When you start a new job you need to create the right first impression – just as you did at the interview stage. Think about what messages you want to communicate about yourself and encourage others to communicate with you. The following are some tips on how you might achieve this:
Prior to Starting a New Role
- Before you start work ask to attend any relevant meetings, come in for lunch or meet the rest of the team.
- Try to visit the office or interact with the team a few times to get a feel and enhance your organisational knowledge.
- Ask for a list of key contacts pre starting a new role to help familiarise yourself in advance.
- Connect with a “buddy ”. Check if you have or will be assigned one, and if it wasn’t already planned ask if this can be organised.
On Starting
- Make the most of the induction process. Make active contact with every area of the business you need to know about – not an email but a call, or better still meet them in person or over video conference.
- Accept new experiences with positive enthusiasm. Show that you are prepared to take on new things.
- If your new role involves managing people, set clear standards early on and show people how you expect them to achieve them.
- Identify who the people are within your market who know what’s going on, who are knowledgeable and influential.Communicate with them regularly to build your relationship.
- Achieve some quick wins – identify and make happen some visible achievements that you can point to as demonstrations of your successful return.
- Focus on developing personal acceptance rather than positional acceptance. Personal acceptance is about people accepting and respecting you for your personality, abilities and values. Positional acceptance is more about generating respect for your position and level of importance of your role.
- Ask your manager for feedback on how you are doing and anything else you should start doing that you might be unaware of, and plan regular reviews on an ongoing basis.
- Draw on your past experiences and knowledge – after all, that is part of why you’re being recruited.
- Work collaboratively with your manager and team to work through any issues before they become problems.
- Support everybody – it doesn’t matter whether they are reporting to you, are your colleagues, your manager, or your bosses boss; be positive and helpful to everybody.