Yes, you can indeed do that - if you want to be complacent, if you are willing to risk being in the same position again even sooner than you need to be. If, on the other hand, you would rather be wise, stop and think about:
- what you have learned about yourself and the job market, and how you can use this knowledge;
- what you can do between now and the time you join your new company to help you to settle in quickly and successfully;
- how you are going to tackle the job when you do actually start and during the vital early stages;
- the plans you need to make for your longer term career development, whether that proves to be within the company you are about to join, or elsewhere.
The self-appraisal you undertook together with all the advice you have received in the course of your job search, ought to have brought about a significant increase in the level of your self-knowledge. If you are to make the optimum use of this, you need to check the following.
- Whether you now have a strategy for your career development, and if this is in turn a coherent part of a strategy for your whole life.
- If you can learn anything from your last job, especially if you lost that job without another one to go to. Even if you did not actually make serious errors, were you guilty of sins of omission, of complacency, of not consciously working to make yourself an asset the company could not afford to be without?
- Whether you have weaknesses which you need to do some-thing about, now that you have the time, in order to make yourself more marketable in the future.
- Whether you understand clearly both what your strengths are and how you are going to use them.
While you are waiting to start your new job, prepare yourself as thoroughly as you possibly can. This should include:
- reviewing all the information you already have from the research you carried out, from what you learned at your interviews and from what the company has provided subsequently;
- asking your new employer for any further information which may be useful, such as systems manuals, details about products and services, company newsletters and so on;
- getting up to date on any technical matters relevant to your new job;
- undertaking any general background reading that may be useful, e.g. about the areas in which the company operates.
Settling in
Things to learn about as quickly as possible include:
- key people and how to handle them;
- communications, both formal and informal, and in all directions - upwards, downwards and sideways;
- how decisions are really made;
- the unwritten rules of the organization as a whole, and of its various parts;
- how to cut through red tape and get things done.
- trying to set the world to rights before you have taken the trouble to find out how it operates;
- repeatedly telling your new colleagues how this, that and the other was done so much better at your last company;
- knocking your previous company, boss, colleagues or staff;
- getting dragged into company politics - you could well end up on the wrong side.
The most crucial relationship in your new job will inevitably be the one you form with your boss. Bosses expect you to be:
- capable
- co-operative
- efficient
- hard working, in terms both of effort and, when necessary, hours
- honest
- loyal
- keen
- reliable.
- indifference
- insobriety
- intrigue
- irresponsibility
- surprises.
Other People
While your boss is inevitably the most important person in the organization as far as you are concerned, you also need to get on with your colleagues and your staff.
Colleagues expect you to be:
- co-operative
- friendly
- loyal
- trustworthy.
- deceit
- oneupmanship
- selfishness.
- unreliability.
- consideration
- leadership
- recognition
- support.
- autocracy
- being patronized
- distrust
- favoritism
- having their boss take all the credit for their ideas and hard work
- indecision
- insecurity.
As well as looking outwards, at other people, you also need to look inwards, at yourself. If you are to keep yourself marketable in a rapidly changing world, it is vital that you write into your diary a regular review session - say, once every six months - at which you look at what you have achieved in the period just ended and plan ahead - in broad terms for the next few years, and in detail for the next few months. Using your long-term strategic plan as the backdrop set yourself targets in terms of the following.
- Experience - aim to make every day a CV building day.
- Keeping up to date - have a regular program of reading both general and technical matter pertinent to your job, and attend relevant courses and conferences.
- Learning something new - identify areas which will advance your career (e.g. learning a new computer application or a foreign language) and set yourself targets to achieve these objectives.
- Interpersonal skills - aim, too, to develop your skills in management, and in dealing with people through reading, workshops and practice.
- Raising your profile - start by publicizing your new appointment, then go on to join trade and professional bodies, get yourself into print, be seen in public etc.
- Developing your network - thank all the people who have helped you and let them know about your new appointment. Use the fresh contacts you will make in your new company to expand your network. Keep in touch with people through calls to exchange information, invitations to business functions, Christmas cards etc. Take advantage of your new position to be seen as a potential client by headhunters and other recruitment consultants - and send them a copy of your updated CV.
A Final Thought
A lot of people have probably helped you in your search for a new job, whether it is with advice, encouragement, information or specific leads. You may never be able to repay all of those individuals directly, but there is one thing that you most definitely can do. Next time someone who needs a job asks you for assistance, however busy you may be, please find the time to do what you can to help them.
