[ EPISODE 6: How to Navigate Your First Day at Work: Expectations and Preparation  |  YOUR FIRST DAY ]

ANNOUNCER:

Welcome to How To Land Your Ideal Job, with Alicia and Harinder.

ALICIA:

Welcome to how to land your ideal job. The podcast that offers a step-by-step blueprint to finding and getting the job you want. Hi, I'm Alicia.

HARINDER:

And I'm Harinder. And today, we hope to prepare you for your first day at work.

ALICIA:

Oh my gosh, congratulations. You did it. You got the job. Well done. Now that you've been hired, what we want to do today is help prepare you for your first day.

HARINDER:

So what is your first day all about? It's really about your orientation and I'm going to use the word receivership because you're going to be bombarded with a lot of information. Some of it is going to be obvious, you know documents etcetera that you might get. Others might be more subtly around culture, around the way people behave. And so your only task on day one would be to be present. Take notes, gather questions together, that you might have, or that other people have posted to you that you know, obviously you're just beginning to settle in and focus on just listening and observing and just being open to meeting your work colleagues. That's essentially all that's required on day one.

ALICIA:

Before we walk you through your first day, here is a 5-point checklist of things you can do to prepare for it. 

Point 1 check your travel. How will you get to the office? How long is it going to take you to get there on a weekday? It might be wise to have your travel logistics down. And since it's your first day, plan to be there, say, 30 minutes early? What do you think?

HARINDER:

Yeah. 30 minutes is probably more than enough. It could be less, but I think that includes a window of time for sure.

ALICIA:

You know what, if you haven't been to the office yet, which is possible if your interview was done online or at a different location, why not take the time before your first day to travel to your location? Better yet, reach out to your human resources contact and ask if they have any travel recommendations. Which leads us to point 2, your attire. 

Do you need to wear a shirt and tie to work or is it dress code more casual? It all depends on the business and the clientele that you're going to be interacting with. Typical attire at a company is business casual, which usually just means no jeans. But if in doubt, ask your HR contact. When it comes to attire and presentation, the top priority is good hygiene. So just be self-aware. Oh, and please be easy on the perfume or the cologne. 

Point #3, check your resources. And that includes resources you can bring with you and resources around you. Here are some resources you can bring with you. Your driver's license or some form of official ID to present at the front desk. Some breath mints would be nice just to give you some added confidence. A phone charger you can plug into the wall. A notepad and pen. A sweater or some additional layer of clothing because some places can be cooler than expected. Some trail mix or a piece of food to snack on if you're hungry. A bottle of water. A package of calming tea. And this next one may sound kind of 80s and 90s, but if you need to do a lot of walking, consider bringing or wearing a pair of walking shoes. What do you think, Harinder?

HARINDER:

I think for the first day, for sure.

I used to, actually, just bring in, once I got settled in, I just bought a pair of shoes and left them in my cupboard so I didn't have to carry them back and forth every day. And because I would be wearing trainers - because I actually liked to walk part of the way so.

ALICIA:

That reminds me. Something else I brought with me is a combination lock. And that's usually …

HARINDER:

Wow.

ALICIA:

Yeah. I brought it because I learned that the company I was joining had a gym, so …

HARINDER:

Ah, OK.

ALICIA:

Yeah, that came in really handy.

And the last item you could bring with you is one I'm sure you have on your list, Harinder. An umbrella.

HARINDER:

Yes, an umbrella, possibly Wellies or Wellington boots…

ALICIA:

Ah, galoshes.

HARINDER:

Yes, and a raincoat. There you go.

ALICIA:

So in addition to the resources that you could bring with you, keep an eye out for resources you can find around you. The next time you're at the office, see what restaurants are in the area. That way you'll have some options to consider when it's time for lunch. Also take note of nearby banks, coffee shops, and clean bathrooms. 

And point #4, check your contacts. Will somebody be there to greet you on day one? Do you know who they are? Confirm their name and number if possible, just in case there's no one there at the front desk when you arrive. And if you work remotely, you may have already received instructions on what to do on day one, but if not, reach out to your contact before you start to get your schedule for the day. 

