First 90 days – Make a great first impression

So you’ve secured the dream job, or even a job, but you’re on a three-month probation and need to ensure you get kept on. How do you make an impression during your first 90 days?

• Mentally switch off from your previous job or student existence – focus on the job you’re doing, commit to it psychologically.

• Make some quick wins – come up with fresh ideas, volunteer to help a colleague, get known as an expert in a particular area.

• Be circumspect about the colleagues you hit the pub with after hours – Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited quotation about spending the rest of University losing the friends made in the first week, holds true at work and it’s important to choose job pals wisely. The gossips may be fun, but what are they saying behind your back if they do it to others?

• Promote yourself – do the Goldilocks test, not to much and not too little, somehere in the middle. Forward some great feedback you’ve received to your line manager, offer to take on a project.

• Have humility : be prepared to learn and take advice from others, listen – big time.