A new team, a new office environment and sometimes, a whole new industry to learn.
Setting yourself up for success is important, and we have some tips for you, to ensure you nail the first months in your new role.
Act as though you’re still being interviewed Well done on landing the new job! Its natural to feel a sense of relief after receiving the offer, but keep in mind that you’ve talked the talk, but haven’t yet walked the walk! Think of your first thirty to ninety days as an extended interview. Show up every day thinking you need to prove you deserved to be hired. You’ll work harder, work smarter, won’t take anything for granted… and in short order you will prove you belong.
See your manager as a person you help, not a person who tells you what to do Your manager hired you for your skills and attributes, they believe that you can do the job so now its up to you and get in there and help them get it done! Look to your boss as someone you can go to for help, not someone that has to tell you what to do. This will strengthen your relationship and will help you be a team and work together. Plus you’ll find it’s a lot easier to work hard when you feel you’re helping someone instead of obeying them. And you’ll enjoy your work more too – it’s a lot more fun and an infinitely more rewarding to help than to comply.
Build relationships based on performance, not conversation Great companies with great cultures welcome new employees to the fold. Other employees go out of their way to meet and get to know you. That’s awesome, but work still involves work, not just conversation. Be nice, be friendly, be yourself – but always remember that the best working relationships are based on respect and trust, and respect and trust are based on actions and performance, not just on words. Prove yourself. Pitch in. Help out. Follow through. Meet every commitment. Earn the respect and trust of others and you will build truly great professional relationships. And you’ll build some great friendships, too.
Go the extra mile early – and often Early on you probably don’t have all the skills you need. You probably don’t have all the experience. You probably don’t have all the contacts and connections. But you can have the willingness to work extremely hard. Work hard and everyone around you will forgive a certain lack of skill and experience. They’ll know you’re trying – and sometimes, at least for a while, that’s all that matters.
Spot the high performers and mimic them Every organisation is different, which means the key attributes of top performers in those organisations are different, too. Maybe the top performers work more – or different – hours. Maybe relationship building is more important than transactional selling. Maybe flexibility is more important than methodology. Pick out the top performers and study them. Figure out what makes them tick. How they approach problems. How they make decisions. There’s no need to reinvent the high-performance wheel; save that for when you are a top performer and want to go even further.
Think three moves ahead Think about where a task might lead you. Think about how you can leverage your current responsibilities. Think about what skills you can learn, visibility you can gain, connections you can build… every task, every project, and every job can lead to a number of great possibilities.
Find a way to stand out Work hard to be known for something specific. Be known for responding more quickly or following up first or always offering to help before you’re asked. Be the leader known for turning around struggling employees or creating the biggest pool of promotable talent or building bridges between different departments. Pick a worthwhile mission – one that truly benefits the company and other employees – and work to excel at that mission. Then you’ll stand out in the best possible way.
Find people to help You’re new. People are supposed to help you, right? Right. And wrong. You can start helping people now. If you see someone struggling and you don’t know what to do, say, “I’m new so you may have to tell me what to do… but I would love to help you.” If you’re in a meeting and someone else was assigned a seemingly overwhelming project, stop by later and ask if you can help. Even if you’re not taken up on it, the offer will likely be appreciated.
Never forget why you were hired Yes, you want to learn and grow. Yes, you want to build a career. Yes, you want to feel happy and fulfilled. And yes, you were hired to help advance the goals and mission of the company. It’s possible to fulfil your goals and the company’s goals. Make sure you do. That way you and the company win – and isn’t that what the employer/employee relationship should be all about?
