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The First Year in a New Job: Making it a Success

tracey drake Avatartracey drake
July 2, 2006


The transition from college to your first job can be exciting, stressful and emotional. You will be met with new challenges, have to adapt to new environments and tackle a number of issues along the way. As the low man (or woman) on the corporate ladder, you need to take your lumps and earn the respect of your peers and the credibility to be considered a professional. Check out this list of top tips to help you make a smooth professional transition in the first year.
Know Your Place – Being the new kid on the block requires a different mindset. Your main tasks should be to get to know the organization and your job functions intimately before you start spreading your wings.
Find a Mentor – Find those individuals within the organization who are successful, productive and respected by their peers. What type of attitude do they display towards customers, co-workers and management? How do they effectively work to achieve future success for the company? Your challenge as a new employee is to identify “success-related attitudes” and then adopt your own personal style of success.
It’s Too Soon to Conquer – You don’t earn acceptance into your organization by challenging the system at first; you earn by fitting in. Gaining acceptance within the organization generally requires a lot of patience and conformance on your part. It will take time to move mountains!


Enjoy The Spotlight – In the beginning you may feel like everyone is watching every single move you make. That is a GREAT thing so use it to your advantage instead of being intimidated by it. It allows you to showcase your true potential to management and co-workers.
Relationship Building – It is crucial to take time to build relationships you’re your co-workers. It is a clear signal that you are ‘management material’ when you can effectively build, maintain and nurture relationships with different people and personalities successfully. Additionally, if you have forged relationships with fellow workers who have been with the company a long time, they will be more likely to want to teach you the ropes and help you become a stellar employee.
Know the Company Culture – Every company, large or small, regardless of the industry has its own personality or corporate culture. This can only be learned and understood by watching and listening. By taking the time to know your company culture, you will find it easier to adapt and thrive.
Become Organization Smart – Quite simple, being organization smart means learning how the company functions; how they do things and how they like things done. You will make mistakes, that is a given! However, by watching, listening and asking questions, you will be organization smart in no time. As a new employee mistakes are tolerated; but the same mistakes that are made over and over are not.
Be Organized and Productive – From day one, make one of your main priorities time and task management. Develop professional skills such as setting deadlines, managing priorities, multi-tasking and managing workflow. You will quickly find that once these are mastered, all other aspects of the job in the first year will come that much easier. A disorganized employee is usually an underperformer. A well organized, task oriented employer is generally an outstanding performer. Adapt the latter.
Master Your Job – Take your training seriously. Learn all that you can and then learn more! So many graduates whine and complain about basic training. The more you learn, the more you know. The more you know, the better you will be at your job. Open yourself up to the possibilities of added responsibility and promotion. These perks only come when you have mastered the job you were hired for. Show your boss that you have what it takes to be a successful part of the company.
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Tracey Drake is the owner and Director of Operations of GradResumes.com. Tracey believes in the importance of educating new graduates regarding the importance of launching a career, and the value of their education and transferable skills to potential employers. GradResumes.com specializes in writing graduate resumes and college admission documents for high school students entering college, graduates seeking internship and post graduates entering the work world.

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