Make a Good Impression During Your First Week at Work | 6 Tips for Success When Starting a New Job

When you start a new job, that first week of work is crucial to a great reputation. So in this video, I'm going to be walking you through six ways to make a good impression during that first week of work. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Hales Consulting. My name is Brittany Hales, and I am the founder and a career coach at Hales Consulting, a business dedicated to helping you gain confidence in your career. A lot of times we'll be worked so hard for a job offer. Once we get that job offer, we're like, whew, my work here is done. I'm going to go to work. I'm going to do a great job. We're going to call it a day. And to that, I say, uh-uh, because I don't want you to just go to work and exist. I want you to thrive. And the only way to really thrive at work is to have a great and positive reputation. And where you lay the groundwork for that great and positive reputation is in that first week of work. That is where your reputation is found, created, and a lot of times it's so difficult to gain a new one once it's already laid down. So in this video, I'm going to be walking you through six ways you can make a great impression during your first week at work. So before we even get started here, you know the drill. Go ahead and click that subscribe button down below and like this video. Also follow Hales Consulting on Instagram for career, resume, and interview tips every single day. Let's get started. So the very first thing you want to do when you start a new job is to meet with your teammates. Your teammates are the best resource on your team. They're going to be those people that you go to when you have questions, when you need answers, and honestly when you just want someone to talk to. So it's always great to lay that reputation down and let them know that not only are you serious, but that you're an awesome person and you want to get to know them. There are so many times when I don't have the answer or I have a question and my teammate was there to hold me together because they're awesome. They've done it before you. They've been there longer than you and they really understand the nuances of working on your team. And in addition to that, when you're meeting with your teammates, try and prioritize meeting with people who are doing very well on your team. They're either great performers or you see that they have a great relationship with your manager. Just tap into their minds and have an understanding of what it is that's making them successful. And when you have these conversations with your teammates, ask them about what it's like to work with your manager. What are your manager's strengths? What are your manager's weaknesses? How should you work with them? What do they like? What do they not like? Again, your team is your best resource for all knowledge. You want to meet with them. Ask them questions about what it's like to work in the job. What does the day-to-day look like? And as I said before, prioritize really meeting with people who are high performers or really great at the job because whatever they're doing is working and you want to do it too. And obviously you don't want to copy exactly what they're doing, but you want to have an idea or look into what is making them successful on that team. And now the second thing you want to do to make a great first impression is to set up recurring meetings with your manager. Having a great relationship with your manager is your ticket to success in your career or in a new job. And the only way you're going to get to know them and build a positive relationship with them is if you have a recurring meeting with them. Having a great relationship with your manager is what's going to provide you so much success during your career and especially in a new job. By the end of that first week, you want to have at least one meeting with your manager. Now how often you set them up after that is completely up to you and the cadence that you want and what you feel comfortable with and what your manager has the time for. But I would recommend setting up at least one meeting per month with your manager. And when you're in that meeting with your manager, set an agenda. You control the meeting. And if control the meeting and set that precedent from the beginning, that's what's going to happen moving forward. You want to control the agenda and what it is that you talk about. Talk about and ask them about themselves. Get to know one another. Because again, it's about having a positive relationship. And in that meeting, prioritize asking them what they expect out of you. And you prioritize letting them know what you expect out of them. It's a relationship for a reason. There is a mutual understanding and a positive agreement that comes from both parties. And you want to set that expectation early and set it, as I said, by the end of that first week. And in order to really create that great reputation and great first impression, come with questions. Come with an agenda. And the reason why I say that is because in those meetings with your team members, as I said in the first tip, you're going to get to learn more about your manager. What they like. What they don't like. So that when you go into your meeting, you're going into it with expectations of what you should be bringing to the conversation. I shared this story on my Instagram not too long ago, but my very first job out of college, my very first manager, I walked into my very first meeting with my manager, sat down, we're looking at each other across the room. He's looking at me. I'm looking at him. He's looking at me. I'm looking at him. And he's like, all right, so Brittany, what's on the agenda? And I was sitting there like, um, to get to know each other? And he's like, no, I'm looking through my