New Year, new Job . . . Go Crush It!
Right before Christmas, Shelly finished her last Zoom meeting with her company and logged out of Slack for the last time. In her first decade out of college, she was leaving her third job. Who could blame her? She is a sought-after tech salesperson exceeding her goals year after year and recruiters are constantly reaching out to her on LinkedIn.
However, Shelly is growing weary of changing jobs every two years and truth be told, had she not been recruited away, she would have left all of her previous employers anyway. Shelly didn’t fit the culture of the first organization. She and her boss didn’t click at the second one and the third job completely wore her out.
Looking forward to a new year and a new job, Shelly wants to disrupt her job-hopping pattern and put down some roots for a little while with her next employer. She considers what went wrong in the past and makes a plan to get a great start in her new role.
The new year marks the beginning of new jobs of many people. What can you do to ensure success from Day 1? Here’s Shelly’s plan:
1. Dig deeper into the company’s culture. Shelly understands, from the recruiting process the company’s purpose, mission and core values. She chose the organization because the heart of the culture aligns with her personal purpose, mission and values. Now, she needs to learn how things get done, which is what she missed in her first job. She will start by having a virtual or in-person meeting with everyone on her team. Then, she will meet with those she serves in the organization, her clients. Next, she will spend time with the influencers in the organization who will teach her the unwritten rules and the insider information. Growing relationships with these three groups will ensure that she navigates her career in a way that aligns with the organizational culture.
2. Understand the Supervisor’s Expectations. Shelly didn’t click with her second boss because she never really understood his expectations. She made some assumptions about what he wanted, but she assumed wrong. Sure, she made the sales projections, but there were other projects that he expected her to be more involved in and when she wasn’t, it limited her future growth. During week one, she will meet with her new boss and a get a clear picture of all of her expectations, including incremental goals.
3. Take Care of Yourself. Shelly realizes she burned out in her last job because she didn’t take care of herself. She often gave her daily exercise time to clear out a few more emails. Constantly, eating on the run between travel and meetings, she didn’t fuel her body in a way to support her physical demands. She traded sleep for late night spreadsheets on sales projections. When she had time for socializing, she realized she had invested nothing in her closest relationships and she had lost touch with people. All of this led to a one-dimensional life of pursuing very temporary achievements. In her new job, Shelly not only put all of her work commitments on her calendar, but she also scheduled intentional time to take care of her. For example, to ensure she exercised, she put that first every day along with her morning quiet time. She made numerous changes to be sure that a job change meant a change in Shelly’s well-being, too.
Shelly is off to a great start for a much more fulfilling job and more certainty that she will not only crush her career, but also live the life she intends. If you want to learn more about how to get a great start to a new job or find more wisdom to crush your career, you can learn more here:
Crush Your Career: Ace the Interview, Land the Job and Launch Your Future
