After a week or two in your new role, you should begin to feel more at ease in your new environment. You’ll have met all your colleagues and built a tighter rapport with your line manager and departmental colleagues.
You know who to contact for most things and you may have already had the opportunity to socialise with your colleagues outside of work. All this will add to your general confidence and aid you in your work. Bear in mind the following:
In particular, take extra care when answering telephone calls as any sign of rudeness or abruptness will come back and haunt you. You might have just spoken to a ‘mystery shopper’ whose mission is to catch you out.
Establishing everyone’s job roles is paramount as this will enable you to ask the right questions to the relevant people and will give you a professional edge.
Once you know who everyone is and what their responsibilities are, it’s time to get stuck into your job and show how much of an asset you are to your new employer.
Key areas of focus:
Always keep in mind that you are still under probation – this period could last 12 weeks or even six months – and this is when you will be assessed against your key performance indicators (KPIs).
This is a two-way process and it’s always a good idea to make a note of your achievements, highlight any problems and don’t forget to mention any training that you think you may need.
Your career matters, and in conjunction with your manager, it is imperative that you both clearly know where you’re heading and that the appropriate documentation is filed. Keep a copy for your records as you will need to re-visit this when the time comes for your yearly appraisal.