Andreas Widmer gives graduates a five-step plan for their first five months: listen and take notes, ask for advice, offer help, set the impression you want, and confirm your manager's priorities and what success looks like. Simple habits like keeping a notebook and asking clarifying questions reduce anxiety and build momentum.
Chapters
This is graduation season, and I'm so happy for the many students who just graduated and are taking their first jobs from college or graduate school. I know there's a certain level of anxiety that goes along with this, the first job, you know, and that's completely understandable. I was nervous when I showed up for my first job. Very nervous. And it's kind of okay to be nervous. My dad always told me that if you're not nervous, you're not taking it seriously enough. I think what he meant is that the tension we feel can be used as energy to do a good job. But anxiety is not really helpful. And for me, anxiety lessens considerably when I demystify things, when I analyze and understand them, when I have a plan that gives some of the control of the situation back to me. So in that spirit, let me share a few ideas with you that might help in how you approach your first job. Let's call it the five step plan to your first five months on a new job. When you join a team or a company, be especially conscious about doing more listening and asking rather than opining and talking. I know that sounds straightforward, but more often than not, when we're nervous or want to impress, we end up talking too much. So make a mental note to approach every person at the new job with an open ear. Try to focus what they're saying without thinking about the answer. While they speak, hear them out. If you did not understand, ask clarifying questions. I tell you, this is one of the best opportunities. If you start a new job. Anyone is going to be super tolerant with your questions. Actually, they'll be much more tolerant and happy with someone who asks questions rather than a newbie who feels like he or she knows all the answers. Also, I'm in the habit of having a notebook with me at work, but you can use the iPhone or tablet for the same purpose. The key is really to take notes. Not just facts and observations, but of your to do items and commitments. It's one of my fundamental habits that that I cannot live without. Try it. It's a small change with a huge payout. Okay, that's the first step. Listen and take notes. Next is to ask for advice. Again, no one expects you to be an expert when you start at a job, so take that opportunity to ask for a lot of advice. The deep insight here is that believe it or not, people actually love to give advice. And they give really, really good advice. Much better than what they actually do themselves. So if you want to find out what really works in your New job. Ask everyone around you. They will tell you the truth, believe me. Then third, offer your help. When you see someone struggling with something or trying to get an assignment that needs to finish that day, or otherwise, something that you see that you could help with, offer to help and then take the answer yes or no. Don't ask too much, but ask sincerely. And add onto that step to offer solutions that you think of. What I mean by that is that as a manager, you see you get mostly faced with others who tell you about all the problems in the company or on the team and that's kind of overwhelming and frustrating. If you want to make a good impression and a positive impact, then you don't stop at noticing the problem. But you speak of them in terms of a solution. Say, hey, I noticed that our supply closet is always a mess, so I thought that maybe I could get a couple of plastic containers and use some labels and pens to help keep it tidy. Do you see what I mean? And if you stick with that approach, you will get to be known for that. And this leads to step number four. Set up your story. What I mean with this is what do you want to be known for? When you first meet someone, you get a chance to set the way they see you based on your initial behavior. And research actually shows that this first impression, the impression someone gets from you over the first few months, will shape their perception of you over the long term. What you do later has much less effect on that than what you do in the first few months. Your story is set after that time, so the opportunity is that you can get to set that storyline yourself. Just ask yourself, what do I want to be known for here? And then act that way. Do you want to be known for being there for others? Offer help. Ask how you can add value to them for being reliable. Deliver the right thing at the right time. Don't ever be late. Be punctual. Do you want to be known as someone who gets things done? Then keep track of your to do list and deliver positive results on time. This actually leads me to point number Ask your manager on a somewhat regular basis what your A list priorities are, what she wants you to accomplish, and by when. Make sure you know the way the result is going to be measured. You know in what terms I like to ask, how will you judge if this project is successful or how does success look like for this? That kind of thing. In any case, make sure you know what's expected and then break the overall task into smaller, manageable and actionable tasks. Something that can be done in a few hours at a time and identify early wins. You can score and keep track on and document so that you know how you're doing and you can show how you're doing just to make sure that you're in good shape to succeed. There is no task, no job that can't be approached that way, and every task or job looks less overwhelming when you break it into smaller tasks, even your first job. That's it. I hope this is helpful and gives you a bit of a roadmap of how to approach your first five months at your first job. It.
