Starting a New Job 5 Ways to Ensure Your Success - Algrim.co

Starting a New Job 5 Ways to Ensure Your Success - Algrim.co Starting a new job and want to know what is going to help you make a great impression? It can be complicated, as job seekers, we presume that what our employers want to see from us is results. And when we start new positions, we often think we have to create results right away. But that’s not always the case. In this writeup, we’re going to discuss what to consider when you start your new job. And what your first 90 days of employment should look like. Ready? Let’s dive in. When You Start Your New Position When you start your new job, the first thing to note is that you should practice patience. You don’t know everything about the business. You don’t know what previous projects were successes or failures. And you don’t have a firm grasp on the company culture. You need to take your time. Practice patience and observe. That is the best thing you can do for the first 90 days of your employment. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be a valuable team player. But you shouldn’t jump into the workforce and expect to make a radical change right away. Why not? Because by doing that you could impact what is working well, not only what isn’t working well. And that could have negative effects on your image within the organization. Practice patience. But aside from that, what are a few ways you can ensure you start your new position off on a successful foot? 1. Have an early win It’s great to “have a win” under your belt. This is something significant that the company or team finds valuable. It doesn’t have to be something major. It could be as simple as ensuring team communication is clear. Something that others will find valuable and that you know will bring value. Avoid things like trying to conflict resolution or modify the company culture. Instead, find something small that you know you can do well, that’s risk-averse, and then act on it. This will have a great impact on your image. 2. Embrace listening It sounds simple, but for the first 90 days of your employment, listen more than you speak. You need to be listening to what the team is working on, how long they’ve been working on it, what’s going well, what’s not going well, and generally get a firm understanding of the history of the company. No matter what you do, this will take time. It is about yourself learning more about the business. Even when you’re employed for 5 years within the organization, you’ll still be learning what makes the business successful and how it’s performed. By listening, you can ensure that when you do go to take action, it’s accurate action. The worst thing you could do is presume you know how something works, execute, and find out you were incorrect simply because your initial judgment was off. 3. Ask questions Similar to listening and with the same goals in mind. Asking questions will help you comprehend the business better, the departments better, who to speak to, who to avoid, and generally have a better grasp on what the company has been working on before you joined. The more questions you can ask, the better. And you have a great excuse to ask a lot of questions. You can say, “I’m new here” and others will practice a lot of patience with you, in hopes of educating yourself about their work. Don’t rely on your training or company onboarding to do this for you. It won’t. You will need to be proactive in what you want to know about the company. 4. Have meetings, meet people Just because you got hired doesn’t mean you don’t need to build relationships. The best thing you can do is identify the people who are valuable additions to the company and meet with them. Introduce yourself and build rapport. If you can, prepare questions for them that may help expedite you into a better position with the company. Questions like, “What are some ways I can drive success here?” or “What is something you wish you would have known in your first 90 days working here?” These types of questions will not only come across as professional but will allow you to get a jump start in transitioning to the culture. This provides you an advantage. 5. Don’t forget to be sociable No one wants to work with someone who is too serious. Especially when they first meet. Like mentioned at the beginning of this writeup, your first inclination is going to be to drive results when you start a job. While all jobs require you to drive results, you need to develop good relationships with your coworkers. The best way you can do this is to take colleagues out for coffee, take them out to lunch, ask them who they are and where they came from. Learn who your colleagues are, individually. This will develop a connection that’s required in order to create results. If your colleagues like you, have respect for you, know your intentions are true, then they’ll follow your lead when it comes to the work at hand. Conclusion Remember, your first 90 days being hired are critical. The best actions to take are to learn about the business, develop relationships with your colleagues, meet with important leaders within the business, and manage your own expectations for what success looks like. Transitioning into a role takes time. It could be up to a year before you truly have an opportunity to make a significant impact on the business and have an achievement that you’ll want to list as part of your resume summary for the future.