So, you’ve landed your first job after college. After a significant amount of time job searching, you’ve finally accepted an offer and this deserves a celebration!

However, there’s a sudden anxiousness that creeps in. Multiple what-ifs are racing through your head. These what-ifs can affect your mindset as you begin your career journey.

Here are possible sources of your anxiety and how you can overcome them.

1) Fear of not having time outside of work.

Let’s be real: we’ve all heard of those horror stories — may it be from our friends or from people we follow online — where people share how impossible it is to have a life outside of work. Some of them even sacrifice their rest days just to finish their tasks!

With this, it’s definitely valid that you feel anxious because you wouldn’t have time. Would you even have time to eat? sleep? breathe?

Yet before you even begin to spiral out of control, know that it is possible to have a life outside of your 9-5! The key here is in setting boundaries.

Pro-tip: In setting boundaries, start first with creating a daily agenda where you include a time for each task as well as a 10-minute break in between. During this break, you will completely detach from your work and do something relaxing.  Get a snack, chat with your friends, or go for a short walk outside of the office. If you’re working from home, do a quick stretch or watch a short video instead!

This agenda will ensure that you can finish your tasks on time. When the work day ends, you can begin to do other activities!

Setting boundaries also includes learning how to say no when your hands are already full. Being a good employee isn’t measured by the number of overtime hours you record. Of course, saying “no” as a fresh graduate can be hard, but it will get easier especially when you offer alternative solutions or suggestions that will still provide value to the company.

2) Fear of getting stuck in your first career industry.

We get it: in landing your first job, you can’t help but get ahead of yourself and think that this is what you’ll do for the rest of your life. You might think that whatever industry you’ll enter the first time will limit your future career potential.

Spoiler alert: this isn’t true. Your first job won’t determine your whole career.

Pro-Tip: The most important thing for you right now is to get experience. It really does not matter which industry you enter at first as there will always be new things to learn in any industry. You might not realize that the skills you will get in this first job will also be valuable in your next one!

3) Fear of not doing a great job.

There are many things to be anxious about in starting a new role, and one of them is that you wouldn’t do a good job in it. Since you’re just starting out, you are still trying to learn the ropes and make sense of the tasks being given to you.

Pro-tip: See where you can add value to the company. Schedule a meeting with your supervisor and ask them about the different success metrics attached to your role. You can also ask them for guidance whenever you need it!

Before this meeting, make sure you already have a set of questions that you can ask your supervisor. Aside from metrics, you can also ask for any other opportunities that the company provides for employee growth!

4) Fear of constantly making mistakes.

We’ve all been in situations where we have no clue about what we’re doing. Remember your first day in college: did you come 100% prepared for every single challenge you’ll face?

The answer is no. You’ve probably faced multiple hiccups here and there. Maybe you got lost in finding your next class to the point where you were recorded by your professor as late or maybe you forgot about your assignment that was due the next day.

The point is when you’re in a completely different environment, you will make mistakes. It’s actually more alarming if you don’t.

As a fresh grad, you aren’t expected to know everything. Your supervisors know that entry-level professionals need adjustment periods so they can fully settle into their new roles. No one will get it right the first time. However, when you make these mistakes, make sure that you learn from them so you wouldn’t commit them twice.

These mistakes will make you understand how to do the job better. In the long run, you’ll thank yourself for making these mistakes in your first year.

Pro-tip: Start slow. Give yourself time to get comfortable with your new routine and role. In these times, you can just start to do your job to the best of your ability and ask questions when you need to.

Remember: the best way to combat this anxiety is to be open to making mistakes. Again, this is normal. Don’t push yourself to strive for perfection because it does not exist.

Know when to seek professional help.

In some cases, your “first job anxiety” is actually more than what you think it is.

Being anxious and stressed about something you haven’t experienced before is completely normal. According to Medical News Today, our anxiety is triggered because of certain stimuli to keep us alive. Once we see these “stimuli” as something that isn’t new anymore, our anxiety about this should lessen already.

However, when our anxiety doesn’t wear off, it might be because of underlying mental conditions. These conditions lead to “excessive nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worry.”

If your anxiety continues to grow to the point where it affects your life outside of work, it’s best to seek help from professionals who are more knowledgeable about these situations.

All in all, these are some ways you can overcome your first job anxiety. Always remember that you are not alone. There are thousands, even millions, of people going through the same thing.

Kalibrr is a recruitment technology company that aims to transform how candidates find jobs and how companies hire talent. Placing the candidate experience at the center of everything it does, we continue to attract the best talent from all over, with more than 5.5 million professionals and counting. Kalibrr ultimately connects these talents to companies in search of their next generation of leaders.

The only end-to-end recruitment solutions provider in Southeast Asia, Kalibrr is headquartered in Makati, Philippines, with offices in San Francisco, California, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Established in 2012, it has served over 18,000 clients and is backed by some of the world’s most powerful start-up incubators and venture capitalists. These include Y Combinator, Omidyar Network, Patamar Capital, Wavemaker Partners, and Kickstart Ventures.

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