Your First 90 Days - Take Charge of Your Onboarding Journey

Congratulations! You got a new job! 

Starting a new job is super exciting - but it’s also very stressful. Your first 90 days sets the tone for your success in your new role and with your new company. While ideally your new manager read our blog post from last month and set up an amazing onboarding program for you, there’s no guarantee that it’ll cover everything you need to orient you to your new role. Instead of stressing, here are some steps you can take to ensure you’ve set yourself up for a successful onboarding experience.

1. Get to know your new organization’s culture. If there is a new hire orientation, be sure to attend it. This will help you get a better feel for the organization’s overall culture and expectations for their employees. Pay attention to how people communicate, decision-making styles, and any unwritten rules that people seem to follow. Having a handle on the culture will help you integrate quickly. 

2. Get to know your team and stakeholders. Take the initiative to introduce yourself to as many people as possible. Set up 1-on-1 meetings with your teammates to learn about their responsibilities and to get to know them personally. Learn who your key stakeholders are and set up 1-on-1 meetings with them. These meetings will lay the foundation for your future relationships, and may give you critical insight into your new role.

3. Clarify expectations early with your manager. Have a conversation to understand what success looks like in your role. Ask for clear, measurable goals to help you track your onboarding progress and to clarify what is expected of you in your first few months. Request a recurring time every 1-2 weeks to share your progress with your manager and to ask for their feedback.

4. Stay organized. You’ll be learning so much information in your first few weeks and months; find an organization and note-taking system that works for you, and create a reference guide and task list, ensuring that you are meeting the expectations you’ve outlined with your manager. 

5. Listen, then ask questions. Take the time to listen to and observe your colleagues, noting specific ways processes are completed. No one expects you to know everything right away, so don’t hesitate to ask for clarification or feedback when you’re working through a process. Be sure to note those clarifications in your reference guide, setting yourself up for success when you have to do the process again. 

6. Reflect on your progress and take time to recharge. Block 30 minutes at the end of each week to review what you’ve learned and accomplished that week, and make notes of questions you need to clarify the next week. Give yourself grace - you’re not going to be an expert overnight - and remember that taking time away from work is just as important as the effort you’re putting in. 

While joining a new company is fraught with anxiety and excitement, building a plan to orient yourself (and taking advantage of the onboarding your new manager and company have set up for you) will lay a strong foundation for your future success in your new role. Good luck!