5 Steps To Building Self Confidence for Newly-Hired Graduates

Moving on from your student life to starting your first job is a big change in lifestyle, thinking, behaviour and more. It's your transition into the adult world, where you need to take responsibility for yourself and earn your way in this world.

Now that you have landed that big job, self-confidence building is an essential aspect for your new career. Here are five steps to building your confidence. If you concentrate on these five steps, you are well on your way to becoming a confident person, and your future looks bright.

Here are the five critical steps:

1. Screw up your courage and do it anyway

Your willingness to do this is essential to your self-confidence building. If you have to practice doing it beforehand, do so on your own time and don't complain about it. My first job out of college was as an assistant to a sales manager in a garment company.

I remember being afraid of making some of the phone calls I was required to make. There were times when I had to act for my boss in contacting some pretty scary sales reps who were older than me with a lot more experience.

We had a lot of turnover in our company, and one of the significant issues was to get the sample line of dresses returned to us when one of the sales reps quit as the sample line was worth several thousand dollars.

My job was to convince the resigning representative to send them back without a hassle. The first of these calls went badly, I'm sure. But I gathered up my courage and did it anyway.

Soon I was known in the office as a tough cookie that could get the sample line out of the most hardened sales rep. This did wonder for my reputation and self-confidence building.

2. Learn how to dress well and dress just a cut above what is expected

Only a few workplaces require suits and ties nowadays, but if they do, you must comply. For other workplaces, there are specific rules for both men and women. Ladies, even if the company dress code says you can wear flip-flops, don't. Save them for fun after work. Men, if you are allowed to wear t-shirts to work, don't. Set yourself apart by wearing a shirt with a collar and wear an occasional jacket to work.

This will work out better for you if you find your particular style and build a wardrobe around it. Seek out some help from a personal shopper (most of these are free at major department stores) and have them help you develop a "look" and an economical mix-and-match wardrobe.

If you're the kind of person who looks great in vintage clothes, wear them but make sure whatever you wear is appropriate. I'm always amazed by people fresh out of college who think that it is some badge of courage to rebel against the establishment by dressing as they did on campus.

As a former tech manager, I'm speaking specifically to those in high tech. It doesn't matter how great your coding is, management is not amused by this behaviour, and it will cost you at review time. If you are having a hard time buying a working wardrobe, think of it as a uniform that you are required to wear and an investment in your future.

3. Learn how to develop an executive presence

Why do this? Developing an executive presence means that you are perceived as someone who has the authority and is intelligent and confident. If you had a speech class in college or high school and did well, this should help with self-confidence building.

If you ducked this course, however, it's time to face the music and take a course at a community college or class to help you. You will be required to speak to people all the time, every day, both in person and by phone. It's important for your self-confidence building to learn how to gather your thoughts and speak on your feet.

You will be meeting customers, internal clients, high-level executives and colleagues every day of your exciting new career. You will be speaking in meetings, and you will be judged by the questions you ask and the comments you make.

Learn how to speak and speak well. If you are in any sales or customer service, this becomes even more important. Knowing how to give a first-class speech will provide you with the confidence to speak on your feet. You can only develop this presence through practice.

4. Learn how to write well

Every job now requires one to write at least the occasional business report or formal email. If your writing style is poor, you will be immediately dismissed as someone who does not matter. It's better to bring this skill to your first job than have to learn it on the job.

If your college experience didn't include a good writing class, and you know you need help, once again check out the local community classes for a good business writing class. If you're not sure if you need assistance, write a business report and have someone in the business that you trust to give you a critique.

This should be someone with more experience than you outside of your current company. Take their advice graciously to heart and thank them for their evaluation. The ability to learn how to communicate will be essential to your future career. Learning how to speak and write well is crucial to self-confidence building.

5. Keep your reputation intact

Your new job may have lots of people hiring who are your age and will become your friends, but this is not your fraternity, sorority or circle of drinking buddies. In my first job just out of college, I worked with many women who were my age. We were all full of energy and loved to party at the local pub to let off steam from a high-pressure job.

I shudder to think what my career options would be if I had stayed with that company because I engaged in this activity. At the time, it just seemed like good harmless fun and a way to relax. It is even more critical now for you to watch this kind of behaviour because of social networking.

If you were hired at all, it's most likely that you have dodged this bullet. A young relative of mine recently "unfriended" me on Facebook. I was confused at first because I thought I had offended her in some way.

I found out later (after she reconnected with me) that she was purging her page of any partying pictures or alcohol references because one of her friends had recently been hired as a teacher and everyone on the Facebook friends list had to clean their pages.

Moving into a new world and a new phase in your life

It's a brave new world out there, and technology has made all of us public figures, even if we don't want to be. In conclusion, I hope that the above five steps are of help to you. I wish you well in your new career and much success.

About the author

Gloria A Adams works as a content writer for the Essay Writing Service. Besides, she is highly interested in business coaching. In this case, she takes part in different conferences and webinars to get new knowledge and skills. Gloria dreams of writing and publishing her book on career succession.

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