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How to Ace Your First 30 Days

New job? Congratulations! As you fearlessly blaze through your honeymoon phase, remember, 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 first 30 days! Keep your new job and your career safe by avoiding these four rookie mistakes.

  • Don’t add your boss and coworkers on social media. Everyone seems great because they are on their best behavior, but slow down. You don’t know how you’re really going to get along once the honeymoon ends. Julie may be warm and chatty with you on Day 1, and telling lies about you on Day 60. This is not the kind of person you want to have access to the last decade of your personal life. Not only does premature friending leave you open to vulnerabilities and judgments, but it can come off as immature or insincere. So unless you become close, personal friends with a coworker, leave them off your social feeds. The exception is LinkedIn, which is fine for established professional relationships.
  • Don’t buck the company culture. That culture was established before you got here, so first things first, figure out what the culture is and how you fit in. How do people dress? When do they get to work and when do they leave? Is talking in the break room encouraged or weird? Before you suggest changes or invite everyone to your place for Cards Against Humanity, 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 Fridays? Try living 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 that is not commensurate with the duties. But to bring this up now would make you look like a whiner, especially with your small snapshot so far. 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 asking questions. When you’re new, you can get away with asking questions that you can’t ask five years in. So ask away! Get clarity on your role, the team’s dynamic, department goals, and expectations and challenges. By opening yourself up through vulnerability, you may even find that you’re forging stronger relationships with your colleagues.

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

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