This summer, I was hired as Project Lead for this closed-loop recycling system. In the midst of the pandemic, I was excited to have something new to focus on besides the deadly virus. What I didn’t know, however, was just how much that pandemic would affect everything to come.
As a new hire in the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC), I received many warm “Welcome” emails and got to meet my coworkers and bosses over Zoom calls. Everyone tried their best to welcome me and introduce themselves, and they were all so kind and inviting. This transition went just about as well as you could hope, but I still wish that I could have started this job and met all of these great people in person.
Further, since I was taking over the team from Lauren, I had many Zoom meetings with her to transition into the role. Lauren did a great job of explaining over the phone and creating documents for me to reference, but there are still some things that would have been best explained in person or demonstrated.
Overall, my experience with beginning a new role amidst the global stress of a pandemic, which was only added to by the California wildfires, has been very good. SERC’s utilization of Zoom and other technologies has helped to bridge the gap that is left during remote transitions, for the most part. As with anything being performed remotely, there are some in-person parts of transitioning to a new job that just can’t be made up for. However, Lauren, everyone at SERC, and my 3D Printing Filament Reclamation Project team have made this transition as smooth as possible, and I can’t thank them enough for it!
This blog post was written by Brooke Chang.
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