It’s February 2020. We’ve had New Year and we’ve had Chinese New Year. Most people have had their annual bonuses and it’s likely many of you have changed jobs recently. Starting in a new firm can feel daunting when you’re at the beginning of the bedding-in process, so here are our top five helpful tips to get you integrating quickly and starting off on the right foot with your new teammates.
Top-5 tips for starting a new job
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PMA: Positive Mental Attitude.
Yes, that universal, catch-all solution to most problems. Remember there will be hurdles to overcome even from day 1, issues that will appear that you haven’t thought about, and times when you may be confused and unsure of what to do. Whether you’re learning the ropes in a completely new role or doing a similar job in a new company, there will always be a learning curve. Adopting a can-do, positive mental attitude will help you get over the initial teething problems, as well as help you makes new friends and start getting stuck into projects. The PMA is your best tool in any new job
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Understand the culture and work practice.
It’s important to understand the office culture and working practices of your colleagues as quickly as possible. Immersing yourself in the culture is the quickest way to help you embed in a new organisation. You should have some idea of the culture already, through the interview process before you joined, and it’s likely the firm has assessed you for a cultural fit as well, but you can’t be sure of the reality until your feet are ‘under the table’.
The culture includes everything from the dress code around the office, to how people interact with each other and celebrate successes. At the same time, you’ll want to understand the day to day work practice of your teammates so you can take up the reins on projects smoothly and understand how to best interact with each team member. And don’t forget that many people leave new jobs because the culture isn’t right for them – so understanding the culture is an important part of the probation period assessment for both parties
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Networking.
As soon as you’re in the role, you’ll need to get busy networking. There will be those people who are your immediate colleagues and stakeholders of course, but you’ll also need to put feelers out across the organisation, so you know who to turn to for whatever reason. In the initial stages of a new job, this is purely for functional reasons, but later, the wider the network you create, the stronger your ability to hear of new opportunities and to find support across the company for your choices.
Networking can happen through simple business meetings, but it’s also important to get involved – be that with staff-organised activities outside of work, charity events and/or away days. There are usually a variety of ways to meet people from across the organisation and participating in these can broaden both your knowledge of the business and the personalities, and the company’s knowledge of you
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Setting goals.
Most likely, your longer-term goals came up in the interview, and you’ve changed jobs to help further your career. Remember not to lose sight of this and to start setting your targets early. What do you want this to look like in six months’ time? A year? Where do you go from here? It’s a good idea to start on that journey as soon as possible, and this can be easily done without coming across as a rampant ladder climber – just have a clear visualisation of what you are working towards and how you’re going to get there
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Intelligence gathering.
Gather as much information as you can. Speak to people, take notes, listen as much as possible and find mentors for different aspects of your work. Even if you’ve been doing the role in a different firm, take the humble approach initially and get to understand both how and why the firm works like this. Then if you can bring and outsider perspective and fresh thinking, do so. But it is best to do this in a considered way, rather than coming at it like the proverbial bill in a china shop.
Take opportunities to participate in internal training programmes and use all the resources the company offer you (such as memberships, subscriptions and online learning modules) to their full advantage
To those of you have started, or are about to start, new jobs – we wish you the best of luck for in your new roles in 2020 and we hope this post proves useful in some way. For those who are still considering changing firms – don’t hesitate to get in touch with us even for an informal discussion and helpful advice.