I just accepted an offer for a job starting in May. They have asked me to turn in some paper work, aside from that doesnt look like much else is involved.
At this point what should I do? I feel like there would be a long awkward silent between now and start date, is there anything I can do to avoid that? Should I ask if there are certain reading I should do? Or if there is any remote work I could start on?
Congratulations on accepting your offer, and welcome to the corporate world.
You can certainly ask for things to do to prepare you for your role, but nothing is expected of you. The biggest mind shift I had to make when I started working full time was the concept that I am valuable and worth something.
During school, your primary contribution and purpose is yourself. You study because you want a good grade, and your good grades lead to good things down the road. If you don’t study and get poor grades, you are affected dramatically, but your school is not. You can fail all of your classes, and the school would never be adversely affected; you can withdraw from school, and nobody (aside from family and friends who love you) would care one way or the other.
Business is different. You are hired and paid because you are expected to add value to the company. If you start a job for $50,000 a year, it is reasonable to expect that you will add $150,000-$200,000 of value to that company every year. If you work with clients, you’ll have a client billing rate that is astronomical - I started out billing $120/hr, and after 3 years I was billing $290/hr. The rate that you charge brings revenue to your company and adds value to your client (presumably the $120-$290/hr that you charge will pay for itself by the work that you do). As a result, the business has a vested interest in you: if you do poorly, you will still get paid the same amount (though you may get a lower raise and miss out on some variable compensation opportunities), but your company will lose a TON.
There is no expectation that you will do ANYTHING between now and May, so as crazy as it sounds, you’re basically just done and can relax during your last semester of college! You can now flip the roles - your role is now primarily producer, not consumer!
One thing you’ll want to concentrate on: building a professional wardrobe.
What that means, of course, depends on where you’ll be working. But it’s most likely very different from a college wardrobe, so it’s not going to be cheap. Start now (hint: a quick letter to Santa) to build whatever it is you’ll need in terms of that professional wardrobe.
Congrats!!