And that leads us to point 5, to check your elevator pitch. Sometimes meeting new people can be awkward and having a short self-introduction can help you through those moments. Anything else Harinder?

HARINDER:

No. I think short and sharp as you can keep it. It usually depends on the organization, but you may be meeting a lot of people on your first day and learn to keep on repeating it, particularly if you've got a lot in mind that you want to share, it probably pays to be more succinct. So it's really, who are you and that you're open to asking questions about what's going on and how you connect with them, I think. That's really key.

ALICIA:

Got it. Do a quick intro and focus the rest of the time on learning more about them.

HARINDER:

Absolutely. Absolutely. That's essentially what that connection is all about.

ALICIA:

Yes. There you have it. Your travel, your attire, your resources, your company contact and your elevator pitch. Five hopefully helpful checkpoints to prepare you for your first day at work.

HARINDER:

So how would it go? What would it be like if it all goes well? Do you wanna maybe paint a picture there, Alicia?

ALICIA:

Sure. If all goes well. Your orientation timeline could look something like this. You wake up and set a positive intention for the day, to have a good day and learn from that day. And once you’ve arrived at the office, ask the front desk to let your contact know that you've arrived. Your contact will probably whisk you away to go get your employee ID card. And then either your HR contact or someone you'll be working with will come down to help you out and show you around the area like the location of the cafeteria, the mail room, bathrooms, gym lockers where you can find the best coffee, anything that may be part of your daily routine. Then they will get you situated, at least for the day. Some offices have open environments and where you sit could depend on what's available and on what time you get there. Then hopefully you'll be assigned a laptop and an e-mail address. Other than that, you'll probably spend the rest of the time just meeting people and perhaps going through some form of new employee training by human resources.

HARINDER:

So in terms of the people you might meet.

You'll probably meet your line manager at some point. Typically this would have been arranged by HR depending on the level of seniority you may meet with them straight away later on. On the same first day, or possibly later on in the week, you'd meet your team or your peers. It's important to know their names and job titles or the roles that they perform so you can understand your connectivity into them. And you may also be given as Alicia was referencing earlier, you know, some sort of team buddy. Or someone who can guide you. And this might be your line manager or HR assigning somebody to you. Could be a direct report. And then they might be someone that you might connect with from a wing person perspective. And you might have the opportunity to go to lunch or have a tea or coffee with them. These days it tends to be more of an informal setting, but it really depends on the role. So there are a number of ways it can go, but yes, that might be something that might happen. And you may also be requested to attend meetings just to listen in and get a sense of what's going on. But usually your first day would be quite light from a meeting point of view. 

If you're working remotely. You may be assigned mandatory training courses to take again as Alicia referenced, by your HR department. And this will be the case whether or not you're on the premises or remotely… everything else that list is mentioned before about, you know it's it is a little bit harder, so, in that instance you may be given a list of people to get in touch with over a period of time - it may not all be on day one -  to connect with and understand and make your way through the attendance of meetings. Through being given, as I was saying before, a list of colleagues that you need to connect with and understand how your role connects with each of them, whether they are your customers, they're your peers or whether they might be internal suppliers.

ALICIA:

Now this is a place where that notebook can come in handy, because if you're in a meeting, you could start capturing the names of the people that you meet. You know, sometimes I would ask people to spell their names for me as a way to help me remember it better. And more often than not, though, the person would remind me of some celebrity, and I'd remember them that way. But obviously you're not going to remember everyone's name.

HARINDER:

No, no. And I'll be honest with you, I think one of the things I would say that I've learned over the years is when you meet somebody is to repeat their name back to them and it helps because sometimes I've met so many people in one go, I've walked away and I've got no idea who I met. I just can't remember, let alone make notes.

ALICIA:

Yes.

HARINDER:

You know, you might make some notes. You're not gonna remember everything. 

