The 10 Commandments of Your First Week on the Job

First week on the job, here’s what to do:

Get to know your teammates by name – In previous articles I mentioned that you never get a second chance for a first impression. On the 2nd day of orientation while doing my Master’s degree, one of the associate deans conducted a team building seminar. This seminar was conducted with the 3 different cohorts (each class had about 60 students) of my campus in Shanghai. “Ok, let me try getting this right” he said, and gazing through the room, looking at each person he began calling out their names. He only got one person wrong in my class. Me (don’t worry Max, I have no hard feelings…). What was even more impressive was that he did the same name memorizing with each of the 180 students on campus. On my first day I had my first team meeting, I tried checking if I remembered all of my new team-mates names. I got 6 out of 9 right. A few seconds after that I got all names right. A wise person once told me that the greatest compliment you can give a person is to remember their name. I agree.

Make as many mistakes as possible – within 30 minutes of my first day at work I had an embarrassing moment with my first encounter of what would be my new best friend, the coffee machine. It turns out the machine only makes an amount of coffee for industrial use (could probably fill a bathtub) and my cup was overflowing for several minutes without having any option to stop the coffee from flowing. I learned my lesson. Welcome to Oracle Shlomie. Keep those mistakes coming, but don’t repeat them.

Pace Yourself – Starting work in a job in a new company that has so many different products can be extremely overwhelming at times. And learning how to juggle many different responsibilities can be strenuous. Pace yourself, don’t burn out. In a famous Israeli cult movie there is a scene with a former professional swimmer, when he is asked to give a professional tip to a future swimming protégé he says: “the key to winning is to start off as fast as you can, and then slowly pick up your pace.” Well, in reality not everyone is a swimming champion. Understand that your co-workers have been working longer than you have, playing catch-up isn’t easy and is demanding, therefore your working hours will be different and longer than more experienced workers. Get in earlier and leave later, study and work during the commute and at home, but also balance that out by having your quiet time to sit back and try to absorb the amount of knowledge and information that is pouring out from everywhere around you. Breathe. Let it sink in.

Bring Candy to the Office – Share it. Seriously.
Prioritize – As several co-workers already told me: “the amount of information you will receive is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.” Basically, it’s easy to feel a little lost and discombobulated, so try sticking to what should be pressing at the moment. On my third day I found myself going over information and taking an online assessment that should not have been a priority of mine just yet. Try learning what’s most important for you right away in order to succeed in your new post, do so by asking your manager and team-mates, they’ve all been in your position and situation before, use their knowledge.

Break the Ice – Find time to meet with your team-mates not just in a professional environment but also outside of the job frame. This past week we had a volunteering session at an animal shelter followed by a happy hour, this was a great opportunity to interact with and get to know my co-workers on a more personal level. And if you haven’t noticed, people tend to behave differently in the office than they do outside of it (especially when you’re trying to train Pitbull’s and running around playing with dogs).

Learn Your Clients – Who, What, Where, When, Why? Don’t expect to know everything about your clients right away, this is a long process and your hope should be that it will continue being a learning experience for a long period of time, but the objective is to know their industry, their competition, and what will be the added value that your company can offer them. Begin to find the key people and decision makers within those companies. If you’re able to and ready, engage in a friendly conversation with a client and introduce yourself. Your plan is to work with them for a long period of time, begin creating a bond.

Be a Shadow – Learn what others are doing and how they are doing it. Ask team members if you can be present during a conversation they have with a client. Listen to what people tell you and most importantly ask them questions. Chances are they know what works and what doesn’t.

Plan Your Day, and the Next One- Realizing that you’re in a new environment that is structured, can take time to adjust to. At the end of your day, set a game plan for the next one. Write reminders down and follow up on them. Think of what will still need your attention the following day, this will help you manage your time effectively and efficiently. Remember that nobody’s expecting you to learn everything during your first week, but by having a game plan you will be able to manage yourself properly and learn a lot faster.

Sleep, Eat, Exercise – Your first week will be different than all the other ones. Begin setting yourself up for a healthy daily routine. By the end of each day during your first week you will be exhausted. Eat well, so many snacks to choose from, so many sodas in the refrigerator, it’s not easy, but learn to resist the temptations. Sleep well, it will help you stay focused. Exercise, it will help absorb all the information.

And the unwritten law is of course to smile and enjoy. Good luck.