Crush It on the First Day at Your NEW JOB

Lindsay: I get a new job. I'm super excited. It's my dream company. And I have to go on the first day and I'm the new kid on the block. What's the most important thing somebody could do to prepare for their first day at a new job?

Lauren: Relationships are huge. So meet your boss and who's on your team. So I think that's one thing that gets overlooked, thinking that'll come later. But that's one of the first things that I help my clients work on is creating a list of the five to seven people who are the most relevant people for them to know. A stakeholder list.

Lindsay: So you're talking about going in and targeting who would make sense to get close to. Here's a piece that I think is interesting. I find that millennials, and young people in general, want to impress somebody by being funny or showing how much we know, and that is not what people want.Please go read Dale Carnegie "How To Win Friends and Influence People." It's a book written in the thirties but the whole crux of that book is be more interested in the other person. So on that first day, learning about the people on your
team and saying, "That's cool that you enjoy that, that's awesome." You know, making sure that you're making it about the other people and not about you. That makes such a huge
difference with the first impression.

Think about somebody who introduced themselves puffed themselves up. I literally have somebody in my mind right now. They're like, "Hey, I'm pretty amazing. You're lucky
to have me."  

Lauren: It's a normal tendency. You feel insecure. You're like, "Oh my gosh, I am worth something. I am worth something. I'm worth something!" Because you're learning and you're not showcasing your value yet. So people get anxious and they're like, "I am awesome. No, I am awesome." I love that you flipped it and it really is about still being curious and caring about the other person.

Lindsay: Knowing your own value is going to show. If you're on a sales team. Your
numbers will show. Whatever you're doing, it will come through. Your hard work will come through.

Lauren: Yes. And asking good questions is a great way to show your value even though you're not producing something. The questions that you ask show someone how you think. So valuable.

Lindsay: So what's like one question that somebody can ask their boss the first day?

Lauren: I think one is, "When I am coming into this job and I'm looking at my first week, what do you think would be the most valuable thing that I focus on?"

Lindsay: Yeah cause you're learning their priorities! You might think, "Oh, I know what I should do. I should learn Excel, that's part of my job." But if you asked, they might have told you, "We're not worried about Excel! We're worried about you getting to know the
team", or, "We're worried about you understanding how our communication system works." So that's a great insight. I think we try to predict what other people want from us when you could just be like, "Hey, what do you want from me?" 

Lauren: So good. Then you're aligned and you're on the same page. The manager will think, "Oh, this person cares about the way we do things here.

Lindsay: That's awesome. Okay. So if it happens to be your first day today, you're going to do great! 

Lauren: Ask lots of questions. 

Lindsay: Be a leader, make good decisions. Make your own little sandwich for your lunchbox.

Lauren: And don't forget to smile! Smiling is big.

Lindsay: You know, be friendly even when you're scared. I teach this in public speaking -- when you're stressed, your face tends to get tight and your eyes go kind of dead. And then you look really uninterested in everything, but it's really just because you're feeling anxious. I do that sometimes. Smile!

Lauren: Have a great first day.

Lindsay: Go get 'em tiger.