JustIntroduce Yourself

　　It’s so easy to walk into your first job and feel like a stranger ina strange land. But you don’t have to stay that way，andyou shouldn’t.

　　You have to remind yourself to kick your shyness away and introduceyourself. Just a handshake will do. Ask the supervisor who hired you to introduceyou around a bit. That’s the best way to make contacts. Then you’ll know whatto do and say when you meet these people again.

　　Don’t do what my friend Sue did at her first job at EntertainmentWeekly. “That is one of my biggest regrets：I hardlytalked to anyone at all when I was there. I was scared and just thought peoplewould talk to me first. For a long time，I was hung upon the thought  that if someone was older，I respected them automatically. And even if someone started onMonday，and I started Tuesday，Ijust felt they had more experience. In the area I worked for four months，I hardly spoke to these people，” she said.

　　“Of course，now I realize that was the moststupid thing. If I could do that again，I’d rememberthat it’s so important not to feel shy about introducing yourself. It’s notlike you have to be very bold，ready to take over theplace. Just introduce yourself and ask if there is anything you can do forthem. That breaks the ice.”

　　Sue believes that if she had introduced herself around a bit，there would be just no telling what other opportunities or whatother acquaintances she might have now. Not that she regrets where she is nowat all. But had she talked to more people at her first job，“maybe it would have helped me get somewhere sooner，” she said.