Simple Ways to Make a Good Impression on a New Job

• You are told you can leave early or not work on a certain day
• Assignments are taken away from you and given to someone else
• Your supervisor assigns someone else to manage you
• Someone who was hired after you is already promoted to more responsibility
• You are called into meetings about your work performance on a daily basis
• You aren't chosen for choice assignments or allowed to work offsite
• You experience cuts to your either your hours, benefits, or responsibilities
• You are left out of key decisions and knowledge

We have a phrase in my line of work when we are evaluating current employees and it is "on the bubble." If you just started working with us, you definitely don't want to be "on the bubble." To be so means that you are basically a few mistakes away from being out the door and back in the unemployment line.

First impressions are everything on a new job. This fact can be good or bad, depending on what you do in your first days to seal your faith. It is vital to start off with the creation of a good impression. If you don't, the memories of that initial bad impression will cloud your supervisor's feelings concerning you and your work. It is almost impossible to overcome an initial bad impression.

You want to shape and mold a good impression in the minds of your immediate supervisors to avoid the "bubble" and have your co-workers think of you as vital and irreplaceable employee.

Here are a list of must do's on your first days on a new job, to both avoid the bubble and gain more job security:

• Do Show Up on Time ~ no excuses for being late when you have just started a new job;
• Do Work the Required Hours ~ don't ask to leave early, don't make excuses about personal obligations or about having more important things to do;
• Do Have a Positive Attitude ~ Don't complain about your wages or benefits ~ that should have been discussed during your job interview and hiring process to complain after the fact is beyond tacky;
• Do Dress Appropriately;
• Do Stay on Task.

Never during your first month of work:

• Do the Dreaded No Call No Show
• Challenge Established Rules and Procedures
• Be all Talk and No Action
• Let Down Fellow Co-Workers
• Make Your Own Hours
• Ask for a Raise
• Ask for a Vacation
• Call in Sick

It is a very competitive job market, especially in bad economic times. This situation means that you have to prove yourself and your worth and earn your place at your new job. In the eyes of your employer, you are not special. You are just another one out of hundreds who have asked for a job. You have been given an opportunity, so don't blow it.

Simple things like coming in on time and showing you are responsible and can be depended upon to come to work each day are important for getting your supervisor to stop looking for your faults and start to look for your worth.

You would be surprised to learn how many people are not trained on how to conduct themselves on a new job. They come into work late, don't bother to show up for that important assignment, let down a co-worker by not following through on an obligation, and call in sick all the time. By doing the opposite, you will stand out as someone who could become a valuable member of the team.

Always do the following, no matter how long you have worked somewhere:

• Show up on time, call if you have to be late
• Answer emails and phone calls from your supervisor
• Follow through on assignments and commitments
• Provide plenty of notice if you are going to need time off
• Offer constructive suggestions instead of criticizing and stalling a project's completion
• Be truthful and honest on time sheets, work performance reports
• Offer help to others instead of taking advantage

When you first come on a new job and into a new workplace, it can be hard to determine the power dynamics exactly correct. You might not initially know actually who has the most power and influence over if you are able to stay on the job. It might not been your immediate supervisor. It might be someone else in the office whom the Boss is asking about you work.

You want to be careful not to get off on the wrong foot with the wrong person. As a result, you need to conduct yourself in the same manner of responsibility and decorum whether or not your immediate supervisor is in the room. It can be very hard or even impossible for you to overcome a bad impression that has been formulated by the one person that the Boss listens to and trusts more than anyone.