5 Pieces Of Advice To Follow When You Start A New Job

It was just two years ago when I found myself opening the big glass doors of a multinational, to mark the start of my first day as an employee.

Since then, by working with a lot of interns from various countries, backgrounds, and fields, but also listening to a lot of managers, I have decided to put together a short list of principles that will enable you to become a rock star at your job, a true high-potential.

1.Don’t worry about passion. It will come with time.

Too many people my age (20 something) are falling into the trap set by Steve Jobs with his Stanford graduation speech, where he was telling in a very passionate and convincing way to graduates to follow their passion and never settle until they find it.

However, if you take a closer look at his biography, he never actually followed his passion, he was putting in the work necessary at that moment, and then with time, passion slowly started to show up in his life. Do the same: Start with the current job you have, no matter what this is, and focus on becoming ridiculously good at it. With time, passion will follow for sure. Don’t listen to Steve Jobs, but do like he did.

2.Ask your peers: How can I help?

No matter what you have to do, make sure you always find ways to become more efficient, so that you can make room for a couple of hours of helping others. Every time you meet someone, especially at the beginning, make sure you tell them that you have some free time in the next period, and since you would like to learn as much as possible, it would be great if they had something to give you.

You always want to help, because this is how you gain knowledge and eventually become indispensable (to be read: promoted). It really doesn’t matter if the help needed consists in copying papers, or sorting badges.

At this point, they need to see that you can be trusted to deliver a basic task. Once this is done, more complex tasks will come.

Then, when the time comes, ask these people that you’ve helped for referrals. They would be more than happy to give them to you.

3.Initiate projects that make our life easier.

My first manager always used to say: “Responsibility is rarely given, but always taken”. So take responsibility, and initiate your own projects.

There are 2 reasons why you want to be doing this: One, because obviously if you make our life easier, you gain more knowledge on the way, but also become more indispensable and valued. Second, because once you initiate a project, you should always invite people to help. People love to be part of interesting, relevant projects, meet and work with new peers. And this is what you want to do, invite as many people as needed for your project because this makes you known to others, and slowly you’ll see how people will start wanting to meet you instead of you begging to meet them. This is how networking should be done properly.

4.Ask yourself: Do people ever come to me for advice?

If yes, pay attention what do they seek your expertise for. This will give you an indication of what you are really valued for so you can maximize these as much as possible.

If no, follow point 2 and 3 until someone does.

5.Make sure you always follow-up.

It can be with a simple “thank you for the conversation of today” or if this is the case, with a summary of the points discussed and what are the next steps. The reason this is crucial is because on one hand it helps you gain more clarity in what you have to do, and on the other hand it makes the other person feel that their time was worth investing, and you want to acknowledge that. Written follow-ups are gold, and it keeps the ball rolling.

That’s it. Simple, efficient and to the point.