So you landed a new job. Congrats! The first two months can be an exciting—and stressful—time as you’re meeting your team, learning the ropes and working to make your mark.
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How can you be sure you’re doing all you can to set yourself up for long-term success at this new company or role? Read on as we break it down.
1. Be Prepared for Introductions
One of the first things you’ll be doing at your new job—assuming your company has a decent onboarding process—is meeting your team and any other staff you may work with.
Because you’ll be around these people every day, and in sometimes stressful situations, it’s important to start out positive, letting your coworkers know you’re excited to jump in and support the team.
Another thing to keep in mind—people will be asking you a lot of questions. Because you don’t want to nervously blurt out you left your last job because you hated your boss, a brief, prepared elevator pitch might be helpful.
2. Do Something Really Nice
Small things, like offering to grab coffee for a coworker or bringing in donuts for your team the first week, go a long way when you’re new to the team. It shows you’re excited to be there and that you’re the type of person who goes out of his way to help others.
And when you do finally make your first big mistake at work, how could anybody be mad at the person who brought donuts?
3. Ask Questions—a Lot of Questions
Your first few months are considered your onboarding time, when you’re getting the lay of the land. And while your manager or higher up is going to try hard to get you up to speed, they are certain to skip certain crucial pieces of information.
So ask questions. Get everything figured out now, so when your workload does ramp up, you’ll be ready to tackle it all.
If you feel like you’re constantly pestering your manager with questions, put together a list of questions that don’t impede your current work and schedule a meeting with your manager to go over all of them at once. This not only helps you iron out the missing pieces, it shows your manager you’re committed to doing your job well.
4. Make Your Mark
Once you start feeling more comfortable in your role, it’s a great idea to start mapping out an easy—and highly visible—win.
Now this doesn’t mean developing a plan to restructure the company. Stick to something simple and attainable, since you want to make sure you’ll actually be able to accomplish it.
One way to go about this is to discuss with your manager your goals for the week. Then, at the end of that week, recap what your goals were and show how you hit your mark. Or, if your manager is looking to assign a task and you’re confident you could knock it out of the park, grab it before anyone else does and, well, knock it out of the park.
