My First 90 Days: Be a Star at Work

In this series, professionals share how they rocked — or didn't! — the all-important first 90 days on the job. Follow the stories here and write your own (please include the hashtag #First90 in the body of your post).

When I was first starting out in my career, I read How to Be a Star at Work by Robert E. Kelley. This was almost 20 years ago, so some of its advice may be out of date now, but the book was incredibly influential to me, and a lot of it still holds up today. The following tips, from the book and from my own experiences, are especially helpful as you navigate a new job:

Be “on time”

It might seem obvious, but making it a habit to show up on time and stay late goes a long way, especially during your first weeks and months at a new job. In the case of a brand-new gig, “on time” should mean getting to work well before before you’re expected, and leaving after others do (and if you can’t do both, make it a goal to do one or the other). This is important during the early days, and essential on your first day. Take note of when others arrive and leave the office, and adjust your schedule accordingly. But don’t show up just for show — use your time wisely, whether it’s for adding value to the company and accomplishing your goals, or building relationships with your colleagues (more on that later).

Dress 5-10 percent better than the mean

If you can, try to suss out the company’s vibe before you even interview, via the website/team page, photos on social media, etc. And when you come in for an interview, pay attention to how people in the company dress, which can obviously vary wildly depending on the company. Once you have a feel for how people attire themselves, aim to dress just slightly better than the office average — don’t wear a suit if everyone else is in jeans, but do wear really nice jeans (or your very best board shorts).

My first day on the job at excite (1998, age 25)

Start building relationships before you start

Building relationships is key, but don't wait for your first day. Between when you accept a job offer and when you start, reach out to future peers and begin to build relationships. Ask people to coffee or lunch, and talk about what’s going on in the company, what you’ll be doing, and what they do. Ask questions and take genuine interest in getting to know them. These are going to be the people you spend the majority of your time with, so it’s important to start on the right foot.

By Day 90, you should have introduced yourself to the 50 most relevant people in the company (or all of them if the company is under 50 people): know their names, what they do and ideally one personal fact about each of them. These may be superiors, peers or people in junior or supporting functions, but all of them will be influential in your career and your day-to-day life at work. Try to get to know at least one person from each team.

You’ll have to take initiative to do this. Seize every opportunity to get to know people — eat lunch with them, follow them on Twitter, go to social gatherings (at HT we host monthly “New Hires Thursdays” in addition to many other events) and ask your supervisor or colleagues if you can sit in on meetings. When at these meetings, think of yourself as a silent observer: soak up everything that’s being said and resist the urge to interject. You can follow up later with questions and offer suggestions over email and in person, where appropriate. When it comes to social events, you don’t need to attend every single one (in fact, you probably shouldn’t), but go to more than half of them. Of course, don’t let those happy hours get too happy.

Looking back on the early days of my career, I didn’t spend nearly enough time getting to know my coworkers. I spent more time focused on the work itself, and when I did build relationships, I often built them upward, which was a mistake. There’s a good chance that some of the folks you work with now, no matter their position, will be people you end up knowing for the rest of your life. Your relationships with them may end up being more important in the long run than the ones with your company’s execs. They could hire you. They could recommend you for your dream job. You could start a company with them. You could build really great things together, so take the time to get to know them now.