How to nail the first year at a job

Landing your job will momentarily feel like “mission accomplished.” Then you start the job and realize you’re back at step 1. Successfully launching your career starts with maximizing the opportunities in your very first role. Here are three critical parts.

Q: How do I set myself up for success in a new job?

Let’s focus on your first three months and the key to-do’s.
 

Establish a relationship with your manager

Your manager will be the most important person in your career at a company. After the first few meetings to onboard you, ensure you have a regular touch-point. If they don’t set up a weekly 1:1 meeting with you, take the initiative to do it. You never want to feel disconnected from your manager, nor do you ever want them wondering what’s on your plate.

Pro Tip: Think of your 1:1 in three parts: 

• Update your manager on the progress of your project streams
• Ask for help if you’re stuck with a problem
• Ask for feedback on what you can do to make their lives easier

Nail the details, especially at the beginning

Trust in you (that you can deliver) can be lost quickly and takes much more time to earn back. In the first months on the job, hit your deadlines 100% and be extra vigilant with details.

This also means proving your good judgement and knowing when to raise your hand.

• If you know you are behind on a deadline and have a good reason, email your manager ahead of the deadline, updating them on the progress, explaining the challenges that may cause a delay, and commit to a new, reasonable date.
• If you’re grappling with a problem that may result in a negative outcome (growth numbers come up short, friction with a team impeding your progress), don’t wish it away. Ask for help before the negative result becomes inevitable

Seek feedback

Feedback is a serious gift. How to maximize the value? Asking for it on a regular basis. Seeking it (and incorporating it quickly) will impress your manager and show you are self aware.

Pro Tips:

• Maintain a good attitude. It’s easier said than done, but if you take that feedback poorly, you train others to not give it again. No one wants to invest in your development if you approach it with an unpredictable attitude.
• Ask for specifics. Not everyone is a pro at giving feedback. Make sure you extract specifics and ensure it’s actionable, so you can create a plan to tackle the feedback. “Bad job” or “good job” is not feedback.
• Ask for what you’re doing WELL. That’s a trick, right? No. Ask what you can do MORE of. Often leaning into your strengths contributes more valuable than pulling up your weaknesses to baseline.

Q: How do I reach the next level in my job?

Ask for more projects that interest you and tap your strengths

The professional world is all about raising your hand. If you find a particular part of your job that you enjoy, excel at, and it’s clearly valuable to the company, reach out to your manager and ask for more similar projects. 

Actively get to know people in divisions that interest you. The key here isn’t to lack focus on what's on your own plate, but rather it’s to see how your role can be helpful to others. Get to know leaders of other functions/divisions and ask what are their top priorities are. Not only does this enable you to naturally gain mentors who’ll be there with advice when you need it, but they’ll have you top-of-mind should they ever seek to add anyone to their team. Which brings us to...
 

Become known cross-functionally

If relationships are key in life, in your job they are essential. A superpower that all employers look for is someone who can establish relationships quickly not only on her own team but on others as well. If you can be the gel between teams or translator between a business team and a creative team, or a finance team and an engineering team, you make yourself invaluable. This increased clout = increased opportunities to shine.  

The first two years of a job go by before you know it. Between learning on the job and meeting new people it will be hard to nail every single one of these tips. Our best suggestion? Keep a running list of what you want to accomplish every month and check in against that list month to keep yourself accountable.