Being new on the job can be intimidating. What are the unspoken rules of your new workplace? How do you recover from a big mistake? When's a good time to ask for a promotion?

This episode is a special collaboration with our friends at NPR’s podcast, Life Kit. If you don’t know it yet, it’s a great show that gives you all the tools to help you get it together. They cover topics related to work and life – like managing stress, saving money, and even how to get a tattoo.

New Here host Elainy Mata speaks with Life Kit guest host Stacey Vanek Smith about the essential tips that can help you whether you’re new to the workforce or starting a new job. They discuss everything from handling a difficult boss to staying motivated at work.

If you’re already a fan of New Here, this is a great refresher with some big takeaways from our first season. And if you’re a new listener, welcome! You can binge Season 1 of New Here now. Dig into topics like setting healthy boundaries at work, building your network from scratch, bouncing back after a layoff, and more.

Listen to Life Kit at https://www.npr.org/lifekit or wherever you get your podcasts.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: careers, communication, career transitions, managing yourself, compensation and benefits, difficult conversations, managing up, negotiation skills, negotiation strategies, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, listening skills, credibility, mental health

More Resources:

· 5 tips for starting a new job (NPR Life Kit)

· Why Don’t I Feel Motivated at Work Anymore? (New Here)

· How Do I Make the Case for My First Raise? (New Here)

· What Do I Need to Know About Workplace Etiquette? (New Here)

· How Do I Recover from a Big Mistake at Work? (New Here)

· How Do I Handle a Bad Boss? (New Here)

So you’re thinking quitting your full-time job and working for yourself. Or maybe you’ve already decided that the corporate life isn’t for you and you have a passion project that could become a full-fledged business.

What do you need to consider before you walk away from your corporate career? Have you thought about the financial risks, how you’ll find community or mentorship, or what your future would look like with less of a roadmap?

This week on New Here, we follow Jemma Sbeg as she leaves her successful consulting career to pursue her passion project—her now-hit podcast, The Psychology of your 20s.

Host Elainy Mata interviews Jemma on her first day of working for herself—to learn how she made the decision to leave her full-time job and what her hopes and fears are for her new work life.

Then Elainy and Jemma have a second conversation after Jemma’s been working on her own for five months. You’ll learn which of Jemma’s fears were warranted, how she battled loneliness, managed her money, and whether or not she is actually happier working for herself.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: entrepreneurship, career transitions, managing yourself, careers.

More Resources:

· Should you quit your 9-5? (The Psychology of your 20s)

· Should You Quit Your Job? (Holly Bauer Forsyth)

· Are You Cut Out to Be an Entrepreneur? (Shirish Nadkarni)

· The Right Way to Make a Big Career Transition (Utkarsh Amitabh)

· How to Quit Your Job with No Regrets (Christine vs. Work)

So, you’re ready to find your next job. What’s your interview strategy?

This week on New Here, we learn why making a good first impression in a job interview is so important to your success – and how to do it.

Career coach and TikTok creator Sho Dewan helps host Elainy Mata understand how many recruiters think – so you can make the most of your time with them.

Plus, actor Jack Aschenbach shares his tips for approaching a job interview with the mindset and methods that actors use when they audition for roles.

You’ll also learn how to manage your nerves, why it’s important to make a connection with your interviewer right away, and what recruiters are looking for when they interview you.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: job interviews, job search, career transitions, communication, managing yourself, careers.

More Resources:

· How to Make a Great First Impression (Rebecca Knight)

· Tips for Acing Your First Job Interview (Kelsey Alpaio)

· 38 Smart Questions to Ask in a Job Interview (The Harvard Business Review Guide)

· How to Answer the Question, “Tell Me About Yourself” (Christine vs. Work)

· Sho Dewan on TikTok (workhap)

So, the thrill of your new job is wearing off and you’re feeling unmotivated at work. That might show up as procrastinating on that project you were assigned, skipping meetings, or maybe even daydreaming about quitting. What can you do about it?

This week we’re talking about how motivation ebbs and flows at work We’ll learn where motivation at work comes from, what a lack of it means, and what your relationship with it might look like throughout your career.

Leadership coach, author, and podcast host Muriel Wilkins has a lot of experience coaching her clients through career challenges when their motivation is faltering. She does that at the executive level, but she also understands a lot about why motivation can come and go throughout your career, including at the very beginning.

Muriel helps host Elainy Mata understand that feeling unmotivated early in your career can actually be an opportunity to figure out what motivates you—and what doesn’t. Plus, Muriel offers listeners advice about their motivation challenges.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: managing yourself, mental health, careers.

More Reading:

· Understanding the Power of Intrinsic Motivation (Stefan Falk)

· How to Keep Working When You’re Just Not Feeling It (Ayelet Fishbach)

· Is It Time to Rethink Your Productivity? (Kelsey Alpaio)

· On the Brink of Burnout (Coaching Real Leaders podcast)

· How Do I Stay Motivated After Surviving Layoffs? (Coaching Real Leaders podcast)

· How Do I Find Meaning in my Work? (Coaching Real Leaders podcast)

So you were laid off for the first time. How do you recover and move forward with your career?

We’re told that layoffs aren’t personal. They’re a business decision. But that doesn’t make the emotions any easier to process as you figure out how to move on.