email and I don't see your agenda here. Like, and I was sweating, freaking out, going crazy because I didn't know. I had no clue that I was supposed to prepare an agenda for this meeting. No clue. And I mean, you know, it's me, I have a personality. So we continued the meeting as planned. We got to know each other, whatever, whatever. And then I think a few days later, I met with one of my team members and I asked her, you know, what are something, what is something that you think would make you successful on this team? And she was like, this is a very first tip that came out of her mouth. Brittany, whatever you do, when you go into meetings with our manager, bring an agenda. And I sat there and I was like, girl, where were you before I had a meeting with our manager? But this is what I mean. Before you meet with your manager, I would definitely prioritize meeting with at least two or three people just so that you can ask them questions about what it's like in that meeting so that you can be better prepared than I was. You want to know what they like, what they don't like, what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses going into that meeting and prioritize setting up at least one meeting per month with your manager. Set an agenda. You run the meeting because you want to show that you are serious about being successful on that team. So the third thing you want to do to make a great impression that first week is to read all materials and attend all trainings. I can't tell you how many times, how many times I've seen people completely embarrass themselves in meetings on the floor, on the team because they did not attend the training or they didn't read the materials handed to them. Can you imagine that you're in a meeting and someone's like, oh, what did you learn from XYZ training or XYZ material or article? And you're like, uh, I learned that world peace. Yeah, that's, that's not cute. You, they're giving you those things for a reason. It's because whatever's in them is going to be incredibly important for your success at your job. So when you don't read the materials or you don't complete the training, it doesn't set a good impression because they're like, okay, this person is not taking this seriously at all. And I've seen it happen to people where they didn't show up to the training. Someone let their manager know. And next thing you know, they got in trouble. It's just not a good look. Just go and attend. And when you're reading those materials and you're attending those trainings, take notes because there's a great chance that someone's going to ask you about them. And again, it's not even just that it's about the fact that they're giving you that for a reason. And another major thing is if during those readings and during those trainings, you have questions, please ask them because that's what they're there for. And that's what your team's for. And that's what your managers for. They're there to answer questions. And you don't want to go into your first day of actually hands-on work and you've read all these materials and it means nothing to you. So if you have questions, be sure to ask them. And that shows a great impression too, because it lets them know not only did you read and do the trainings, but you have questions because you've actually been trying to digest the information. So the fourth thing that you want to do in order to create a great impression during that first week of work is to start tracking your accomplishments with your manager. When you get into the habit of just starting immediately tracking your accomplishments with your manager, it's just going to be so natural as time goes on. So in that first week of work, whether it's before you meet with your manager or during your meeting or right after, create a way for you two to constantly track what it is that you're doing. That can be through an Excel spreadsheet or since I work at Google, a Google sheet. It can be through a presentation. It can be through an email chain. Whatever it is, you want to get into the habit of letting your manager know what it is that you're doing and what it is that you've accomplished. And the reason why I want you to track this with your manager is because I want you to get into the habit of really showing them on a consistent basis what it is that you're doing. And even though in that first week there may not be a lot that you've done or completed, talk about what you're going to bring to the table and what you're really excited about and track that somewhere for both of you guys to keep an eye on. You don't want halfway through your year for your manager to be like, okay, so what have you been working on? They should not be asking you that. They should know immediately. And the only way for you to really get into the habit of doing that is for you to start tracking it from the moment you meet them. Again, in a presentation, in a sheet, in an email thread, whatever that looks like for you, have that chain of communication where your manager knows exactly what you're doing and what you've accomplished. In your first week, you may not be doing a lot, but what you can do is set expectations and say, all right, within the next six months, I'd like to do this. Or by the end of the year, I'd like to do this. Start tracking those sorts of accomplishments in the beginning because I completely understand that you don't have a ton in the beginning, but the point is you want to get into the habit of letting your manager know what it is that you're doing, AKA promote yourself. All right, so the fifth thing that you want to do during your first week of work to make a great impression is to be present. And when I say be present, I mean be present to your team, manager, and leadership. And if you aren't being present or visible, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're making a bad