Walking in to your new job on your first day can feel nerve-wracking, like the first day of school, with all the same fears and vulnerabilities. What’s different though is that now, you’re far better equipped to deal with it. Here are some pointers on how to impress at work.

  1. Show your new employers and colleagues that, in selecting you, they’ve made the right choice. This starts from the minute you walk through the door with your appearance and the way you greet others.
  2. Discuss your duties and responsibilities and establish your priorities. Having a clear understanding of these things from when you start on your first day will give you the confidence to move forward.
  3. Demonstrate that you’re highly motivated and eager to get started. Ask where you need to be and what you’re required to do and get straight down to it.
  4. Set realistic short-term and long-term challenges and goals. Hour by hour to get through the first week or month on month to achieve recognition, having something to aim for gives you purpose and clarity and when you achieve what you set out to do, you propel yourself to greater heights. Start as you mean to go on.
  5. When you are given a problem to solve, tackle it enthusiastically and systematically.
  6. Learn quickly from your own mistakes and the mistakes of others. Mistakes do happen; what matters is how they teach us.
  7. Set out to do more than what’s specified in your job description. By showing initiative and a willingness to go above and beyond, you immediately become more valuable and more visible. That, in itself, is gold.
  8. Volunteer for projects that will help you raise your profile within the organisation. Again, greater visibility will come your way, increasing your apparent worth.
  9. Complete all your work on time without cutting corners, and only make promises if you can genuinely deliver. Avoid going at it like a bull at a gate and missing the finer points of tasks assigned to you. Remember, it takes time to meet the pace required in a new job. You may have to slow down and pay closer attention or speed up and keep your wits about you. Ask for help or clarification when you need it.
  10. Cultivate a reputation for honesty, loyalty and integrity from the start. These attributes are highly regarded by good employers and will lead to you being able to enjoy the trust and respect of the people who matter.
  11. Review your job description regularly and make sure that you’re meeting and exceeding the outlined criteria. This will form the basis of your performance appraisal so stay on task with your core duties, even if you extend yourself in other areas as well.

A few of the above prompts are just as important as something of a ‘refresher course’ for when you’ve been in a job for a while. Revisiting your approach to your job is smart and the occasional reminder will do wonders for your success at work.