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How to Ace Your 30-Day Honeymoon Phase

Congratulations on your new job! Isn’t it exciting to tackle something new, with so many opportunities to learn and shine? While you fearlessly blaze this trail, just keep in mind: First impressions are hard to shake, and the impressions you make in your first month can follow you throughout your career. So you want to make sure you’re making a positive impact during your 30-day honeymoon phase!

Keep your new career on the up-and-up by avoiding these four rookie mistakes:

  • Don’t “friend” your boss and coworkers on Facebook. Ten days in, and everyone is amazing, and amazing to me! How did I ever do without them? Let’s be besties and share our lives and buy a timeshare in Hawaii! . . . OK, Scary, slow down. First of all, you don’t know how you’re really going to get along with these people once the honeymoon ends. Julie may be sweet and chatty with you on Day 1, and throwing you under the bus on Day 60. So unless you become close, personal friends with a coworker, leave them off your social feeds. Not only does premature “friending” leave you open to social vulnerabilities and judgments, but it can come off as immature or insincere. The exception is LinkedIn, which is fine for established professional relationships.
  • Don’t push back on company culture. That culture was established before you got here, so first things first, figure out what the culture is and how you can roll with it. How do people dress? When do they get to work and when do they leave? Is talking in the break room encouraged or verboten? And before you suggest changes or invite everyone to Friday Night Glow Bowling, try to figure out why things work the way they do. Why can’t you wear jeans to the office? Why do you have three-hour staff meetings on Mondays? Be sure to live in the culture for a while before you try to change it.
  • Don’t ask for a promotion or a raise. You may quickly discover the job you were hired for is not the job you’re actually doing, or that you accepted a salary below what you should have. But to bring this up now would make you look like a whiner, especially with your small snapshot into your day-to-day. Instead, save detailed notes about your work and accomplishments for your first review. Use your notes as proof of your value-add to try to negotiate a new salary or job title.
  • Don’t stop yourself from asking questions. When you’re new, you can get away with asking questions that you can’t ask when you’ve been on for five years. So ask away! Get clarity on your role, the team’s dynamic, department goals, and expectations and challenges. You may even find, by opening yourself up through vulnerability, that you’re forging stronger relationships with your colleagues.

Your honeymoon phase is a time to see where you fit as the newest cog in a well-oiled company machine. So use your first 30 days to observe and learn, notice opportunities for future growth, and make a stellar first impression!

YES! News

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