Once you know what you should be doing day to day and for the next few weeks, you want to confirm with your boss how to keep him or her updated. People like to communicate in different ways. Live, telephone, or e-mail are all possible forms of communication. Find out what your boss prefers.
Find out how frequently you should update him or her. Only when you have a question? Once a day? Once a week? After a project or task is completed?
Confirm what type of update he or she would like. A quick summary? A more detailed report? Do you need to send a meeting request in Outlook for a specific time each week?
Find out how you will get feedback. The company policy manual may have information about formal performance reviews, but these are typically done once or twice each year. You will want more frequent feedback even informally so you know what you are doing well (and continue doing this) and what you need to develop (so you can work on this). Check in with your boss after your first week to let him or her know how you are feeling about your job (e.g., workload, what you’ve completed, outstanding questions), and ask for feedback then. You can also confirm how often he or she would like to discuss your performance going forward.
Don’t forget to bring paper and pen or an electronic tool for taking notes during meetings with the boss and others. A common newbie mistake is to try and retain all of the information from a meeting without taking notes. You will miss something. While it’s fine to ask clarifying questions, it looks like you weren’t paying attention if you ask about something that was already covered. You want to bring your own notetaking supplies because asking for a paper and pen, rather than bringing your own, makes you look unprepared.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Start strong by taking advantage of onboarding support new employees typically get, such as time with HR on new hire training programs.
- Take care of practical logistics, such as paper work and learning your physical environment.
- Get confirmation about exactly what you need to get done day one, week one, month one, and the first quarter.
- Develop a good relationship with your boss by being available for updates and asking for feedback.
EXERCISES
- For the jobs that you are targeting, research if they provide new hire training or other onboarding support. Ask people who have worked at organizations in which you are interested. Try to get a feel for what you can expect.
- If you have a friend who works in one of your target companies, look at the policy manual so you can get familiar with the workday, dress code, and so forth.
- You know you will need to adjust your communication style to your boss, but you also want to be clear on what you need. How do you like to communicate? Think back to projects that you worked on—do you plan by the day, week, or longer? Are more or less frequent check-ins helpful?
- Look at a job description for a job that you want. How would you translate this to specific actions you would want to do in day one, week one, month one, and the first quarter? If you are unable to outline specific actions (and for most job descriptions, you won’t because they are written very generally), what do you need to know to confirm specific actions?
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