Starting a New Job

Starting a New Job. Excited? Terrified? Congratulations, You’re Normal.

So, you have been successful and in just a couple of days you will start that new job. Wow!

Feeling a little anxious? I always did. Is it buyer’s remorse? Is it fear of the unknown? My mind would go straight to questions like. “Was I really up to it?”. “Would the job be anything like that promised in the interview?”. “Would I be accepted by my new team, my new boss and colleagues?”.

Plus, there’s that realisation that what made you successful before may not make you successful now. That you might (well, probably) need to acquire new skills, knowledge and maybe even demonstrate new behaviours.

If these are your thoughts, you are not alone. Starting something new has always carried a certain amount of uncertainty. Jobs included.

You may have prepared a 90-day plan for your interview. If it was anything like the ones I prepared, it included grand plans equivalent to ending world hunger, curing all diseases and bringing about world peace. Your plan helped you get the job, but I reckon you’ll discover its usefulness ends somewhere around Day 1. Possibly by morning tea.

Here is what I learnt the hard way. Do not make a comment or commitment of any type to anyone for as long as you can. Hopefully months. Why? Because just about everything you are shown or told in the first few weeks is only what people want you to see and hear. So, nod enthusiastically. Ask lots of questions. Take notes if you want to look particularly keen. But say very little. I did not follow this advice and sure enough I ended up looking like a fool.

Try to work out who your real customers are, both internal and external. Many people and groups will pretend to be customers. They are not. They are enablers. And there is a difference.

Customers are where sustainable value is created. Enablers help you create that value. Role success comes from knowing what you want to do for your customers long before you work out how you are going to deliver that with support from your enablers.

Finally, do not be the first person in the office and do not go home late. Yes, I know you want to establish a personal brand that says hardworking, committed and dedicated. Very noble. And from my experience, very silly.

All that image will do is tell the people around you that you are hungry. Hungry for work. Hungry for their problems. Hungry for their low priority items they’ve had on their to-do list for years.

Oh yes, I should probably add, try and have some sort of win or two early on. They don’t need to be big, but best if they’re heavily publicised. That’s you telling everyone about them.

So, if you are about to start a new job, take a breath. Nerves are normal. The excitement is to be expected. But no one expects you to have all, if any of the answers on Day 1, despite what your inner critic might be telling you.

If you would like a sounding board as you navigate your new job, feel free to reach out. I promise to listen first and talk second.

Stoke Consulting