HR consultant Meloney Sallie-Dosunmu has laid people off, but she’s also been laid off. In this episode, she joins one of our own listeners, Nydia Bryan Martinez, who was laid off earlier this year. They tell host Elainy Mata how their experiences have changed their careers and their perspectives on work.

They also share how they recovered from the initial shock of being laid off, how they processed their emotions, and how they reframed their careers and moved forward. And they take listener questions about layoffs.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: career transitions, personal resilience, human resource management, careers.

More Reading:

· What You Should Know About Layoffs (Before, During, and After) (Nahia Orduña)

· How to Be Ready for a Layoff, Even if Your Job Feels Secure for Now (Christine vs. Work)

· You don’t need to leave your relationships behind when you get laid off (Kelsey Alpaio)

· Managing Your Emotions After Being Laid Off (Susan Peppercorn)

Asking for your first raise is a big moment in your career. But how do you know when to ask or how to start the conversation?

Getting a raise isn’t just a conversation about money. It’s a process, and you need a strategy. Author and personal finance expert Anne-Lyse Ngatta, also known as Anne-Lyse Wealth on her podcast, and Gorick Ng, an author and career advisor, walk host Elainy Mata through that process.

They break down how to lay the groundwork and do your research, when and how to start the conversation with your manager, and how to navigate the negotiation that may follow.

They also share their own experiences advocating for higher pay early in their careers, and they explain why your timing and your tone are so important to get right. Plus, they take listener questions about asking for a raise.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: compensation and benefits, difficult conversations, managing up, negotiation skills, negotiation strategies, careers.

More Reading:

· How to Ask for a Raise (Christine vs. Work)

· What to Do When Your Raise Isn’t Enough (Anne-Lyse Wealth)

· The Economy Is Uncertain. Can You Still Negotiate a Raise? (Shanna Hocking)

· How Black Women Can Navigate Pay-Gap Gaslighting (Lola Bakare)

When you’re starting your career, navigating the unwritten rules around to how to behave at work can be really difficult. So how do you learn that etiquette?

This week comedian and author Sarah Cooper tells host Elainy Mata how she learned those invisible rules early in her career, why they matter, and which rules she thinks you can bend.

You may know Sarah for her viral lip-syncing TikToks during the pandemic. But before that, she worked as a designer at big tech companies – like Yahoo and Google. And she didn’t just crack the office etiquette game -- she also had some fun with those rules. In fact, Sarah’s early comedy is all about office etiquette – like her satirical article “10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings.”

Sarah and Elainy offer their take on the etiquette of email writing, how to handle yourself in meetings, and when it’s OK to wear your comfy pants to work. Plus, they answer your office etiquette questions.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, listening skills, office politics, careers.

More Reading:

How to Speak Up in Meetings (Christine vs. Work)

How to Write Better Emails at Work (Jeff Su)

The New Rules of Work Clothes (Allison Shapira)

The Cooper Review (Sarah Cooper)

So, you messed up at work. How do you move forward?

This week we’re talking about how to handle your first big mistake in a new job. We’ll learn how to own what happened, regain trust, and move forward.

For radio journalist Priska Neely, making a mistake in a news report or broadcast can be a very public experience. She leads a team of reporters at NPR’s Gulf States Newsroom, and it’s her job to guide her team through all of their mistakes – big and small.

Priska helps host Elainy Mata understand why mistakes happen at work – and offers her perspective as a manager on what your boss might be thinking when it happens. Plus, she takes listener questions about workplace blunders.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: managing up, communication, difficult conversations, credibility, careers.

More Reading:

· So, You Dropped the Ball. How Do You Get Your Credibility Back? (Jeff Tan)

· You Made a Big Mistake at Work. What Should You Do? (Dina Denham Smith)

· The Best Lesson a Manager Ever Taught Me (Sonika Bakshi)

You need to build a network as you build a career. So, how do you get started?

This week on New Here, we explore different ways to start building professional relationships – in a way that feels authentic. And we’ll learn how to sustain those relationships over time.

Former tech executive Eric Rodriguez and Gael Aitor, co-host of Teenager Therapy and co-founder of Astro Studios, help host Elainy Mata understand that networking is about finding ways to support other people and building long-term relationships.

They share how they make new connections and build on them, as well as some of their networking horror stories. And they help Elainy answer your questions about networking.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: personal networks, communication, careers.

More Reading:

· Eric Rodriguez’s one pager

· How to Network on Instagram (It's More Than Just the DMs!) (Elainy Mata)

· A Beginner’s Guide to Networking (Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar)

· Work Speak: The Right Way to Network (Vasundhara Sawhney)

· Fun Ways to Network as a Newbie (Phoebe Dodds)

· Get Better at Networking: Our Favorite Reads (Paige Cohen)

So, you have your first bad boss. How do you protect yourself?

This week on New Here, we learn how to deal witha difficult manager and heal afterward.

Leadership coach and TikTok creator Robyn L. Garrett helps host Elainy Mata understand how many managers think -- and shares how she handled a bad boss early in her career.

Plus, Elainy’s own former boss Anita Sen gives us three tips that we can use to protect ourselves from a difficult manager.

Have a career question? Let us know at [email protected].

Key topics include: communication, managing up, mental health, careers.

More Reading:

· When Should You Take a Problem to HR? (Octavia Goredama)

· Dealing With Your Incompetent Boss (Amy Gallo)

· Do You Hate Your Boss? (Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries)