Welcome to the Just Get Hired Newsletter!

Today I’m going to do a little manifesting for you. You’re going to find that perfect job. You might be one interview away. Or a few. But you’ll get there soon.

And when you do, I want you to be ready. Nailing your first 90 days on a new job can set you on a path to more promotions, opportunities, and job security.

I’ll be going through exactly what you need to do in your first 90 days at any new job to get there.

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Let’s get into it.

Nailing your first 90 days at a new job

The old saying is “a good reputation is hard to earn and easy to lose”.

I (mostly) disagree. In my experience, when starting a new job, a good reputation can be quickly earned and then easily maintained.

People make judgements about you quickly, and once an idea of who you are is established in their mind, you have to do a lot to change that.

What that means for you: if you can nail your first 90 days in a new job — establish yourself as hard working, dependable, insightful, accountable, etc. — then that is almost certainly how people will perceive you throughout your duration of that job.

Obviously if your behavior changes DRAMATICALLY in the future (e.g. missing deadlines, being late for work, etc.), you can lose a reputation. But I’ve found that people are way more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt if you establish a strong first impression.

So here’s how to do that:

1) Get started early

It's easier to score if you start the game on 3rd base.

Ask your manager to share any onboarding docs or business materials with you before your start date.

Things I typically ask for:

• Recent business performance

• Team organization (who I will be working with)

• HR / operations documents I will need

• Any training materials they typically provide to new hires

Review in detail and record any questions for later. You’ll walk in the door already asking second-level questions and adding value faster.

As an added bonus, I always like to ask my manager on day 1: what things do I need to know to navigate my role? Things like: who the power players are, what things matter and what things don’t, etc.

I get that you won’t get paid for this — I’m not suggesting you spend countless hours on this. A few hours the week before you start is enough.

2) Establish success criteria

Create a plan with your manager. This doesn’t have to happen on day 1, but ideally at the end of your first week / beginning of your second week.

What do they expect you to accomplish in your first 90 days?

The best managers will have this ready, but if they don’t you want to create a plan regardless.

You want to make this as explicit and measurable as possible. New hires are rarely expected to impact the business in terms of metrics, so it’s fine to define things like “complete XYZ onboarding” or “meet with every member of the team”.

Internally, double it and make that your goal.

3) Listen first, talk later

Your mission should be to understand EVERYTHING.

The good, the bad, the ugly of where the company is at today.

Especially if you’re coming in with experience, it can be really easy to immediately input your best practices or ideas. Resist that urge.

Focus on asking questions and listening; your opinion will matter later.

4) Learn the business

You need to know everything you can about the business you’re working on.

Why does it exist? Who are it's customers? How is it performing?

You should understand what drives the business at 3 levels:

1. The company

2. Your team

3. You individually

5) Ask informed questions

In my experience, you get about 30 days of 'dumb questions' at any new job.

Take advantage. Remember, your fresh point of view is an asset.

My personal favorite way to do this:

Avoid asking “why…” questions — they imply that you don’t know or potentially don’t think the reason for doing something is a good one.

Instead, ask “can you help me understand…”

This implies that the current team does know what they’re doing and you simply don’t have the information or understanding to know their brilliant plan.

It’s a great way to prevent current team members from getting defensive while learning when things are being done for good reasons vs. just because.

Whenever possible, use your evolving knowledge and prior research to improve the quality of your questions.

6) Go the extra mile

Now is not the time to set aggressive boundaries.

Show up early. Stay late. Exceed expectations.

I get it, companies don’t necessarily deserve your loyalty or extra work, especially with all these layoffs.

But as I explained earlier — reputations are much easier to maintain once you have one.

90 days of hard work and extra effort can earn you YEARS of reputation.

7) Build relationships

Set up time with everyone on your team + leadership. Get to know them as people first, coworkers second.

But DON'T waste their time.

Research their roles beforehand and ask your manager for topics to discuss.

I love asking my manager: “hey I’m meeting with XYZ on the team, what questions should I ask them?”

Bring questions (more on that next) and an agenda.

8) Find the pain

Every team / business has pain.

Something broken everyone wants fixed. A meeting that needs more structure. Or miscommunication between teams.

Ask EVERYONE in your 1:1 meetings what they would change about the business if they could change anything tomorrow.

Now you have a bank of ideas to investigate further. Even better if you have the opportunity to implement a fix quickly for a common problem.

Again, you should be mostly listening (especially in the first 30 days), but if you do see an early way to solve team pain, you can take it.

9) Find a mentor

Of the people you meet with, look for someone that:

• Is a high performer

• Is 1-2 years ahead of you

• Meshes with your personality

• Has extra capacity / willing to help

And is better at what you're good at or good at what you're bad at.

Be transparent with them about wanting to find a mentor like them and ask for monthly meetings going forward (potentially biweekly early on if they have the capacity).

10) Get early wins and GIVE CREDIT

From #8, you can hopefully find some early wins to get the team rallying behind you.

But when you get early wins, the next step is CRUCIAL.

I know you want to prove yourself.

To add value & shout it from the rooftop. To make sure everyone knows how valuable you are.

But first impressions last.

At any opportunity, give credit to your team on early wins you get.

You'll build allies quickly.

Here’s to finding that job you’ve been looking for an then CRUSHING your first 90 days at that new job.

One of my personal goals in 2024 is to grow this newsletter. If you get value out of my content, you can help by sharing the link below and getting credit for referrals :)

I appreciate you in advance!

-Ben