socially awkward
congratulate people on emails
Say hello and express interest in what others do around the office (even if you don’t care…you want to get ahead right? But seriously do this )
If you have chat rooms at work…participate and ask questions…you want to be remembered.