Being the 'newbie' at an organisation is never much fun. It can be tempting to rush headlong into your new sales job, desperate to be friends with everyone and determined to show your new boss what a great new recruit you are. While enthusiasm will never go amiss, journalist Polly Devaney looks into why a more measured approach to the first day and weeks in a new job is more likely to pay higher dividends in the future.
First day essentials
It may sound obvious, but turning up on time, or a little early for your first day, is vital. Either allow lots of extra time in case things don't go smoothly or do a practice run of your journey at rush hour the week before. Turning up flustered on your first day will not make the best first impression.
Dress the part – hopefully you got the measure of the dress code and general culture at interview but if in doubt, go smarter rather than more casual. See our dressing tips guide here. Don't turn up with a baby sick or breakfast on your shoulder and keep personal calls to an absolute minimum.
Friends or foes?
When it comes to making friends with your new work mates in your first few days, career consultant Sherridan Hughes advises caution, "Maintain a professional stance. Of course you want to be liked, but do not be too intimate or friendly, or you could find yourself too close to someone you need to extricate yourself from later!"
Try to take more of a back seat and assess the political situation – who is in charge, who has the power (it's not necessarily the boss!) What role does each person play in the team?
Hughes suggests taking a neutral stance, "In each team there is usually a leader, a mediator, a moaner, a joker, someone who doesn't pull their weight and someone who holds a grudge. Tread very carefully initially, make no enemies and don't take sides."
Ask people what they do and what they see as the strengths and weaknesses of the firm and the team. Don't take everything you hear as gospel either – remember there are two sides to every story. There may also be people there who resent your arrival, whether it is because they applied for the job themselves or because you are younger than them. Be pleasant but businesslike with these people and don't give them any reason to suggest you are anything less than a true professional cut out for the new job.
Do your homework
You probably learnt and researched lots about your new company during the interview process but make sure you are fully up to date. Scour their corporate website and news sites for the latest information and buzz words, as well as reminding yourself about the values of the firm. Read the latest trade press to ensure that you know what your competitors are currently up to. Read the latest sales news.
Hopefully you will feel confident and on top of things when you arrive having done your homework, but make sure you don't over-do it. They may well have hired you for your past experience and sales successes but resist the urge to boast about previous successes. Avoid saying, "well at my old company we did it this way..." and "when I was at X, I did Y".
Get the lie of the land and make sure you understand the full, bigger picture, rather than leaping in feet first and telling people what to do. Take notes of which things you think they might do differently, and then find subtle ways to convey them.
Consider writing a 100-day plan just before you join, which should include your key learnings from previous jobs, especially your own personal areas for development. You have a great opportunity to start with a clean slate in a new job, so think about feedback you've had in previous appraisals and make sure you don't slip back into bad, old habits.
