Your first 100 days in the job
After a week or two in your new role, you should begin to feel more at ease in your new environment. You’ll have met all your colleagues and built a tighter rapport with your line manager and departmental colleagues.
You know who to contact for most things and you may have already had the opportunity to socialise with your colleagues outside of work. All this will add to your general confidence and aid you in your work. Bear in mind the following:
- Your first 100 days influences your peers' opinion about you and your potential
- Find out who the key stakeholders are
- Establish who the opinion formers / key allies are in your organisation
- Make a positive impression - you are representing your company both internally and externally
Get stuck in
In particular, take extra care when answering telephone calls as any sign of rudeness or abruptness will come back and haunt you. You might have just spoken to a ‘mystery shopper’ whose mission is to catch you out.
Establishing everyone’s job roles is paramount as this will enable you to ask the right questions to the relevant people and will give you a professional edge.
Once you know who everyone is and what their responsibilities are, it’s time to get stuck into your job and show how much of an asset you are to your new employer.
Key areas of focus:
- You must organise and prioritise workloads - what is business critical and what can wait?
- Manage expectations - better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way round
- Do not hesitate to consult your line manager if unsure about anything
Think ahead and develop your career
Always keep in mind that you are still under probation – this period could last 12 weeks or even six months – and this is when you will be assessed against your key performance indicators (KPIs).
This is a two-way process and it’s always a good idea to make a note of your achievements, highlight any problems and don’t forget to mention any training that you think you may need.
Your career matters, and in conjunction with your manager, it is imperative that you both clearly know where you’re heading and that the appropriate documentation is filed. Keep a copy for your records as you will need to re-visit this when the time comes for your yearly appraisal.
