Confidence in New Settings: Newcomers Guide

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Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve discussed the CIA formula for developing confidence in any aspect of your life. The 3-step formula consists of courage, intention and action. (You can read more about it here). 

However, being confident is not always that simple. Have you ever found yourself losing confidence in a new environment? This applies especially to newcomers to a country, city, state, or even those in a new job. When you find yourself in a new context, you get forced out of your safe zone, and your confidence often pays the price. Today, I will share some strategies to get back on our feet and stand proud.

Of course, anyone can learn from this week’s content! So long as you’ve recently or are about to move to an unfamiliar setting, this article can help you. 

Getting started: Reflect on your origins

When you feel like you’ve lost confidence after moving to a new setting, my most helpful tip is to remind yourself of where you come from. Reflect:

• What tangible qualities made you feel confident there? 
• What skills did you have?
• How could you apply them in the new environment?
• What changes do you need to make?

This process will help you understand what you should focus on to rebuild your lost confidence.  Remember, you haven’t lost the skills that made you confident in your old environment. They’re not gone. You simply need to learn to adapt them to the new one. 

Understand why you made it here

Once you complete the first step, reflect on WHY you were chosen to be included in this new place in the first place. Why were you chosen to enter this new country, city, or school?  Why were you given this new job?

Whatever the reason may be, one thing’s for sure – you have SOMETHING to bring to the table that makes you suitable for this environment you’re in. By discovering why you successfully moved from one place to another, you will realize that you have a place in your new setting. You will also find that you CAN contribute, in some way, to your new environment. For example,  if you are an immigrant, you can share the local cultural norms of where you’re from. This is important for your peers to know, now that we live in a globalized world and business happens EVERYWHERE. 

Communication is key!

Most people understand that effective communication is vital to success. But most people also don’t understand it. One of the biggest misconceptions is that good communication means sounding like other people from the new environment. For example, if you enter a job in a new country, you may feel out of place because of your accent. However, it is crucial to remember that having been hired, you have likely already met the minimum standard of language understanding. That said, it means you can communicate your ideas to others EVEN IF you sound unique. Simply put, It’s not how you might not speak like someone from your new environment that matters. Instead, the focus should be on how well you convey your ideas.

Getting experience

In the Canadian market, achieving success often requires possessing Canadian experience.  But newcomers might know the struggle:  you need Canadian experience to qualify for Canadian jobs,  and you can’t get a Canadian job without Canadian experience! That said, there are many resources out there meant to help you that make it easy to get started. The sad thing is that most immigrants don’t KNOW about these programs aimed to help them. So I ask of you – please do some research into resources and programs available to you. 

 Whether it’s volunteering, joining a career training course, or finding online programs, keep in mind that your career pathway is not always linear. Sometimes, you must take a step sideways or “down” to reach higher in the long run.

Learning from others

Whether a newcomer or experienced in an environment, you should always strive to reach out to the other side. Always remember that while newcomers might not possess as much knowledge as you do about the setting you’re in, they bring with them perspectives and skills from somewhere else that you might not know of. Through connecting, you can learn from one another and broaden your views, learn new skills, and improve on those you already have.

A story between two students I had reflects this point very well. One was from Canada and another from a different country. The Canadian student’s baking skills caught the international student’s attention, who saw it as an opportunity to sell it in the country where the newcomer was from. By bringing a new perspective to an unfamiliar setting, the newcomer formed a business with the Canadian student, eventually turning it into a MULTI-MILLION dollar business. 

What’s worth noting here is that two people, a person in a familiar setting and a newcomer, formed a connection and were able to leverage their skills and perspectives to achieve success. They made up for each other’s weaknesses and used their different views from two worlds.

Key takeaways

• As a newcomer, remember where you come from, why you’re here, and why you were chosen to come. 
• Remember what you can bring to your new environment! Contributions include skills, knowledge, and a different way to view things as someone who came from somewhere else.
• Instead of focusing on how you sound when you talk, focus on how you can communicate your ideas.
• Make sure to use available resources to gain experience. Spend time researching what resources are available to you. 
• Learn from people familiar with the environment you’re in as a newcomer. They have valuable experience. 
• Learn from newcomers as someone who’s in a familiar environment. They have skills and perspectives from another setting, and you can learn things that you wouldn’t in your current environment through them.

We’ve covered newcomer confidence this week. Next week, we’ll learn about the five milestones to measuring confidence. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!