First impressions are crucial today. While these impressions actually start long before that first handshake, aka your LinkedIn profile and other social presence, being a new hire comes with some must-do’s in making sure you don’t scare your hiring managers into thinking they made the wrong decision.
Let’s start with the basics. Enjoy the introductions. Be genuinely curious and excited to meet the people you will be around. Everyone has something interesting about him or her and that authenticity shows when you actually try to find this out.
Your ramp up period is actually your first performance review. Whether it is work ethic or curiosity for how to improve, new hires, you have to come in ready and excited to learn. Why wouldn’t you be? This is the moment you get to understand the best way to succeed at this position and show your team that they made the right decision to bet on you.
You should be a sponge to your work atmosphere and style. You are there to observe and bring it all in while simultaneously demonstrating your skills and how they align with the companies’ goals. Without fully understanding your company’s business model and goals, disagreements or counterarguments should be approached lightly. Now don’t misinterpret me saying this as – “you shouldn’t speak up as a new hire”. Initiative is essential and you should always speak your mind, but not in a manner in which you’re constantly disagreeing with your superiors or fellow employees in an attempt to demonstrate your presence. This could be beneficial if done properly, but it may come off as arrogant or god-forbid you’re wrong.
This also goes for the opposite end of the spectrum where you want to present a revolutionary or game-changing idea to your new boss or fellow employees. Listen, everyone loves creativity and outside of the box thinkers, but there’s a time and a place for these kinds of suggestions. And that time or place isn’t within your first few weeks on the job. This is the time for you to absorb everything you can about the business, its values, its mission and its goals. The time will come for you to present your new ideas when you’ve proven yourself as an accountable and reliable part of the team.
Being a grownup is fun. What is not fun, for employers and companies alike, is constantly dealing with “childish behavior”. These include but are not limited too are being tardy, lying, covering up mistakes, making excuses, etc. These are red flags that can be worked out by good management, but patterns of these bad behaviors makes the decision to let you go an easy one.
I think we can all agree mistakes happen. You hit the snooze button one too many times, you move around slowly in the morning losing track of time then realizing you have to cut it to the last minute and you show up a minute before you’re supposed to be there. Ok, not everyone does this, and even better for those of you that don’t. The point is that it’s happens to the best of us once or twice a year. Not weekly, monthly or quarterly. That type of pattern is a major red flag to your once hopeful hiring manager.
This is a friendly reminder to the new hires or job seekers out there to ensure you represent yourself in the most positive light to your new hiring manager come day one.
- Leave early to be on time – The drive is much less stressful and you can think about more positive things, like mentally preparing for the day ahead, listen to your favorite podcast or mentally prepare for that big call without compromising negative self talk.
- Always be honest – Even if it is embarrassing, always be honest. The worst has already happened, so the only way from here is up. Don’t try to dig deeper – tell the truth, own up to it. The right thing is rewarding.
- Own up to mistakes – This is similar to being honest, but this can involve a more public forum as well depending on the size of the goof-up. Admit fault, understand what you did wrong and how to overcome that, and then move on. Smart people will appreciate that, but you have to do it right the next time around.
- Excuses are venting statements – Would you vent to your boss about your personal life and your feelings toward it? Hopefully not. Then why would you whine and complain (vent) about something you did wrong or haven’t done yet. Be honest about it, own up to it, and just get it done.
Thanks for reading,
<Max>