November 24, 2015, by Laura Estrop
Start as a graduate; emerge as a professional in your first 100 days in a new job!
By Daniella Dutton, Employability Officer
When you start a new job there can be a lot to take in. You will be meeting new colleagues, learning new skills, possibly mastering new transport links and being given more responsibilities than before. To help alleviate some of this stress we have pulled a plan together so you can impress your employer and succeed in your first 100 days!
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Establish yourself as part of the team
- Make sure you are organised and have good diary management skills (set good habits right from the off).
- Analyse the makeup of your new team. Look at organisational charts and try to understand who does what.
- Arrange a meeting with your line manager to pull some goals together so you can own your development and progression. This leads nicely into…
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Own your development
- Set yourself some goals using the SMART principle (make sure that your goals are Specific Measureable Achievable Realistic Timely).
- Gather feedback as much as possible and discover how you can improve on what you are already doing.
- Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know! Ask questions and learn as you go, this will look better than sitting silently.
- Think about your career, talk to your line manager about internal training courses, opportunities for progression.
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Network with colleagues
- Be proactive and introduce yourself to everyone.
- Befriend an established member of the team who can help you navigate the office (and figure out the coffee situation).
- Identify if your new place of work has a buddy/mentor scheme.
- Reinforce your new connections on appropriate social media platforms (think LinkedIn rather than Facebook).
- Reconnect with former colleagues/peers and build your LinkedIn network.
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Maximise on your impact
- Behave professionally – follow the dress code and ensure you have positive and strong body language.
- Think about your personal brand – what do you want colleagues to say about you when you aren’t there? You can find out more about how to create yours in my Personal brand blog.
- Acknowledge the fact that you are going to make mistakes – just make sure that you learn from them!
- Accept as much help as possible (this will also help you building your network).
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Review your first 100 days
- Look at your plan and your goals; have you achieved what you set out to do? Would you do anything differently? Are you happy with your progress?
- Set a review meeting up with your line manager and get their feedback!
ACCA are running a session on Wednesday 2 December from 1-3pm to look at how you can stand out in your first 100 days. While this session is predominantly aimed at Business School students, there will be some spaces for students from other schools. If you are interested, please email: daniella.dutton@nottingham.ac.uk
Featured image: Caleb Roenigk – Grow
A well thought out post! I could relate every point with what I did in my earlier graduate role and found few useful tips that I missed doing as well. One thing I would add up is to find ways to associate with HR in taking part in the employee engagement activities of the organisation as a graduate. As freshers in the company, it will pay good returns in terms of establishing connections.