impression. It just means that you're not making an impression at all. So during that first week, you want to prioritize being present and being visible. And even past that first week, for that first month, really try to be present and visible to create that great first impression. And I know that many of us are in the COVID times right now where we are working from home. So visibility looks like speaking up in meetings or presenting in meetings, facilitating meetings, or even meeting with leadership on a recurring basis. You want your face to be seen. You want your voice to be heard because you don't want people to forget about you. You want them to know that you exist. Now, a lot of people, when I tell them that I'm an introvert, they cannot believe it. They're like, Brittany, you have so much personality. Girl, all you can be doing is talking. But it's a truth. I'm incredibly introverted. Like, I love being by myself. I get so much energy from being by myself. After a long day, all I want to do is go talk to myself in my room. So during my first job, straight out of college, on my very first performance review, my manager was like, you are so good at the job. You're killing it. Like, your metrics are through the roof. But one of the things that I have the biggest feedback on is that you're not present. And in my head, I was like, I gotta be real with myself. I'm not being present. Because I was on the phone all the time. And I was very introverted. As I said before, I was just, I did not get energy from being around my team. So I would go off into phone booths or go off into meeting rooms by myself. And I take my calls from there because I love just being by myself. And also, there was a part of me that was a little bit shy. And I didn't want people to hear me on the phone. But because of that, I wasn't able to create an impression on my team. So they could see that I was doing very well. But they wanted to see me, they wanted to hear me. And a lot of times you can be an excellent performer. But if you're not visible, and you're not present, it's so hard to make that great first impression. So I made that impression by killing my metrics and doing a great job. But I missed that piece of the puzzle where I wasn't present. So that's what I worked on for the rest of the year, just being more present, and it paid off big time. I got a great performance review. And it was awesome. So I'm encouraging you even if you are super introverted, or you're a bit shy, or you don't want people to hear you on the phone like me. Just do it. Just be visible, just be present. And it's just because you're gonna be amazed with how easy it comes naturally to you. And how much closer you get to your team and how much closer you get to your manager and to leadership, because you're always around them. Now the sixth thing that you want to do during your first week at work to make a great impression is to make a career goal. By the end of that first week, after meeting with your managers, after meeting with your teammate, after really doing the training and materials, or whatever it is that they provided you with that first week, you should have a firm understanding of what a reasonable career goal would be for you. Now after meeting with your manager and your teammates, you're going to have a firm understanding of what's expected and what success looks like on your team. So by the end of that week, what I want you to do to make a great first impression is to create a career goal that you want to achieve by the end of the year. And share that career goal with your manager and somebody else you've met during that week who you know is going to act as a mentor for you or someone who you really can confide in. If you're somebody like me that's a little bit more introverted, maybe your career goal is that by the end of that year you want to speak up in a presentation or you want to facilitate a presentation. A good first impression means everything at work. Everything. Everything, everything, everything. And that great first impression is really the framework for it is laid during your first week of work. And do not put so much emphasis and stress yourself out with trying to be like the perfect Patty or the perfect Paul because no one's expecting you to be perfect and you're going to make mistakes. But you want to set that impression that you are serious, serious about being a great teammate and a great report. And the foundation for that great reputation is laid during that first week, that first two weeks or that first couple of weeks of work. And the way in which you do that is to create a career goal for yourself. Have something to work towards. The second way to do that is to create a great relationship with your manager. And the last way to do that is to make sure you are prioritizing having a positive and fun and welcoming and mentoring relationship with your team. As a career coach, I would love to help you come up with an action plan on how to be successful during your career and how to lay that foundation during your first week and first month at work. You can learn how to book time one-on-one with me at info at hailsconsulting.com or you can go down to the description box below where I detail how to book time one-on-one with me. As usual, thank you all so much for watching. Do not forget to like this video. Also subscribe down below. Turn on the notification bell so that you can be notified every single time I post a new video. Comment down below. Are you starting a new job and you're nervous? We're here to help you. This is a community so we want to give you great luck and wish you great luck on your first week so comment down below if you are starting a new job. Also do not forget to share this video with family, friends, loved ones, anyone who you think would benefit from it and I'll see you in my next video. Bye!