Congratulations! You passed the hard tests, braved the multitude of interviews, and scored a quality job offer.
And now? Challenges await as you start your new gig. There’s no way around it, you will have to make it through those awkward early stages as you try to become oriented and attempt to fit into a whole new corporate culture. It’s almost enough to trigger PTSD flashbacks to the first day of junior high.
You've run into a problem, one you require your boss’s input to fix. However, this isn't as simple as strolling into their office and asking for help.
Asking for your boss’s help can sometimes open a Pandora’s box of potential issues. Your request can have a ripple effect, impacting not only your team, but other parts of the company as well. As such, you’ll want to handle your request with tact and careful planning.
Here are some steps to take when asking your boss for assistance:
The process of bringing on new hires is a multifaceted one. After all, you are not simply finding someone to fulfill the current position. You are betting on this new hire to benefit your organization in the long term.
You both want this new hire to begin contributing immediately, and also evolve with the company over time. Meanwhile, you need someone who is an excellent organizational fit. This new hire needs to both get along with their new co-workers and thrive in your work environment.
Work environment plays a significant role in employee productivity. Before you cast judgement on your employee's output, take a look around. Have you created the best possible work environment to encourage efficiency and productivity?
Here are some tips to create a more productive work environment:
Set the Appropriate Tone
Employees look to management to set the pace and tone. If you spend hours in your office playing with fidget spinners and practicing your golf putting, they will get the impression they don’t need to take their work seriously.
A potential employee’s attention to detail can be a critical trait for a successful fit, but difficult to judge accurately in the short window of an interview if you don’t intentionally assess it. Below are five interview questions you can ask to help with this assessment.
Before the Interview
Before the candidate even steps into the interview, take errors and typos in their cover letter and resume seriously, as it both suggests a lack of precision and lack of thorough review.
You call it high standards. You tell yourself you’re just a perfectionist. You say you’re the only one who can get the job done right. But there’s another word for what you’re practicing: micromanagement.
Imagine your resume crossing a recruiter’s desk, one in an endless parade of resumes they’ll briefly scan while searching for potential candidates.
Take appropriate steps to ensure your resume stands out. Use these four steps to grab a recruiter’s attention and get a shot at your next career opportunity.
If interacting with people, especially large groups, is draining for you instead of energizing, you are likely an introvert.
We live in a society that often values the “extrovert ideal” but the skills common to introverts can be extremely valuable in the workplace, and many employers are seeing the value in having diverse teams and skillsets. In fact, people who can learn to master skills associated with both introversion and extroversion (called “ambiverts”) are proven to be the most successful in their career performance.
The hard logic of resume review tends to weed out candidates with little experience, instead focusing on potential candidates with stronger records of accomplishment.
Overall, it’s a good strategy. You end up with experienced candidates practically ready to start contributing on day one. However, it does have drawbacks. It leans heavily on qualifications, rather than qualities. This brings in people with on-paper experience, but tends to ignore the softer attributes that can sometimes make for the best employees.
A job interview is like a staff meeting crossed with a first date.
It not only represents a stressful workplace experience, it's also a stressful social experience. As if meeting a bunch of strangers and answering pointed questions about your past achievements wasn't nerve-wracking enough, you also have to try to get those strangers to like you. And you only have a few minutes to make that connection.
Here are a few basic strategies to connect with your interviewers: