I’m an intern working in an office and all of the coworkers seem to have good relationships with each other. I’m kind of shy and I struggle with the boundary of being relaxed but not too unprofessional. I want to become better at this. I should also note that I’m much younger than the people there. Any advice?
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Sadly, a lot of this just depends on the group and giving good advice will be hard.
I’m relatively new to my job and about 15 years younger or more than most of the other employees bar a couple. I didn’t do much hanging out until a month or so in and I went to a coworkers birthday. After that I now get lunch on Fridays with a group and go drinking after work some days with them. Just find that crowd that hangs out and chat with them now and again. Don’t invite yourself though. As for boundaries, that can be hard. Safe option is just don’t say anything personal but then they’d find you boring or closed off. Just trickle feed them personal stuff or let them do the talking before giving anything personal in return. And definitely keep an eye out for any competition or HR whiners.
Oh yeah and being shy and quiet is fine. People understand that others are just like that sometimes and it can often be a conversation starter. Being known as being quiet will make people want to talk to you a bit.
This isn’t my finest work and I know it’s not super helpful and kinda vague, but I hope it helps a bit.