First day at work: tips and tricks

Getting job is only the first step of success in building a career and the next step is maintaining good progress in the initial stages of the job. What are the tips to have a successful first day at work? What things to avoid? Should new companies welcome new employees in their office? How to treat the new employees at the start of their work?

It is very difficult to get a reasonable job that satisfies your requirements in the current market situation. It is therefore very crucial to make the opportunity count once you get the job. Getting job is only the first step of success in building a career and the next step is maintaining good progress in the initial stages of the job. You shouldn’t lose head and act abnormally after getting a good job. Your behavior at start will be noticed a great deal by your managers and colleagues at work.

Many questions arise in mind going for first day at work. Which dress should I wear? Should I wear a tie? My boss was wearing completely formal dress so should I follow him or the lower staff which was a bit less formal? Should I ask questions to my immediate boss regarding my confusions? Can I afford to crack some jokes with colleagues? Everyone finishes his work before leaving office regardless of overtime so should I also wait even though I am free at start? Should I go for lunch alone? 


What are the tips to have a successful first day at work?
Observe the dress code in the office carefully. Try to match that code. People will see you for the first time so they will take notice of you completely. Wearing T-shirts and jeans may not suit in professional environment.
Due to excitement and spirit of getting job, you may be urged to make an immediate impression on the company regarding your work. You may work a lot initially and take a lot of burden on yourself. It is true that your boss will be happy at the start but by then you would have raised the standards of the work expected from you. So in the future, your boss will expect your pace to match with your previous work and you may not be able to cope with that in the long run. It is important to pace your work according to the tasks and don’t try to be over-efficient that would harm your performance in the long run.
Plan your sleeping schedule at least one week before starting the job. Go to bed early and try rising up early as well according to office timings. The habit of getting up late in the morning must be eradicated otherwise you will feel lazy while at work and your boss will assume careless and casual attitude from your side.
It is natural to be confused at the beginning of job so many questions arise in mind that you want to ask your colleagues and managers. Make sure you don’t irritate your higher officials at start. Ask questions which are quite logical and that would please your bosses. It is important to choose right time for asking the questions, not when your manager is busy with some client or in an official meeting.
Your inexperience at start will lead to some mistakes. These mistakes may be in decision making or understanding basic things. Don’t hesitate to clear your concepts regarding the overall operation of the organization. Even if you make mistakes, don’t be shy to learn from them. Hesitancy in learning things for the fear that people will make fun of you at your mistakes, may lead towards worse condition in the future when nobody will forgive your even on slightest mistake.
You may determine the route for going office that doesn’t contain much traffic and you may not get late. This factor is very important in a country like Pakistan where roads are blocked with heavy traffic at the start of the day due to office and academic timings.
You may be confident while studying in university but there is altogether different environment in the office where you meet new people. You are unaware of the jargons and trends of the company and it takes time to adapt. Be bold in your actions that should hide your confusions.
Go through the website of the company and find all the related information. Your boss will expect you to have at least some sort of idea about the organization and its policies.


What things to avoid on the first day at the job?

  • Don’t talk too much about irrelevant things with your colleagues at start as there is a lot of leg pulling and politics in the office environment. People may try to exploit you from your own words and distract you from your aims at work.
  • Don’t bother about the comments “Why haven’t you applied in some other company offering much higher pay?”, “You are overqualified to work here”, “This is not a good company and there are many problems in it”, etc. Just concentrate on your work.
  • Don’t hesitate to have a meeting with your boss to learn what is expected from you? Your goals should be clear and then make a strategy to achieve them in the allotted time span.
  • Don’t boast about your experience from previous jobs as that may not be worthy at new job. Don’t act as if you know everything and don’t interfere in critical tasks at start. Take some time to get accustomed to the working conditions.
  • Don’t show cold shoulder to assigned task from your boss even if you don’t like the work, this behavior will put you in his bad book.
  • You are allowed to make some mistakes at start but avoid big blunders that may ruin your reputation and may result in even suspension from the company.
  • Don’t interfere with your colleagues’ activities and let them do their own work and you do your own. Don’t be curious if you feel some mysterious things from your fellows at work.

Should new companies welcome new employees in their office?
Most companies are expert at arranging farewells for leaving persons but inexperienced to welcome new people in their office environment. The new hires in an organization should be welcomed warmly by the persons already working there. The welcome could be in the form of a tea party, an informal meeting or notice of appreciation from the bosses. There could be various reasons to welcome new people in your organization on their first day at work. Some of the reasons are:

  • They feel alone on first day at job. They don’t know any person and can’t talk to other people freely. So office colleagues should make them feel comfortable.
  • Warm welcome counts for the great first impression of the company on new hires and they will definitely respond positively in future.
  • New workers are unaware of company’s trends and cultures so some sort of gatherings may help new people to understand the company’s values and jargons. For employees working in strategic organizations and classified projects, it is very necessary to inform them about the rules and regulations especially those concerning with security.

How to treat the new employees at the start of their work?
When workers show up very first day at work, guide them about their responsibilities and aims of the company. There should be a proper training schedule, effective from the first day. Make sure that the staff reserved for training new people is available for them. If possible, arrange proper rooms and other facilities like computer, laptop, internet, telephone, furniture for new employees. Take new hires to lunch and dinner on their first day and spend some light moments with them. Induce the spirit in new employees for working in the company for the desired period so that they don’t start planning to leave the company from the start. Ask new hires whether they have any obstacles to work for the company and help them in removing those hindrances. Take feedback about how do new people feel at work and ask about the environment in the office. Also arrange a visit of the whole company or an orientation course for new employees. A proper written plan of tasks should be given to new employees instead of conveying everything orally.

 

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