New job: Making a good impression & general first few weeks checklist?

[MummyJasmin]

I'll be starting a new job soon. I've been with my current workplace for 8 years so it's been a while!
Anything beyond common sense and tips/advice on how I can shine (lol) would be great! Thanks.

Find out where they have lunch and join them. I spent first few months in Jew role in the staff room - awkward at first bunt hellos and have a lovely afternoon- breaks the ice eventually. Same as good mornings and how are you

Get a notebook. Write down people's names. Not right there as you're introduced. But 'Jan- accounts, Lynn, accounts assistant, etc..

Yes, there's often a company directory, with photos, but that won't tell you who you've actually met.

Make sure anything you write down can be read by anyone. E.g. Jan, brown hair is fine. Lynne [something that could be read in a negative way] don't write. Even if she is goth/plus size etc.

Hi @MummyJasmin congratulations on your new job! Clean nice shoes and smell amazing! Also, yes note everyone's names, i would draw a floorplan with all the desks and write the names down of whoever sits at that desk.
All the best on your first day xx

Volunteer to do the rubbish jobs or at the very least take your turn, wash the cups, fix the jammed printer etc!

Bump

I think that depends what kind of job it is. I wouldn’t want to get a reputation as a cup washer early doors.

OP, can you give a general idea of the environment/what you’ll be doing - e.g. a school, office based, mostly home working etc?

But would you want to get a reputation where you thought jobs like that were beneath you either?

No, but I don’t think it’s a great idea in most cases for women to prioritise demonstrating their willingness to take on the ‘domestic’ tasks for the workplace. Do your bit (which in my job, for example, is only making your own drink and putting your cup in the dishwasher at the end of the day - in others it might be taking your turn to wash up once every week or two) but don’t make it your thing.

Always speak up in your first meetings, even if you don't have anything to add you can ask questions. Establish yourself in everyone's mind as someone with a contribution to make.

Don't be afraid to ask questions when everyone is talking about a work related item / project . It will show you are trying to engage and people are more likely to remember you.
Make eye contact with people that sre answering.

Don't ask questions that could be to personal to soon, ie do they have DCs , pets, DH/DW they could be ttc, just lost them , going through divorce etc.

Don't take any strong smelling lunches to work , if you like curry's ect buy a good food flask rather than microwaving it.

Wash your own cups, plates etc.

Be nice to the cleaners / receptionist.

Put your photo on your email profile so when you send emails to others they see can commit your face to memory more easily. It helps to make an impression on people you may not have every day dealings with but only converse occasionally via email.

Have all the relevant documents on the first day if this hasn't already been done. Proof of right of to work in the UK plus any certificates to prove any name changes (marriage etc). Any paperwork that was sent to you from HR that needs to be returned for the recruitment process.

Take your own notepad and pen, I was surprised this wasn't immediately supplied and I had to order stationary so I looked a bit crap using a tatty bit of a scrap paper on my first day.

Good luck!

Watch and wait to see what the tea etiquette is. I've worked places where you make your own tea and don't offer it to anybody else (huge open plan office with 20 people so impractical to make a round). I've also worked places where you are expected to offer to the 3 people in your little office but then also go around all the other little offices offering tea to people you don't know and don't work with! This was the norm for everyone there and actually turned out to be a great way to get to know people.

See what everyone else is doing first and then copy them so you assume the local tea customs.

Someone who just started at my work made a fabulous first impression by dropping in cupcakes about a week before she started and then some more a few days later. They were from a bakery but homemade would go down well too.

Personally that would come across as a bit cringe and too tryhard.

See I think some of these would get you serious side eye wherever I've worked.
E.g. putting your photo on your email ? At best would get a few giggles and wtf comments because it's so out of the norm, at worst you'd get told off because we are supposed to have uniform email sigs.

Bringing in cakes possibly the Friday after your first week as a thank you would probably go down well but bringing them in before you've even started, and then again a few days later would definitely seem cringey and pick me.

Making a point of saying something in a meeting when you've not got anything constructive to add just to look like a contributor would also get eye rolls -everyone can tell when you're doing this just to box tick, we've all got work to do and just want to get back to it not get stuck in an extended meeting with people repeating what's already been said or asking unnecessary questions. Only the stupidest managers would fall for this, everyone else prefers either useful, relevant contributions or just stay quiet if you've nothing else to add!

Surely the best advice is just be polite but beige for your first few weeks, keep your head down and work out what the established office culture is and fit in with that. You can start showing a bit of personality once you've been there a while and got to know people organically.

Any place I've worked this would come across as absolutely bonkers.

No photos on emails, no cakes!

Just don't be a twat. Take notes. Work out the lay of the land. And don't make the coffee or fix the photocopier unless you are working behind a bar or as an office assistant.

I'm also in the position of being about to start a new job after a very long time at my previous company. I've already laboured the point with my new line manager to find out what the dress code is as I didn't want to turn up on day one with labels still on my school uniform type thing. He thought I was bonkers.

Hiya! Initially once a week at the office, rest of the week from home.

Some very helpful and interesting replies! Thank you!