If you’ve clicked on this article, you’ve likely accepted a job offer – Congratulations on your new role! Now the work begins.
Getting acclimated in a new role is an exciting, occasionally overwhelming, and unique experience. As your beauty industry recruiting partners, we are here to help in this time of transition. We keep in contact with hiring managers and the talented professionals we place in new roles, and we’d like to share key takeaways based on feedback on best practices that helped others get started in their new roles.
The following tips are broken down into 3 Phases for you to use as a roadmap through your onboarding experience (adapting as every company operates at a different pace).
Phase 1: Observe and Absorb
Oftentimes, new hires get very excited to jump in and hit the ground running. However, the expectation while you get acclimated in your new role is that you’ll observe and absorb information and learn processes that are currently in place to ensure you are properly equipped to make an impact. When first getting started, your focus should be to truly gain an understanding of this company’s processes, procedures, culture, environment, pace, and overall way of working.
Your Goals in Phase 1:
- Build relationships with direct teammates in your department and the cross-functional teammates that you’ll be partnering with. Identify and partner with the “legacy” team members that can share more about the history of the company
- Understand what your teammates value in a partnership
- Understand how the organization communicates. Take a backseat to understand current processes and other’s roles within the company
- Participate in conversations/meetings and demonstrate your expertise by asking insightful questions about their current processes while you get a lay of the land
- Understand the customer/client/consumer and how the business measures success
- Get to know management’s expectations and gather their perspective on how they measure success
Phase 2: Collaborate and Contribute
Now that you have a firm understanding of the company structure, the goals you need to achieve and resources available to complete your tasks, you’ll start to take on projects and achieve milestones.
Your Goals for Phase 2:
- Schedule a one-on-one with your supervisor to ensure you’re on track, meeting their expectations, and request feedback on the style of work you’ve completed
- Build a rapport and open-communication with your supervisor to discuss any roadblocks you’re facing or challenges you anticipate
- You’ve likely attended a LOT of meetings by now. In Phase 1 your objective was to observe the flow of communication, processes, etc. In Phase 2 you can now feel confident in contributing in meetings by sharing your expertise, opinions and recommendations
- Discuss the type of resources you’re utilizing and ask if there are additional resources available to help you work more efficiently: org chart, software tools/trainings, work-flow, templates for work examples (SOP’s), etc.
Phase 3: Action and Initiative
In Phase 3 at the new job, you should have a firm understanding of your role, your partners, and goals you’re expected to achieve within your first year.
Your Goals in Phase 3:
- If you still don’t have a firm understanding of leadership’s expectations or how your success is measured, a one-on-one is critical to define this
- If you do not have the resources you need to achieve your goals, take initiative to speak with leadership to define relevant resources required and/or create them yourself
- Utilize cross-functional teams and “legacy” team members to better understand how to navigate through any challenges or roadblocks together
- Utilize your HR partners to communicate any challenges and discuss how to best navigate conversations to ensure success for all parties
- Take action to drive your assigned tasks to meet deadlines
- Take the initiative to bring your recommendations to the team’s attention
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