Starting A New job During The Pandemic, And How It May Change My Future Working Life

I never expected to be starting a new job during the pandemic. But that’s exactly what ended up happening. While I hadn’t planned to leave my previous job I always on the silent look out at what was out there. Then at some point around the end of February, I interviewed for the role I’m in now. At the time COVID hadn’t really hit England and it was still a good few weeks before working from home became a thing.

Thankfully this meant I got to meet my manager in the interview, and get a glimpse of the office. If only I knew I wouldn’t see it again for a very long time. Even when I handed my notice in at my previous role things were still pretty ‘normal’. For my final three weeks at my role, I was working from home which meant I never got a chance to say goodbye to a lot of people in person. And that’s the one thing that upset me more than anything. It robbed me of the chance to say goodbye. But hopefully, I’ll still get to see everyone. One day.

The process of starting a new job during the pandemic

I did panic slightly at the thought of starting a new job during the pandemic. Would my role still be available? Would it be possible to start at home? How would it all work? I had a few weeks of panic where everything was up in the air and unknown. But my new company were incredible and did everything to ensure it went smoothly. While a lot of companies have sadly put recruitment on hold there are still places hiring. And places who are ensuring that they grab hold of the talent out there.

I was due to have 10 days off between finishing one role and starting the next. But this actually coincided with my dad getting the virus, so we were self-isolating which was mad. Thankfully he was okay but we couldn’t even get to our new house during this time. My laptop and equipment arrived the week before I was due to start and the rest is history. Induction, onboarding, introductions to my team and stakeholders have all been done virtually. And it’s crazy to think that I’ve been there about 8 weeks now and not met anyone (other than my manager) face-to-face.

How the pandemic is likely to change working in the future

Starting a new job during a pandemic has shown it can be done. Both existing employees and brand new starters have been able to do their roles from home successfully. While this isn’t quite as easy for all roles, for mine I’m based on a laptop and it doesn’t make too much difference whether I’m at home or in the office. While some businesses may have been a bit behind with ‘work from home’ requests before this point, everyone has proved it works and can be done.

While I wouldn’t want to work from home forever I do think there will (and should) be more flexibility in the option going forward. Working 2/3 days in the office and the rest from home would have seemed excessive before the pandemic. But now it feels like a viable option.

Working in the office vs working from home

There are massive benefits to being in the office. The social contact and interaction you have with your team is vital. And brainstorming and bouncing ideas off each other can be a lot easier in person than over a video chat. And I think you can bond easier as a team in person. Or at least if you’ve all physically met each other. Having conversations naturally at the desk as opposed to having to schedule in video calls.

But the idea of mixing that with a few days working from home has real appeal to me. My commute will be longer due to my move, and traffic so not having to deal with that 5 days a week will be great. And overall I’ll get a much better work life balance which is essential to loving your job but also having good mental health. At home I can pop the washing off in I need to. If a delivery is coming I don’t have to rearrange it or trek to the post office at the weekend. And at lunchtime I can do errands, or just sit on my sofa and watch Netflix.

At the end of the day starting a new job during the pandemic was a pretty seamless experience for me.

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