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I have been invited to a New Year party at a company where I have accepted a role, but as yet haven't joined.
My joining date is more than 10 days after New Year. I am very happy that they have invited me, however I am not sure about attending as I will only know the 2 or 3 people from my interview panel. I think that I might have awkward time there. Would it be a good idea to just brave it out and go, or would it be harmful to my new role to reject the invitation (or maybe even be offensive)?
If you are confused just because you haven't met them, then you should attend the party, so that you can get to know your future colleagues in advance, in addition to having a nice time.
This can help you build rapport with your team in advance, and you would also get to know about them in advance.
I would attend the party and leave early quietly. This stops anyone being offended and allows you time to introduce yourself and assess the people there, before people get too drunk or things get noisy.
Much the same when I am invited to clients parties, I attend, but leave early. Creates a good impression without any stress.
Invited for a newyear party , Should I go?
Yes you should. By attending that party you will get familiar with many more employees, company culture and many more things. Go and Enjoy it :)
If I reject the invitation would it be offensive ?
I don't see any reason to reject the invitation. But still if you do not want to attend then you can reject politely with some reasonable reason. The Reason should not be like you do not want to attend party because you have not joined the company yet. That will look a little bit odd.
The point of the invitation to current employees is that they can get to know some of the people they work with better. The point of the invitation to you is that you can get to know some of the people you're going to work with better.
The key is they want you to get to know people. If team leads and managers are competent, they will do their best to make sure you're properly introduced to various people and won't have an awkward time.
However, if you don't want to go it's perfectly acceptable to decline the invitation and state you already have other plans (which you don't need to specify).
