Rules for new job include being on time for first day

My neighbor’s son has experienced a couple of life changing events this summer. His six year pilgrimage through the undergraduate experience finally resulted in a graduation ceremony and he secured his first full time job. When faced with the paralyzing reality that his first September won’t be to return to campus, but to attend an orientation about his new job, he, (1) chose to delay his official starting time until the ceremonial Labor Day end of summer and, (2) pull me aside and ask about this thing called ‘the working world’.

I gave him credit for at least realizing that his long held belief that he knows everything was now just a memory in a scrapbook next to the picture of his high school prom. I was delighted at his excitement of having a job, but understood his fear of not knowing the ‘right’ things to do to keep a job. There clearly are basic rules for getting through the first ninety days at your first job. No doubt there are many others about to face this sorting out process of life in the work lane. Here are some things to keep in mind.

Be on time for your first day: Don’t use the first day to get a sense of how long it will take to drive to work in commuter traffic. Going to Map Quest won’t resolve issues of road construction, traffic delays, accidents and other unpredictable occurrences. You should have driven that route a couple of times before that official starting day so you can get both the ‘feel’ and ‘flow of the traffic patterns leading up to the front door of your work site. Being on time for the job means you are physically in that spot at the starting time and not in transit. This rule also applies to any subsequent work days that follow.

Be clear about the dress code before you arrive: Obviously you were appropriately dressed for the interviews or you would not have gotten this far, however, it is not the time to abandon all decorum because it ‘feels’ right. Supervisors are constantly consulting with Human Resource staff members on strategies for talking with employees about some ‘questionable’ aspect of their attire. The question of “Who dressed you this morning?” is whispered in more corner cubicles about colleagues and to supervisors than is genuinely known. If you happen to be a little more ‘dressed up’ than the norm during the first few days, it won’t kill you.

Shut up and Listen: Your supervisor has the responsibility for your orientation to the job and the organization. Let them tell you how life functions in your work unit and what is expected of your performance. In time, your colleagues will give you the other informal insights, but your actual survival is linked to that person designated by the organization to help you succeed. You aren’t there to debate what they know, but to learn from what they know.

Don’t guess, ask: The world’s worst kept secret is that you’re the ‘new kid on the block’. Everyone knows it, so it is expected that you won’t know a great deal about where things are and how the organization functions. You can’t look silly asking questions about things you don’t know. Most people, most of the time will answer a question straight forward with no judgments about the person doing the asking. The second world’s worst kept secret is that you ‘don’t know what you’re doing’ and if you’re not asking questions to correct that perception then you’ll be victimized by the world’s third worst kept secret, which is that you are not as ‘smart as you let on’.

Give yourself time to learn the job: Remember, this is the first ‘real’ job on your career path. Spend time learning how job functions and how it connects to other jobs. Learning the job is not a matter of just a matter of mastering the job activities, but also understanding the peripheral demands of mastering the relationships connected to the job. Job competence and people mastery are the critical link to career longevity.

Get the lay of the land before you start changing the roads: It’s a pretty safe bet that the company where you are about to be employed has been around for longer than a day. Consequently, it already has some patterns of success and has discovered some things that work and work well. There’s always room for improvement and your ideas will be most welcome when you understand why things function the way they do. Impatience is a youthful virtue measured in digital cycles and can often block the view of what’s going on around you.

On September 7^th, my neighbor’s son will begin his career journey on I-96 eastbound going into Detroit. If he happens to be running late, give him a little room. After all, he’s new at this.