Sunday, August 8, 2010

Stress doesn't end at "hired"

If there is one thing I've learned this past week, it's that starting a new job is a stressful process.

I always thought that the most stressful aspect of starting a new career was actually the job searching process. Once you got the job, everything from then on was icing on the cake.

Well it's more complicated than that.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of stress that goes away once you get the job you have been looking for but it's pretty intense during the first month or two of the new job as well.

My wife Kayla is a perfect example. Having recently graduated from school to be a medical assistant/LMR, it has been tough these last few months while she looks for a job. So you can imagine how happy we were when she finally got a great job with an office within one of Louisville's largest hospitals.

But with a new job, comes a new type of stress. The job search may be over but after the first full week in the new job, Kayla is more tired at the end of this week than she has been in a long time.

The new job is good and she is doing very well so far, but the mental endurance it takes to learn, watch, inquire, perform, meet, remember and practice can be very tiring. Especially in a very fast paced medical environment such as the one Kayla is in.

AND on top of all this, your body has to adjust to a brand new sleep and work schedule, which is more difficult than one might think.

So while the new job is great and I'm positive Kayla will get it down in no time, it's a good lesson that during the career searching process, the mental stress doesn't end when the HR person calls and says "You're hired."







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