People assume the hard part ends when you are hired. The first week is when your reputation is set, and most of it is decided by small ordinary things.
Arrive early every day of the first week. Nothing else you do will be noticed as reliably.
Write things down. You will be told a lot in two days. A notebook or your phone notes means you do not ask the same question three times, and managers notice that more than they notice a perfect first task.
Learn names, including the cleaner and the security guard. It costs nothing and people remember it for years.
Ask when you are unsure. A question on day two is normal. The same mistake repeated on day ten because you did not ask is not.
You have been given a task and you do not fully understand it.
What happens: If it is wrong, someone redoes it and you have cost the team time. Worse, they now check everything you do.
What happens: You showed initiative and caught the problem while it was small. Managers read this as someone who can be trusted with more.
Everyone seems to know things I do not
They have been there longer. That is the entire difference, and every one of them had a first week. Nobody expects you to know the systems, the shortcuts or the names in week one. They expect you to be paying attention.
I made a mistake on my second day
Say so immediately, to the person responsible for the work. Almost every first-week mistake is cheap to fix when caught early and expensive when found in a month. Reporting it quickly is remembered as honesty rather than as the mistake.
Before you move on
- Arrive early every day of week one
- Keep a notebook or notes on your phone
- Learn five names, including support staff
Check what you know
3 questions. Have a look at what this lesson asks.
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