Tips for what to do in your first day, week, and month on the job after you’re finished mourning the death of all things fun.
Congrats! You managed to claw your way to a post-grad job despite a pandemic, recession, and geopolitical tensions. You looked up the best questions to ask your interviewer at the end of an interview and searched for ways to look professional for a Zoom interview and convinced a recruiter that you’re the person for the job.
But…what do you do now?
Once the adrenaline from the job offer wears off, and your parents already start to nag you about getting a Master’s in something “more useful”, it’s time to take a few deep breaths and prepare yourself for the first hurdle of your career: onboarding.
You’d think it would be fairly simple to join a company. After all, we live in a world of technology and automation. Shouldn’t the process be smooth?
Wrong. Prepare to spend hours wrestling with IT people just to get your company-issued laptop to turn on. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll frantically file a service ticket about your camera not working, only to discover that the built-in privacy cover was over it the whole time. Yikes.
And then, beyond the whole tech stuff, you have to actually learn how to do the job. And meet tons of new people. And learn about the history of the company. And understand why people buy the products in the first place.
I interned at three different companies before I graduated and became a full-time employee at a software company in 2022. Here’s what I recommend to do on the first day, week, and month, on the job.
What to Do the First Day on the Job
The first day on a new job can be overwhelming – especially if this is your first job outside of your local grocery store or fast food chain. Here’s what to do during your first day of a new corporate job:
- Prioritize getting your hardware to work.
I know it can seem impossible to deal with IT, but please go ahead and do this. Set up your laptop, make sure to install two-factor authentication if required, and make a secure password. Your company might require you to change it every so often, so I like to create a password that is easily memorable and can be easily changed. If you have a question, now is the time to ask it, even if it’s a dumb question. I literally thought my camera was broken when the cover was over it. Lessons were learned.
- Send an email to your manager updating them on your onboarding process.
Once you get your hardware figured out, let your manager know that you’re good to go. If you have been given calendar invites or other information about orientation, inform your manager of those as well. It’s good to keep them in the loop, especially if they’re trying to get a hold of you. Make sure you emphasize which parts are required if you know, so you won’t get pulled into anything else for the rest of the week during those times.
- Attend mandatory orientation calls – especially the ones concerning your benefits.
Even though these might seem boring, orientation/onboarding meetings are so important to starting off with the right information. Make sure to prioritize anything pertaining to your benefits. These are a huge part of your compensation beyond your salary. The best part is that there are several ways companies can give you free money in addition to your salary, like 401K matches, employee stock purchase plans, and other incentives.
What to Do the First Week on the Job
- Research your company.
It’s important to research the history of your company, especially if you work for a huge one. It can get crazy figuring out who sits where in a 100,000+ organization. Take some time to familiarize yourself with an organization chart (a handy diagram of who’s in charge of who), read the company’s Wikipedia page, and check out the website. This is especially great to do during downtime.
- Schedule 1:1s with everyone on your team.
Even if you don’t end up working closely with everyone on the team, taking the time to ask someone about their career and introduce yourself is a good way to make a great first impression on a new team. I recommend asking them some questions about their career path, what a typical day of tasks looks like, and if they foresee wanting or needing your help down the line. Make note of anything that sounds interesting so you can ask to shadow them later.
- Start a kudos doc.
I cannot stress this enough. Documentation is everything when working your first post-grad job. Keep a running document of every single task and project you do, no matter how small. Over time (I suggest once a quarter) you can consolidate these activities into different sections once your role is more clearly defined. This document will help you update your resume and serve as a great resource for compensation discussions and negotiating raises.
What to Do the First Month on the Job
- Check in with your manager.
Whether or not you have scheduled chats with your manager, the one-month mark is a good time to make sure you’re on track. This doesn’t have to be a formal meeting. In your next talk, just ask your manager if there’s anything they want you to be working on that you’re not already. This is also a fantastic way to get new opportunities, so I suggest asking this every now and then. You never know what might come up!
- Update your resume and your LinkedIn.
If you haven’t already frantically updated your LinkedIn to ~subtly~ flex on your peers, make sure you do so. Have a nice headshot in modest clothes, and opt for a concise bio that gets to the point quickly. Add your new role and a few basic duties. You can always update this later as it becomes more clear and you accomplish more things.
- Start shadowing others.
Remember that tip I gave you about asking everyone on your team what they work on? See if you can find those notes you so diligently took. Now is the time to ask any of them if you can shadow them on a project they’re on. If you work in graphic design, check and see if you can shadow the copywriting process for the advertisement you worked on. For programmers and software developers, look for someone who’s working on an entirely different feature than you are, and see what their debugging process looks like.
Your first impression is essential when starting a new job, especially as an early talent representing Gen Z. A lot of people have some preconceived notions about what we can bring to the table. If you show up and follow these tips, your professionalism and self-motivation will be remembered. Good luck!
Gen Z Inc. 