Thursday, July 23, 2020

How to get the most out of your first week in a new job Viewpoint careers advice blog

How to get the most out of your first week in a new job Whether you are switching roles or starting your first job out of university, your first week can be a daunting prospect. Listen to this podcast episode to find out how to ace your first week in a new job. Podcast notes: What are some key things to remember when you start your new role? When you arrive on your first day, it’s important to remember to be confident. It can be confronting and overwhelming walking into a new organisation and starting out fresh. But it’s really important to be yourself from day one; you need to work on your attitude and on making a great first impression. Remember people’s names, and try to use their names when you’re talking to them. It is also absolutely critical not to be late. What sort of attitude should you have in your first week? Have a positive attitude and be punctual. On the punctuality side of things it doesn’t just mean being on time in the mornings. It also includes meetings, training sessions or even informal social catch ups booked in its really important that youre on time. If you are late, it could give the impression that you aren’t taking your new role seriously or that you don’t want to be there. Enthusiasm is extremely important, having and demonstrating that willingness to learn and showing that you are happy to be working in the new position. Being inquisitive, asking questions, and really being proactive. A way to demonstrate your proactivity could be asking to be trained on a particular activity or task. And then, once youve learnt the task, ask if you can start implementing it right away. In regards to asking questions, it’s easy for new starters to be hesitant of asking too many questions and taking up peoples time, but everyone is going to benefit from getting you up to speed on things ASAP.  Just make sure your questions are positively phrased you don’t want to be asking the same question over and over, and make sure that your questions are information-seeking in nature. As long as they are ticking all of those boxes then ask away. Read more: How to make your first 90 days in a new job a success How do you tackle mental and physical tiredness? Most people will be exhausted in that first week, so there’s some simple rules that you can apply. Go to bed early, make sure that you are getting as much sleep as possible. Avoid booking social commitments outside of work inside that first week. If you have an exercise regime, do your best to keep that up as we know that this is a great way to alleviate some of that stress of a new role. What is your new routine? This is the first question you have to ask yourself. Have your hours changed? Presumably your commute has changed. Use that first week to work out what your new work-life balance is going to be and try to build a routine that will work for you. Getting enough rest and a routine is really going to help get rid of that stress and anxiety that is normal when you start a new role. It will make you feel more confident. Watch and learn in your first week. You need to make sure that you are listening and observing first and acting second. Try to make mental notes of what’s going on around you. What time do people arrive in the morning? When do they leave in the evening? How long do they go away for lunch? Making note of all that will allow you to adjust your time accordingly. Also how do people interact with management? How do people interact with each other? How do people communicate? Is that through email or on the phone?  When you start to observe and really take this all in, it will give you the best opportunity to fit in and be a part of the organisational culture. Read more: How to make a great impression on your first day How important is company culture and building relationships with colleagues? This is hands down the number one priority. Working and ensuring that you are building interpersonal connections with colleagues is really critical. The best way to do this is to be respectful, be friendly, and be open to offers of assistance or support. If you are lucky enough to be invited to lunch, grab that opportunity by the hands and really enjoy that chance to build those connections with those colleagues. Take time to introduce yourself to those around you as well. During the induction process, its normal to be introduced to the key people in the business that youll be working with, but these introductions are normally extremely brief, rarely would both parties remember each other’s names. So, where you can, grab an extra few minutes with a colleague, because it will really pay dividends later. Start with those who are close to you from a proximity point of view and expand from there. The more people you build relationships with, the easier it will be to ask for assistance and help. You’re going to be up to speed as quickly as you can and that’s really going to help with your confidence and how you feel about fitting into this culture and organisation. Try to seek out one-on-one time with your new manager in that first week. Start building that critical relationship with your manager as soon as you can. Try to find out things like: what does your manager expect from you? How do they like to communicate? You could ask things like, what is their management style? You could potentially talk to them about your own learning style. Finding out subtly the kind of traits and values that they would value in an employee is a good thing to do because it will really stand you up in a great position to build a relationship with them moving forward. Read more: 5 ways to settle into a new team What should you do to prepare for these meetings? Prepare for every meeting you have with new contacts, stakeholders and peers in the business. Find out who the person you are meeting with is, and what their role is within the organisation. LinkedIn is a great tool for this, as are staff directories, intranets, and the company website. Research and try to understand how your role and theirs will interact, this will give you some context for that first meeting. Also ask them for advice, this will make them feel flattered, that you value their opinion and expertise, this will set you up for a strong relationship. What is your one piece of advice for acing that first week that youd like to share with our listeners? Leave any preconceived ideas at the door. You may be starting a role that you’ve done elements of in previous organisations or previous roles, but be careful not to make assumptions that the tasks are going to be the same, or that you’re the expert, or that you know everything about everything. This could impact your ability to develop and could mean that you’re not making that great first impression. Your head is being filled with all these new ideas in a completely unfamiliar and brand new work environment so be kind to yourself, try and enjoy your first week. Look forward and embrace those challenges ahead of you. There is the potential that you will have challenges and if you feel like you need some extra support it’s a great idea to keep in touch with your recruiter that you’ve been working with. Recruiters have a lot of experience guiding and supporting people through those first weeks in new roles which can be stressful, so take advantage of that and really utilise the recruitment contact for that. Read more: How to get more out of the meetings you attend Starting a new job soon? Read our tips and advice to ensure you get off to a strong start.   Seven new job ‘what if’s’ â€" and how to overcome them 5 ways to settle into a new team How to make a great impression on your first day Five lessons I wish I had learnt earlier in my career

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