My First Week at Rasta - A Candid Saga!

With the assumption that the first week at a new job would be easy, I slept through the night and woke up 3 hours earlier than usual, only to overthink about everything that could go wrong on my first day! I am one of those people who can make mountains out of non-existent molehills within a matter of minutes and work myself into a tizzy that has no end or beginning. 

 

Add the stress of joining an advertising firm after a two-year hiatus from my last advertising gig; I had a true case of destructive nervousness on my hands. As I felt all those hours tick by, I donned my cape of confidence, sipped water, and opened the first email of the day! 

 

The schedule had arrived. I was to chat with HR, understand and download all the information thrown my way, discover what was expected of me, and prepare myself to chat with my manager and boss in the next couple of hours. 

 

The first day resulted in some clarity on how the company functions, the way timesheets work, and my tasks for the week. Shifting from a writing job where I could put up deliverables like a Subway server to a strategy job that needed me to dive within and cull out all my dormant intellect was a shock that I had to recover from very quickly as there were deliverables that would be reviewed in 4 days.  

 

So, I organized myself, created a timeline, and got to work! 

 

I read & re-read brand books, familiarized myself with the Slack system, asked questions, updated my timesheet—a lot, started jotting down notes & random thoughts, had an impromptu video chat with HR, prepared for a spontaneous client shoot, met up with a client, witnessed the process of a shoot, met a colleague face-to-face, made presentations, organized my thoughts, tried to judge the merit in my work again & again, scheduled meetings, shifted meetings, presented my work, got good and great feedback, rode the adrenaline rush that my stress rewarded me, felt exhausted afterward and finally patted myself on the back for a productive week. 

 

Oh, Advertising! With your pace, terminologies, process, and charm, you greeted me with open arms that I felt like I had never left. 

 

This week at Rasta—a hub of creativity, fun, and quality work—my skills finally found a new place to call home.