CareerTOOLBOX: Your First 3 Months on the Job

Your First Three Months on the Job
Building a Roadmap for the Future

Congratulations! After all that hard work, focus and dedication, you are starting your new job. A major accomplishment that calls for a celebration, as you enter the professional organization, be sure to put your best foot forward, right from the beginning. Realize that navigating and absorbing the corporate culture will determine your success rate often even more so than the specific skills sets you’re currently employed to demonstrate. You’re on stage, watched and observed by everyone from the administrative assistant all the way to the CEO, so make sure you are truly ready.

Learn

According to Sally Babcock, Executive Director of PhotoWorks, an American Greetings company, “First (and foremost), build relationships and get to know the people: who’s good, who’s not, but, most importantly, who can help you get the job done. Being new in the organization, you have to figure out who the Go To people are and make sure you have access to them.” Acquaint yourself with your immediate and extended team, so, unless handled for you, initiate the conversations yourself: ask people for a morning cup of coffee, a lunch or even, once within a comfort level, a post-work drink and/or activity. Know this is a chess game and, as much as you are learning what the individuals’ positions are (hierarchies are everywhere), they are also sizing you up, determining your strengths and weaknesses.

Leverage

Once you have a good feel for the people and for the projects at hand, determine how you can make an immediate impact in what is, most likely, a very lean structure. Assess the problems at hand, the assets the firm has and your own talents, then, combining optimism and genuine passion, always keeping you boss in the loop, go for it. According to Babcock, “Find incremental improvements that can be made for Quick Wins. Implement those and celebrate with your team.” Not only will you begin to generate a positive buzz within the company, but you can also start tracking your list of accomplishments, which become critical during job review and promotion time. Most importantly, you will indicate your commitment to the firm.

Lead

Regardless of your title, position or job description, everyone has the opportunity to lead. Adds Babcock, “Build a roadmap for the future and include the team in creating that roadmap. You will get lots of feedback this way on what has worked, what hasn’t and what people have been dying to do but haven’t had the resources to do.” Again, make sure you notify you boss and, before taking time on her already stretched schedule, flesh out the big vision and the details, including timing, funds and manpower, as well as desired outcome, such as fiscal growth, process improvement or a fantastic new product idea. Finally, no matter what you do, stand clear of, yet never underestimate, the gossip mill and the negative/toxic “this is how we’ve always done it” employees who may be threatened by your presence and who are well-integrated into the cultural politics.

The best managers lead by positively rallying others around them towards achieving a common and clear goal that benefits the bottom line. Be that leader and watch your career prosper.

Note:The 7-part Cool Cleveland Career ToolBox series that first began in December, 2009 is now complete. The complete series can be read here. However, if there’s a specific topic you would like us to cover in future issues, please submit ideas and/or questions to alex@mbahobo.com.

Alex Sukhoy, a globally-networked creative and business professional with nearly 20 years of corporate management experience, is founder and manager of http://MBAhobo.com, a career consulting firm, and Creative Cadence LLC, a content and business development company. Alex teaches screenwriting and preproduction at Tri-C and in 2006, she was profiled in BusinessWeek.com. Since first moving to Cleveland in 2003, she’s made this city her home, and even wrote a song and a screenplay about it. Her novella, Chatroom to Bedroom: Chicago, is currently available on Amazon.com.

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