It is “going to be tricky” for recent graduates to negotiate and navigate boundaries when they are new to a workplace, says careers psychologist Sinéad Brady. And some of this trickiness, she explains, stems from the fact that graduates may not yet be aware what their own boundaries are.
“In order to negotiate a boundary, you have to know what your boundary actually is,” says Brady. Some boundaries are “straightforward and clear”, others less so.
Once you know what your boundaries are, it’s easier to keep to them, although “it’s not 100 per cent or nothing”, she adds. “You have to look at it and go ‘okay, there’s going to be a bit of give and take here’.”
It’s a message echoed by Simon Morris, manager of the financial services recruitment team at Morgan McKinley in Dublin.
Flexibility is a must, he says. “One of the biggest pieces of advice for any grad joining a new role is that you do need to be flexible. And flexible means working through the occasional lunchtime, having to stay late the odd night and doing things outside of the day-to-day norm. By doing those things you show you’re flexible; you build credibility.
“And what you would hope by doing that is that the business and your manager would pay you back the same respect, by letting you leave a bit early for that gym class or letting you have the morning off for that dentist appointment without question.”
However, it’s important that occasional flexibility doesn’t become a constant demand, Morris adds. “What I wouldn’t do is confuse being flexible with having a constant expectation on you. And that means a manager who expects you to stay late every night, work through every lunch.”
If this constant pushing of boundaries is becoming an issue, it is important to communicate it, Brady says. “But not in a ‘demand’ sense”; rather, by explaining that these are very important things to you.
“Course correct early rather than late,” says Brady. Before missing lunch and working late become normal, it’s hard to see the boundaries being crossed.
For graduates entering the employment market, a still relatively new concept is that of hybrid working. And it can pose a different challenge to younger workers.
Having the option to work from home can be considered a significant bonus, but Morris says graduates should think about trying to be on site when they can. “I would strongly recommend and encourage every graduate to get themselves into the office as much as possible” he says. “I hear it from employers time and time again, simply that graduates who spend more time at home just don’t develop as quickly as those who come into the office on a regular basis.
“And in fact the ones that are coming into the office on a regular basis are actually getting rewarded as well, with bonuses, quicker promotions. Because I think what people miss is that a lot of early career development doesn’t even necessarily even happen from sitting at your desk. It happens from chatting with colleagues over lunch, over the water cooler.
“Just picking up tips from hearing your manager on the phone speaking to a client [can be of benefit]. I think that’s what you really miss out on when you’re working from home.”
“Having an office presence, making yourself known, builds towards your credibility,” says Morris.
But it’s not solely about career development, as he explains: “It does make work just a lot more fun. It’s not just about sitting behind the desk all day. It’s about sitting with colleagues for a bit of lunch. It’s about going for that pint after work. Making friends and networking internally. Learning a bit more about the culture of the business.”
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It can be hard to judge exactly what the hybrid culture of an organisation is from the outset, so the best thing to do is ask, says Brady. “Say it to your colleagues, say it to your team leader, say it to whoever it is – that you need to understand how they like hybrid to work.”
She suggests letting colleagues know you want to find out how the flow of the day works and asking clear questions such as: “How would you like me to check in with you? How would you like me to communicate with you about what I’m doing? And if I’ve got an issue or a problem, what’s the best way to get that information to you?”
Because, she says, “there’s going to be loads of different channels and ways of communicating”.
Presenteeism has little purpose in hybrid situation, Morris says. And if Friday, for example, is a day that very few colleagues are in the office, there’s not much point in recent graduate recruits going in unless there is an expectation to do so.
“There’s no point in a long commute just to sit in the office by yourself all day. It won’t take long to establish what days your team is in there.”
Just “make sure you’re in the same days as your colleagues and as your manager”.
Learning how to make connections quickly is a necessity that has arisen to some extent from the hybrid situation, says Brady. “That comes from conversation. And those conversations can be a 15-minute chat. Ask for somebody’s time – but be very focused as to why you want their time.
“For example, it might be that you have a particular interest in a particular area and your ask might be ‘I’m really interested in the area of diversity and inclusion [or] I’m really interested in the social end of work: are there clubs that I can meet people in?’ So it’s not necessarily about being in the office on a particular day. It’s about how you use that time really effectively. And it’s also not about the quantity of people who are there. It’s about who is there.
“So figure out who’s there, how you might connect with them and how you might become involved in their world in some way.”
Mixing and taking advantage of social opportunities can help graduates to make the most of the time they spend with their colleagues, Morris says. “There’s a really good social side to work. It’s not just about the nine to five, the grind. You’ll make really good friends that you’ll have for life.
“And when you are in the office and everyone is present, just take every opportunity that you can to learn.”
He agrees with Brady about asking people for their time. “You can ask them questions about how they progressed, or how they handled a tricky client.”
When with your colleagues, it’s just about being “really genuine and connected to what you’re doing and where you’re going”, Brady says.
“You can learn in loads of different ways. It might be from having conversations with people. It might be from attending events. It might be from connecting with people on other teams.”
Many employers help graduates to find a mentor or sponsor, she says. “Use those. They are totally underused, but they are extremely important. And they build your capital and your connection within an organisation in a way that just doesn’t happen easily otherwise.”