Settling Into A New Role

Once you commence at your new employment place, do as much as possible to increase your awareness of the new organization. This will boost your confidence, give you a positive frame of mind and reduce the steepness of the learning curve when you do eventually begin. You may wonder as to how you may build up your information resources. You can build your information source from:

• The research which you should have undertook before the selection interview.
• The knowledge gained at the actual interview.
• The knowledge which your new employer can provide after you have accepted the offer: for example, literature on products and services, visits to familiarize yourself with procedures, technology, etc.
• The knowledge gained from reading or experience which you or your existing employer can arrange.
• Reviewing your self-assessment profile. What could you do differently this time around to build a stronger career and avoid some of the weaknesses of your past, e.g. to delegate or meet deadlines more effectively, relate better to colleagues, maximize your potential, etc?
• You may find it helpful to strengthen your resolve and formulate some strategies here by talking these issues through in advance with a friend, mentor, counselor, etc.
• Furthermore, before going in on the first day, do consider what "image" the employer feels may be appropriate to your job - appearance, clothes, lifestyle, and attitudes

Soon after starting, try to establish:

• The organizational structure
• 'Who's who' - formally and informally
• The relationship of your job to others
• Communications: up, down and sideways; 'dotted lines', support services available - e.g., personnel department
• Preferred communication networks: word of mouth, memos, e-mail, committees, etc.
• What the rules and procedures operate within the organization - written or oral - e.g. concerning health and welfare, discrimination, etc.
• Whether the organization has received any type of quality accreditation
• The history of the enterprise

One more point to note here once you start is that, if you do not have a job description already, ask for one, and then try to define as clearly as you can the boundaries of your job. You are not seeking to establish the minimum acceptable benchmarks, but frontiers within which you can make your best contribution. Do this constructively and as quickly as you can. Within the first month would be ideal.

To further ensure you are on the right track, go further to find out:

• What the limits of your authority are
• What the parameters and main objectives of your job are
• What the expectations of your superiors and colleagues are
• What kind of feedback you will receive from superiors
• The limits of your responsibilities - personnel, products, services, etc.
• The way your job meshes into any quality system in use
• What resources you will be available to have
• What priorities in the job as well as the proportion of your time that you should be giving to each

Try to start by:

• Listening a great deal to instructions, names and other important information
• Being modest, well behaved and courteous
• Exercising tact and much diplomacy
• Being a 'Day One' performer

Avoid starting by:

• Constantly speaking about how you used to do it in your last job
• Criticizing your new, or former, employers or colleagues
• Encouraging stories about your predecessor