10 Things To Know On Your First Day Of Work

My daughter, Kara, starts her summer internship today in the marketing department at The Indianapolis Zoo. She’s a Junior in college and this is her first foray into internships.

So last night, I was trying to think of some advice to give her – you know how your kids always love your advice – and I thought about these 10 things that virtually every new employee should think about, whether they’re  an intern or full timer.

These ideas are probably those that I should’ve been told prior to my first job or maybe I was, but just didn’t listen. Doesn’t it seem like all parental advice comes from mistakes you made? We should probably say that first to our kids before making suggestions. Anyway, here’s the list:

1. Be early.

Plan on being 15 minutes early every day. If I’m a manager, I want people who are ready to go at the assigned start time. If you get there at start time but have 30 minutes of coffee chat before you start, then you’re stealing from the company. And I don’t like that.

2. Finish what you start.

Nothing quite screws up your mind like loose ends. Those projects that are started but undone.  It’s one of those lifelong challenges – the hardest part of the project is the last 10%. But as a new employee, you have to prove to your teammates that you can finish things. Be a finisher. You’ll get more good projects coming your way because people can count on you.

3. Do what you say you’ll do.

This hardly sounds like an advanced concept after four years of a great education. But it’s surprising to we leaders how often this gets transgressed.  If you make a commitment to someone, write it down, schedule it, and deliver. Oh, and put a deadline on it.

4. Serve your superior.

If you’re starting a full-time gig, you probably already are acquainted with your immediate manager. If they’re a raging lunatic, and you did your due diligence, you probably already know that.

But if you’re an intern, you may not know until day one who you’ll be working with. But serve them anyway. Ask for guidance. Ask for help. Ask if you can do anything specifically for them today. In high functioning organizations, you serving your immediate supervisor will bring enormous rewards to you.

5. Listen more than talk. Ask questions.

Take notes. If you don’t understand something, better to ask it in the first week then staying confused for a year and then asking it. Then you do look stupid.  I believe that new people into an organization have a unique perspective that’s very important.  So you need to listen and take it all in during the first 90 days.

6.  Understand the money flow.

In every company, money flows into and out of the organization. What’s left is called profit. You should understand how that all works. You don’t have to get into proprietary money conversations but you do need to know the money flow.  Ask until you understand it. Ask until you can draw a one page illustration of how money flows in to and out of the organization. You’ll become more valuable to that company by knowing this important fact.

7. Create an idea folder.

You probably won’t be asked much during the first 90 days for ideas. But when you are, you need to have a folder you can reach to and say, “In my short time here I’ve made some observations and here are some ideas.”  So when you see a way to do things better, write it down and shove it in your folder.  Even though you’re new, your ideas can be worth millions to your firm.

8. Never think they have the answers. Never think you do.

The truth is, no one knows. Think about how many times in the last few years – namely the economic crash of 2007 – where very few people knew what was happening. Think about the absurdity of that. How was it that no one predicted the stock market crash – where most of us lost 40% of its value?

Goes back to my belief that “no one knows.”  While you can never predict outcomes, you can understand the factors that go into the outcomes or the results. That’s all you can control is your observation of relevant factors. Maybe this is something to put in your idea folder.

9. Think marketing.

Every business you are in is a marketing business. The quicker you come to that conclusion, the faster you’ll rise through the organization and the more value you will contribute. So whether you’re in the marketing department or not, understand how the company markets, who the ideal customers are, what the value components are for their customer base, and read all you can on marketing.

10. Put it in writing.

It floors me at how many people in business refuse to put things on paper.  When I coach a client, if they bring to the meeting a list of things they want to accomplish, I know were going to have a successful meeting.

Just the very act of them committing something to writing means they thought through it in a particular priority, and allows the brain to look for ways to accomplish the goals.  If you’re involved in a major meeting, even if you have very little to do with the authority of it, put your thoughts in writing after the meeting. Stick it in the meeting folder and once someone asked you what you thought, you can go to your page and say here’s what I wrote down. It’s a key competency of business productivity today.

I know, I know, you already knew these things, didn’t you? A friend of mine always says “Common sense isn’t always common practice.”

So if you are starting a new job or know someone who is, send them this page and have them print it out and take it with them to work on day one. Promise it will help.