What It Was Like Being a New Hire in A Pandemic

A leap of faith into uncharted territory

image from Unsplash

Despite not actively looking for a change of role, I ended up starting a new job during the pandemic after someone reached out to me about an opening at their company.

After about a month of introductions and interviews, and one interview I thought I completely bombed, I found myself answering a call from headquarters and being told, “the team would like to extend an offer”.

I’m not going to lie; I hung up the phone and started jumping up and down. I wasn’t particularly happy in my current role, but it was paying the bills, and I had told myself I’d stick around until I finished my Master’s degree (May 2022). I wasn’t prepared to receive a job offer while I was so comfortable in my current role, still in school, and living through a pandemic.

I had a decision to make.

At the time, I felt overworked and under-appreciated and disliked the company culture. Some days I could stay in my work-from-home bubble, but most days, when I had to join meetings, I found myself waking up dreading the day. Regardless of my plan to stick around for another year, I accepted the offer and gave my two-week notice — for the first time. Yes, this was the first time I had given my notice to a company, and it was so nerve-wracking. That’s one thing nothing can prepare you for. I had researched how to resign and read a few tips, but that all when out the window when I joined the meeting I had scheduled. I was shaking so bad I could barely get the words out. The only thing on my side was that I had a great relationship with my manager at the time, and he completely understood that it was my time to move on.

Moving from my home office to… my home office

My last day of work was May 14th, and my first day at my new job was May 17th.

Over the weekend, I spent some time cleaning up my desk, dusting a bit, and getting things ready for my new job. That was the first weird thing about starting a job during a pandemic: I wasn’t going anywhere except my home office on my first day. Sure, I would be on camera during orientation, but that’s not the same as the typical first-day jitters you get as you’re…