I could really use your help with a problem I’ve been experiencing at my new job. I’ve been in this role for over a month now, and I’ve been struggling with confidence and communication, which has been affecting my performance. I’m hoping for some advice on how to improve this situation.
A bit of background: I work in sales, and I’ve always been one of the most confident people at my previous job and during university. I was usually the one initiating conversations and had no problem speaking my mind. However, since starting this new role, I’ve been finding it difficult to talk confidently to my colleagues, and sometimes my mind just goes blank in certain situations.
One of the issues I’ve encountered is that the onboarding process was very unstructured. There was no training in place, and the product we sell is quite complex, which made it hard to learn without guidance. Additionally, my colleagues didn’t interact with me much at first (the environment was just extremely quiet) and that’s become the norm. Now, when they do talk to each other, I often don’t know how to contribute to the conversation.
I wonder if part of the problem might be that I come from a working-class background, while my colleagues seem to be more middle-class and older so I can’t relate to them much? However, this hasn’t been an issue for me in the past.
At work, I’ve been trying to create tasks for myself to learn the product and find clients, but there’s been little guidance, and the company operates with a lot of autonomy. As a result, I’m not sure what I need to do to be successful in this role and often make up tasks for myself to do.
I’d greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions on how I can improve my communication, boost my confidence, and thrive in this new environment. Thanks in advance for your help!