7 Tips to Succeed in a Company as a Newbie

Given the current macroeconomic situation in the world, lots of people lost their jobs. In order to reduce costs, businesses resort to reducing employees. A study shows that more than 120,000 people have been recently laid off by major tech companies.

So, now lots of people are looking for new jobs and opportunities — finally, it leads them to a trial period that can be challenging sometimes.

I have been there — during my career, I have changed 8 jobs and gone through all the processes of being a newbie in a company. Here's a couple of tips that will help you to face them easier.

Introduce yourself in the general chat

In case the company has 50+ employees who work remotely, there is a risk that they simply won’t know what you do and if they can contact you for help with tasks.

Make an intro in the general chat or email letter where you include info about 1) who you are; 2) the position you take; 3) your job experience.

Another thing: ask to include you in the meetings taking place in a company — this approach will come in handy in immersing yourself in the company's processes and making sure your colleagues know the role you take.

Here's my example of such an intro-letter:

Get to know your team

It's crucial to get acquainted with your teammates — and it's not only about team-building (which is, of course, important). Online or offline meetings will help you to identify the company's values, internal processes, challenges, and goals.

Don`t be afraid to ask questions — the faster you understand everything, the better for your growth and the company.

I usually try to prepare them in advance: look into all the company's presentations, mailing lists, and chats.

Although at first it is better to discuss informal topics with your colleagues, their interests, hobbies, and then gently move to more formal questions about the company.

Here's a list of questions-to-ask at a new workplace:

• What should I know about work culture (flexible timings or specific logging timings, work hierarchy)?
• What are company benefits (leave policies, food, transport, professional trainings, clubs)?
• Is there an opportunity to work from home?
• What is the culture of getting feedback?
• Are there any special limits? Is it okay to discuss work questions after the end of the workday or at the weekends?
• How do people prefer to communicate at the office and online?
• Are there any team building activities?
• What about health insurance? Does it include only you or family members as well?
• What is the promotion cycle (quarterly, half yearly or yearly)?
• What do colleagues like best about working in a company?

Learn the worker`s culture

Different nationalities have different cultures, perceptions of the world, and even approaches to work.

Especially if you take a position in an international company, you need to learn the characteristics of the people from various countries you work with.

I had cases where I worked with people from the UK, Germany, and even India — all of them are different. So, it is important to find a personal approach to everyone. This will help you to establish good relationships with colleagues, understand their motivation, behavior, and achieve better results in team cooperation.

To do that, you can plan informal coffee meetings, show genuine interest, ask questions about workers, their country and, most importantly, be open-minded and not judgemental — all of us are different, and it is a great thing.

Coincide your expectations with a company`s

From my personal experience, some companies give KPI goals for a trial period straight away, and some — don't. Nevertheless, your result expectations should coincide with a company's.

In case the company has one kind of expectations from you, but at the end of a trial period you don't reach them, most likely you just won`t be a part of the company any longer.

A good approach is to offer your team leader to set up a meeting where you will agree on expected results and a plan to achieve them. This is how you will have a clear understanding of what to do.

Bring new ideas

In the first months of work, you have an advantage — you can evaluate the company's approaches from the outside. This will let you identify things to improve in a company and come up with fresh ideas.

Therefore, don't be afraid to share your ideas — this can give impetus to the process improvements, work tools, and general growth.

No worries if not all your ideas are great. It's okay for new workers to miss some moments or make mistakes. Nevertheless, this will allow you to quickly understand the work sphere, build relationships with colleagues and show that you are a proactive team member.

Show your work results

In times of crisis, it has become crucial to make others understand that you are a valuable worker and can contribute to the company's growth — employers now are more careful when it comes to hiring.

Don`t forget to show the results of your work to the manager and all interested parties — you can use different methods to do that. From my personal experience, an email list for stakeholders of a team`s results for the week or a month is a common practice — it gives them an understanding of how things are going.

Moreover, you can send email letters with the work results even on your own, without being asked for that — let it be your own initiative. A good thing is also to add several links on important news from your sphere and personal comments on that.

One more practice is to do it at internal team meetings, where you and your team share results of the previous week and build plans for the future.

Ask for feedback

The chances of failures in the first months of your work in a company are quite high — new workers lack knowledge of all aspects of the company.

Moreover, it is even better for a company. A study shows that businesses that regularly give feedback to employees have 15% lower turnover rates compared to the ones that don't do that.

In order to go through a trial period successfully, don`t be afraid to ask your manager for feedback. This is a great tool to analyze weak points, work on them, and grow professionally.

There are various ways to do that. But I find one-to-one feedback meetings most useful — you can ask your team leader to hold them regularly one time per week. There it is important to show your specific results, discuss weak and strong points, and analyze how you can improve skills.

If needed, you can even adjust a work direction.

Another thing: ask your peers to give each other comments on work — it can be even more effective than with a team leader as you intersect with peers in daily tasks and know each other better.

This will come in handy in improving your teamwork effectiveness, horizontal relationships and will even show your commitment to improving skills and being proactive.