The First Few Weeks In Your New Job

Before you started your new job, you and your employer may have discussed some of the benchmarks for the first three to six months, and maybe you have a game plan somewhat laid out, but remember the following tips.

The expectations.

The first few days, weeks and months in any new job are really all about getting your bearings and finding your rhythm. Employers don’t usually expect to see any real performance results in that initial phase. At least not the kind of results measured by numbers. What they do expect to see is how you proceed to work yourself into the structure of the company, and establish working relationships with your peers and clients.

The people.

The first order of business is meeting the people. Nothing takes priority over this. This should in fact be scheduled immediately. Typically, your new boss or someone from HR will take you on a people tour and introduce you to everyone. This can take a few days depending on the size of your company.

In fact, there are certain persons with whom you will likely have specific scheduled introduction meetings. These will include the person or persons whom you report to, and those with whom you will be working most closely. If your organization has several branches or offices which interact or share resources, a trip will likely be immediately planned for you to go and meet the team at other facilities.

Establishing your working relationships is the single most important step in succeeding at any new job.

The people matter most. And people need to meet in person to really start to bond and develop rapport. Good managers know this and will do whatever they have to do to facilitate your face to face meetings with all personnel.

The same will be true in the case of your clients if you are in a customer contact role. If you are to be immediately assigned specific dockets, it will be important that you be presented to your clients right away, so that you can start to interact and get familiar with them and their needs before the work gets too intense.

It is harder to develop relationships under pressure, so casual meetings like coffee or lunch are often arranged.

The tools and equipment.

It can sometimes take time to get you connected, so to speak. Things like telephone lines, and email addresses and such are not typically taken care of before you begin.

Be patient. If you do not have a phone or email address for your entire first week at work, you will certainly not be faulted for it. These things take time to put into place.

Within a few weeks, however, you should be in work mode, actually attending to the tasks you were hired to complete. Although you are still in the orientation phase of your new job, you will likely have settled into a system by then and be feeling a bit more at ease.

Remember that the highest expectations at this time are probably your own.

If you are feeling a little out of sorts, ask questions, and give yourself the time to absorb and take everything in.

Don’t panic. You will feel at home in no time.

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