Congratulations! You landed the job.
After what may have been
months of rigorous searching, you’ve finally found a place where you can settle in and get to work.
Keeping the job and doing well though? That’s a completely different story. In most companies, the first six months is crucial. It’s a time when employers and supervisors look closely at your productivity, your work habits and your attitude, and ask themselves, “Do I want this person in my company?”
Here are a few things you can do to make sure their answer will be a resounding “Yes!”
1. Set a daily routine.
On your first week on the job, see how long it takes you to get ready, how long the travel time is from your house to the office, and take note of other important activities you have to carve out time for (like cooking, exercising, spending time with friends and family). Once you’ve done that, schedule a daily routine starting from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep. Follow this routine as religiously as you can.
Changing schedules everyday can take away your focus on your new job. If for example, you work in a busy city like Manila that has heavy traffic, leaving 10 minutes later can mean being 30 minutes late to the office. Instead of arriving at work with a clear head, you’ve got the stress of your daily commute weighing you down.
Image from Wikipedia
When you start out, you want to invest your energy on learning new things, getting used to an unfamiliar workflow, and navigating the office environment. The lack of a routine can invite stress and confusion that you just don’t need right now.
2. Come in early and ask questions.
Speaking of traffic and tardiness, for your first few months at the job, you may want to think about arriving at least 30 minutes early. This gives you quiet time to settle in and steel yourself for a full day of work. Forego the Filipino time and have a cup of coffee.
It’s also a great time to ask other early birds questions about the work. Unless they’re directly assigned to train you, your work mates may be too busy during actual work hours to give you comprehensive answers. If you catch them before work, they’ve got the time to explain things well with nothing else distracting them. Realize their time before work is precious to them too so listen and listen well.
Image from Pixabay
3. Know what you don’t know.
After your first week you’ll probably have an idea of the tasks and the software you need to learn or brush up on. Whether it’s just a few things or a lot, you don’t want to get overwhelmed.
Make a list of all these things you feel you’ve yet to master and take them on one by one. Seeing them in a list makes them seem less intimidating and more like things that can actually be accomplished. You can even set deadlines for yourself and give yourself small tests if you can.
If you have no choice but to learn many things at one time, assemble related tasks in a group and look at them as one block of knowledge you have to learn. Sometimes, multi-tasking the learning process helps you connect the dots and see smarter ways of doing things.
Image from Pixabay
4. Know what you’re good at.
You came into this job with skills and knowledge of your own – that’s why they hired you.
Always know your strengths. This will help you chose your work battles wisely. If a challenge comes up, dissect it and see if you can overcome the challenge using a strength of yours. Patience, open-mindedness and mindfulness – these are things that will help you as a professional.
Knowing what you’re good at is also a good way to boost your morale. If you’re starting to feel like you’ve come into a job with absolutely nothing to say for yourself, remember your strengths. It’s good to give yourself a pat on the back once in a while.
5. Have lunch with your office mates.
During breaks, see if you can spend them with the people you work with. If you’re a naturally introverted person, this may seem terrifying, but at least try.
Having friends at work will make an unfamiliar environment feel more cozy. Aside from building friendships, being comfortable around your workmates will help you adjust faster.
6. Say hi to the security guards and the janitors.
In a bind, these are the people who will have your back. If you lose something or find yourself in an emergency, the people who work and serve your office will gladly help you out.
7. Take extra good care of your health.
Drink eight glasses of water a day, take your vitamin C and eat your vegetables. This is not the time for you to get sick and take a day off.
Image from Pixabay
Try to avoid getting sick as much as you can. If this means taking the time out to exercise, do so. For a new employee, each day counts as an important learning experience and you won’t get that if you’re in bed.
8. Do a great job.
This is an almost unspoken requirement, which is why it’s near the end of our list.
Do your absolute best. Put in the extra hours if you need to. Take initiative. Be goal-oriented and seek out results. Evaluate your own work. Improve everyday. Pieces of advice like these are clichés for a reason – they work.
Great work, it works.
9. Rest.
For your own sanity and morale, rest.
Rest can mean sleeping in on the weekends, exercising, or spending time with your friends and family, painting even. Whatever it means to you,
do the things that you know will make you happy and give you energy.
Spare at least half of a day for this sacred me time. A tired and wrung-out version of you won’t be as big a help to the company as a rested version of you.
You don’t have to be the company’s star employee after the sixth month, but you do need to pull your own weight and maybe even more. At the end of each work day, you want your employer to think, “I’m glad I hired this person.” These are just some of the ways you can impress your employer and go home proud of the work you’ve done.
Do you have your own suggestions? Share them with us and leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.
