The first week on a new job is tough. You want to prove you're capable and hit the ground running, but the smallest things can trip you up. After all, they don't teach college courses on who to call when your computer breaks or the fastest way to learn co-workers' names.
"If you're lucky, you have a computer at your desk," says Reed Van Gorden, a recent college grad who works in finance in Manhattan. "Mostly, you run around for the first week with your head cut off trying to get your equipment and bothering people much more important than you about the basics."
It doesn't have to be like that. There are tricks to getting through those obstacles smoothly.
For instance, there are only so many times you can ask a new co-worker his or her name. That's why Jonathan Israel, who has been on his new job as a research manager at Ipsos for three months, checks on his company's Web site for employees' pictures, names and titles. At his previous job, he even printed out a cheat sheet and kept it in a drawer.
If your company doesn't have an online face book, challenge yourself to learn ten people's names and job descriptions each week. "There's a window in the first few weeks when people cut you slack if don't know their names," says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at Careerbuilder.com. "But that runs out after a while."
Israel has other handy suggestions. He highly recommends befriending the office manager. "That's a good friend to make," says Israel. The office manager deals with practically everyone who comes into and out of the office, so they know everybody. They can also help you with odds and ends like finding the supply closet, scheduling a conference room and finding good lunch places.
Israel's trick for getting in good with the office manager: Listen to what he or she talks about with other employees so you can find a commonality to discuss. It works in the reverse too: Anger the office manager, and you'll get nothing but grief.
Make sure you're approachable. Don't wait for someone to ask you to grab a cup of coffee or lunch. If you've got a hankering for pizza, ask people who sit around you if they'd like to join you for lunch. This is not high school — people tend to be much friendlier than they were at age 16.
"You don't want to be an alien life form waiting for human contact," says Thuy H. Sindell, co-author of Sink or Swim: New Job, New Boss, 12 Weeks to Get It Right and co-founder of Hit The Ground Running, a San Francisco consulting firm.
The first week is also a good time to have your manager clearly define your role. Things can get hectic fast, especially if the job you filled has been open for a while. If your manager hasn't set up a time to meet, ask if you can grab coffee or lunch within your first few days. During that meeting, find out how the organization measures success and how that is linked to evaluations.
"It might not be flushed out in the first week, but it's an important staring point," says Sindell.
Don't over-promise on what you can get done during the first week. There's going to be a learning curve, so take that into account when setting deadlines on projects. Ask your manager what are the key milestones that need to be reached along the way to complete the projects on time. That gets the manager discussing the projects and will give you a better sense of how long it will take to achieve those milestones.
Don't try to make changes right away. "The first week is making sure you're observing, understanding and asking questions," says Sindell. You may be used to doing tasks a different way at your previous job. But your current organization may have a reason for doing it another way.
Take the time to learn why it's done this way. Part of that observing should focus on figuring out how decisions are made and who makes them. Once you start to feel more comfortable at the organization, you can approach those decision-makers to try to collaborate on projects.
That's when you can start making changes.