3 Ways to Take Charge Of Your Onboarding When You Start a New Job

You’ve spent countless hours networking with new and existing contacts, searching and applying for  jobs, customizing your resume and cover letter, interviewing and considering offers. You’ve finally  negotiated the best offer that’s come your way and you start your new job in just a few weeks.  

First of all, congratulations. It’s no small feat to get to this point. It’s likely taken you incredible patience,  tenacity, resilience and intention. 

Now comes the next important step: preparing to start your new job. I don’t just mean planning your outfit and commute (if you have one!) – though those things are important, of course. I mean digging a little deeper and planning how you want to show up in this new role and what you need to do within the first few weeks to ensure success.  

All too often new employees start jobs and depend solely on their supervisor’s or the company’s onboarding plan. In a perfect world, every supervisor and HR department would have a robust and highly effective onboarding process for new employees — but we’ve probably all experienced that this often isn’t the reality.  

In fact, in 2018, the Human Capital Institute, a talent management association, paired up with workforce management technology company Kronos Inc. and conducted a study of more than 350 HR leaders in the U.S. In this survey, 76% of respondents reported they weren’t onboarding new employees effectively and nearly a quarter (24%) reported that they don’t have onboarding programs in place at all.  

Conversely, research by Gallup Workplace states that having good onboarding that includes career development increases new employee satisfaction by 3.5x.  

Now, maybe you’ll get lucky and land at a company that has effective onboarding, but looking at the numbers, that’s not likely. So, doing everything in your power to manage your onboarding will help you be as successful as possible.  

1. Start with intentions.

Take 20 minutes of heads-down focus time and answer these questions:  

1. How do you want to show up in this new role? 

2. What do you want others to see in you?  

3. What do you want to prioritize in your first few months?  

Once you’ve brainstormed your answers, make an intentions list with the answers that are truest for  you and read them every morning for the first month of your new job.  

2. Map out your goals, activities and outcomes.

Think about your goals in three domains: performance, people and culture and professional development. 

Performance goals 

Performance goals are related to your specific job scope and performance. Now I know what you’re  thinking, “I don’t know what my performance expectations are because I haven’t started yet!” Exactly,  which is why you need to ensure you get the appropriate information after you’ve started so you do have them And can design around them. This is mission-critical.

People and culture goals 

Building relationships with coworkers and internal/external stakeholders is crucial when starting a new job. Additionally, understanding the spoken (and unspoken) norms and behaviors of a team or company is vital for success.  

Professional development goals  

As previously mentioned, employees that have good onboarding which addresses career development are more likely to be satisfied by 3.5x. So, let’s make sure that even if this isn’t built into your predetermined onboarding set by the company, you’ll address it regardless.  

3. Share your intentions and goals with your supervisor and/or leadership.

Once you begin your new role, it’s also important to share your intentions and goals with your supervisor and/or leadership. Sharing this shows them not only how prepared, diligent, self-reliant, and resourceful you are, but also how important the job is to you and your willingness (and ability) to manage up.  

Lastly, have fun with this new role. You’re only the newbie in a job for about a month, so learn, listen,  and build relationships with curiosity, vulnerability and joy. Also remember, there are lots of things outside of your control when your start a new job. Try to focus only on what you can control, and use your intentions and mapped-out goals as a guide to do just that.  

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This article reflects the views of the author and not necessarily those of Fairygodboss.

Erin Thomas is a career and executive coach. Interested in receiving career-advancing resources direct to your inbox? Sign up here. 

What’s your no. 1 piece of advice for starting a new job? Share your answer in the comments to help other Fairygodboss members!