Making The Move To The New Job
You got the offer and accepted it, that’s great! Now you need to resign from your current position so can you move on or maybe you are in transition. If you are resigning, then be sure to read everything below. If you are in transition, then only the last two apply to you. Whichever you are, it is critical to know how to move into a new position. According to a 2012 Allied Workforce Mobility Survey companies will lose 25% of all new employees due to bad onboarding. The cost for that? It is up to $11,000 per employee. It’s a simple fact that companies today just do not know how to onboard new employees. This means that you must take it into your own hands. Be the driver of your own success and not a statistic. We have listed below advice on how to transition from your current job and move into your new one. We explain your first day and how to onboard yourself and then creating a 30/60/90 day plan. If you properly onboard yourself, you will be setting yourself up for significantly more success than the person sitting next to you hoping that the company onboarding plan works.
How to Transition From Your Current Job
You landed the job, all background checks cleared and now you have one last task remaining; resigning from your current position. As the old proverb states, “Never burn any bridges”. You never know if you will end back up at your company and you do not know who knows whom. It’s a small world out there and you do not want to tarnish your reputation just because you wanted to go out with a bang. The night before you resign, type a letter stating you are resigning from your current position. Keep it short and simple. There is no need to speak of all the great memories you’ve had and the people you miss. Your resignation letter needs to say two things and two things only:
- That you are resigning and
- When your last effective date will be.
The general rule of thumb in regards to your last day should be at minimum two weeks. Your new employer may pressure you to start sooner, simply tell them you want to give the courtesy to your current employer to wrap up everything you are working on. When done, print out two copies and hand-sign them. When you arrive in the morning to work, speak with your direct Manager or Supervisor and tell them your decision. It is important that you have a 1-on-1 conversation with them letting them know your thoughts and feelings. Once done, go to your local HR department and give them the second letter. From this point, you may have many people within the company trying to have you reconsider; they may even offer you a higher salary. You have to remember that you made a commitment and a conscious decision to join a new company. Try not to be persuading by what they are offering you. Think of it this way, let’s say you quit and next week you manager comes to you says, “I’ve been authorized to offer you an additional $15k to your salary.” Your first thought should be like anyone else’s, “wow, that’s awesome”, but rise above that feeling. Answer this in your head, if you are worth $15k more in salary, how come they weren’t offering that to you prior to you resigning? From there on out, say your goodbyes to whomever you need to and let them know the best way to stay in touch.
First Day on the Job and Onboarding Yourself
Plain and simple, many companies do not know how to onboard their employees. While there is plenty of blame to pass around, the fact stands that companies today do not know the right way to properly welcome new employees and train them appropriately. Therefore, you must take matters in your own hands; you must onboard yourself. What does onboarding mean anyway? According to Wikipedia, “Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders”. It is how you become acclimated with how the company operates day-to-day, how you learn the ins and outs. Now onboarding depends on the size of the company. If it is a small company than there may not be that much to show you and vice versa if it is a large company. Below is a walkthrough of a typical onboarding and how you should go about it.
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First day – Welcome to your new employer; your home away from home. It’s completely fine to feel nervous on your first day, even if you have 15 years of prior work experience. Nervousness is a good thing; it means you’re happy and excited. When you walk in, greet the receptionist and let them know it’s your first day and the rest will be taken care of. From there, either the hiring manager or HR representative will come greet you. Depending on the company you’ll either sit through a presentation or be shown to your desk. If you sit through a presentation, it will most likely be given by an HR representative and contain general information about the company. If you are shown to your desk, well… there’s your desk. Both will collect basic forms from you; I-9 form, I-9 identification, personal information, benefits forms and any policies you have to sign. Know what you are signing before you give it them. Also, you have a right to a copy of everything you give them. Be sure you ask for a copy and file it at home for safe keeping.
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Afterwards – After your orientation or being shown to your desk, chances are somebody will bring you out to lunch. Take this opportunity to get to know your co-workers and not only them, but the company as well. It is important that you have a back and forth conversation and you learn about them just as much as they learn about you. This is their first impression of you and it could be the difference between you loving where you work or hating where you work, so make sure you put your best foot forward.
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Our onboarding checklist – Since companies are so bad with onboarding, we want to provide you with your own onboarding checklist. While we understand every company is different, please understand this is a general checklist. Our checklist will make sure you are prepared on and for your first day.
30/60/90 Days
You may think after your first day that onboarding is over. Well, chances are for the company, that is true, but not for you! Not by a long shot. Your personal orientation is at minimum 90 days long. Because the first few weeks are crucial to your employment, you want to be sure that your new employer knows they made a good decision with hiring you. We have created a 30/60/90 day checklist as how to properly onboard yourself. You may be thinking, “How do I onboard myself and why would I want to do that? I’ll just let the company take care of it.” Well, it’s attitudes like that, that create lazy, unmotivated people who do not get far in life. The reason you are reading this is because you are not lazy and you are motivated, so show them, prove it to them. In your first 30 days, you want to be sure to establish a rapport with your manager/supervisor and their manager. You should have goals set as they relate to your job responsibilities and agreed as to how they will be achieved. Also, you’ll want to be sure you know where everything is: Bathroom, supplies, managers desk and the receptionist (i.e. the front door). In the next 60 days, you want to start establishing new relationships and meeting new people. Get out there and introduce yourself to every person you see. The more widely known you are in the company, the better chances of success you’ll have. After 90 days, you will want to follow up with your manager/supervisor about the progress of your goals and then begin establishing more long-term goals. By this point, you should learned a great deal about the company and your department and begin understanding the change you can deliver. Through your long-term goals, you will begin laying out a strategy on how to conquer that change. It will be this personal onboarding that will help solidify your success at your new employer.