So if I just take the time, and as we were saying before, just be present to that moment. So this is all… this is all great if things go well, but what if some of them don't go well? And what happens if things don't go as expected? So I'm going to share a story of one place where I worked. And so I've been verbally offered a role, and I was very excited to join this organization. And I remembered after the verbal offer, I was waiting 2 weeks and I hadn't heard a squeak from the organization. My employment contract hadn't turned up and therefore I was not able to leave my current employment. I couldn't really do anything. I'd been verbally agreed, but that was basically it. Finally, after two weeks I decided to e-mail my new manager of that company I would be joining and asked them whether the job offer was still actually valid because I hadn't heard from them.

ALICIA:

Oh my gosh.

HARINDER:

Yeah, that was a little bit disconcerting. And whether or not they were planning to send it to me because obviously, I haven't seen the offer, so I… I didn't know whether or not I could accept the terms and conditions. And lastly, I would not be able to leave my current employer or be able to join the new organization within the agreed time frame until I had received it, so this is a starting. And then let's fast forward to my first day. I turned up in reception and as Alicia has mentioned before, I mentioned my line manager's name to the receptionist and was told to wait. So I waited and I waited and I waited a bit more and 30 minutes had gone by at this point. Finally, somebody had just turned up to work and they were pulled to one side and had a chat on their phone and what appeared to me like they were, they felt awkward and uncomfortable and they were checking I was who I was by wanting to see my ID before they took me upstairs, but it felt like they had been put on the spot. 

When we got upstairs, no desk had been arranged for me. There was no computer, no user ID. Forget e-mail. And it all felt a bit awkward. I didn't have anyone offer to take me to lunch because no one knew who I was or how I fit into the organization. There hadn’t been any communication. And they found me a chair and a desk and I just asked for some basics. I said, look, can I have an organization chart so I can understand who the different people are in the organization and then I might have also asked for some documentation as well whilst I was waiting for my laptop to be sorted. I remember at the time I did wonder whether I'd made the right decision joining this organization because it seemed to be a bit of a constant. And it was just really because they were disorganized and they hadn't been the internal communication between various people. And it took me, you know, a few weeks to settle into my new role. And anyway, what I would say is this was highly unusual and hasn't happened since. And from my perspective, what my learnings from the first day there was you just gotta be patient and not assume that it's about yourself. And I'd later found out that my manager had been in meetings and his personal assistant, who happened to be out of the office that day, she had all the information related to my computer and accessing it. So I didn't get anything on my first day. These sorts of things can happen and it's not to take them personally. And sometimes it's good to just laugh it off, clear the slate. It was just an unfortunate series of events. 

But there are things you can do. You know you don't have to kind of sit there twiddling your thumbs. You can find out what your objectives are. You may already have a good idea from your interview, so don't discard any interview notes that you had made that might be also useful to bring them along so you would have a sense of what you would be doing. And that can help you with the questions you might be asking to get clarity. Get a list of people you would be interacting with. Whether these are your peers, your team, your customers, your internal suppliers, and introduce yourself directly as we've talked about before with a confident smile. You might not get round to all of them on your first day, but schedule time with them to get to know them in more detail and really get an understanding what the current reality is. And ask if, unlike me, you do have access to your computer asked to get access to shared areas, files and documentation. That may have already been provided to you anyway and just begin to start navigating through the online world that already exist. These repositories of information that are already there, that you can have a look at. And just allow yourself to settle in. 

Be kind to yourself. Take some time, as we said before, to observe and listen and just look at everything through your lens of your new responsibilities and your role.

ALICIA:

Well, this is more than just the first day, isn't it? It could be the first week or a couple of weeks.

HARINDER:

Absolutely, absolutely.

ALICIA:

So when it comes to your first day, just enjoy it. There are no expectations of you except to be present and show them what we already know. That they're very lucky to have you.

…………..

HARINDER:

Do make sure to visit our resources page where we include links to all the articles and the tools that we've referenced to today and check out our other episodes. Because when you combine the information with what was discussed today, you do level up your chances of landing your ideal job.

ALICIA:

We hope this episode has been helpful, and if you know of anyone else who would appreciate this information, please share it with them. We look forward to sharing more on how to land your ideal job.