Your HR onboarding pack is full of useless forms, org charts that were outdated six months ago, and password resets that take three days to clear IT. None of it will prepare you for the moment a controversial council item drops at 4:00 PM on a Friday and you do not know who holds the veto power.
Starting as a government communicator is disorienting. You walk into a building where everyone else seems to share a secret language, unspoken history, and deep-seated grudges. The official onboarding binder tells you where to find the copier and how to submit travel expenses. It tells you zero about how decisions actually get made.
If you try to remake the wheel during your first month, you will burn out or alienate the very people you need.
