Congratulations! You just got a new job. Or better yet, a promotion! (I did)
But it’s a bad economy and if your department needs to save some money then firing the new guy can sometimes be an easy solution.
You have to show your new boss that you are a vital piece of his organization and that if he needs to cut some costs, your job isn’t going to be the first place he looks.
Here are a few ways to make yourself valuable in the first 90 days of your new job.
Fix a Problem
Every job has its frustrations. It can be a mundane status report, a frustrating new software, a printer that is never working, or anything else. The current members of your new team have accepted this annoyance and just deal with it.
As the new guy or girl on the team, don’t just accept it as well. Learn the problem and fix it.
If it’s a stupid status report, find a way to automate it. If it’s a new software that everyone hates, learn it forwards and backwards and then help your new team members understand it. If it’s a stupid printer, Google the model number and find someone else who’s had the problem and fix it.
These are all pretty simple things that will make you a savior with your new co-workers. It will also show your boss that you are a problem solver and that you take initiative without needing to be told what to do.
Volunteer for Anything
The first piece of advice I got when I started my career was, “Volunteer for anything.” If you boss asks for something to be done, it’s because he NEEDS it to be done.
It might not be in your job description, but if you volunteer to train the new guy, run to the store to grab more printer paper, or even take out the trash, then your boss will see you as someone he can rely on.
Then when he needs someone to cover for him in the meeting with senior management, he’s going to ask YOU. There’s no better way to get exposure to senior management and learn new skills than to be your boss’s right hand man. This makes you incredible in your current job and helps you work towards your next promotion.
Establish Your Schedule
The first few months of your job are very important for establishing your schedule. Maybe you have kids that have to be picked up from school or you just prefer to work from home a few days a week.
If you spend the first 90 days working from 7am to 7pm in the office, your boss is going to expect that. She will probably assume that you need to be in the office 12 hours a day to be productive.
Use the first few months to establish your schedule and prove that you can be a high performer on your own schedule. Once you’ve already produced results on that schedule, you’ve proven to your boss that you can get everything done while maintaining your work-life balance.
Readers: What do you recommend in the first 90 days of a new job?
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Just a word of advice if you “volunteer for anything”, you have to balance it with the skill of when to say no. It’s a fine line, but if you always say “I can do that!” it can pile up and become overwhelming. As long as you can exceed expectations, not just barely meeting them, then volunteer. And it’s hard to set that expectation in the beginning and then back away some.
The first 90 days is always hard but I always try to feel out the new job and boss and mold myself to what they need. Setting expectations for working hours is huge! Your boss will definitely expect it as normal. Luckily we pretty much stick to around 40 hours unless something big comes up so that was easy to fit into.
In the first 90 days you learn pretty much what you’ll be doing for your job. You may not know everything right off the bat. I think it’s important to show that you are willing to learn anything. I’ve met people who are so stubborn about learning new things that it works against them and all their coworkers. So, go in with an open mind. If you have to deal with other departments or people who have different jobs within your department, show an interest in their job too. It will really help you if you ever need their help with anything. For example, I always make it a point to ask accounting, “so why did you do that?” The only people ever interested in accounting are accounting people. They are used to people glazing over when they talk so it shows that you appreciate the job they do.
Let people warm up to *you*. Don’t try to make all kinds of suggestions for how things can be done better on your first day, let alone your first month. Keep a low profile, listen, learn, don’t hang around after hours or try to suck up to your co-workers.
Eventually, perhaps you pick your spot. By this I mean, sense a way in which you can solve a problem no one else has solved. Again, let people come to you, not vice versa. Then when you solve their problem, you become their friend.
I’ve seen new workers come in to my company with all kinds of “brilliant ideas” for how they can improve productivity. In the process they stub not a few toes because the impression they give is that they think their co-workers stupid or incompetent, and they are instantly and permanently disliked.
Great ideas! The first few months at a new job can be tough. I definitely recommend learning as much as you possibly can. Be a sponge and soak everything in. Ask plenty of questions. Don’t come in with a biased attitude and a bunch of preconceived ideas.
Compare your job performance with the person previously assigned to your post. Make sure that you are able to beat his work output level. Create a more efficient and organized work system for prompt delivery of work.
Compare your job performance with the person previously assigned to your post. Make sure that you are able to beat his work output level. Create a more efficient and organized work system for prompt delivery of work.
Compare your job performance with the person previously assigned to your post. Make sure that you are able to beat his work output level. Create a more efficient and organized work system for prompt delivery of work.
I started a new job a few weeks ago and I agree that these tips are all very valuable. I think it’s dangerous to volunteer for absolutely everything, though, because that sets a precedent and colleagues may learn to lean on your a bit TOO much – and delegate things that nobody wants to do to you. It also may make you seem a bit “assistant-y”. Overall though, being willing to work and to learn is a good thing.