Virtual Career Center

On the Job - Working Smart

Making a good impression with managers, colleagues, and customers or clients, as well as doing a good job, are goals that we seek when starting a new position. Most of all, people want to feel confident about their ability to do the job, and to fit in. Take some time before your first day, and during your first weeks, to remind yourself of your professional strengths and your enthusiasm for your new job.

• Before you start the job write down at least ten reasons why you know you will succeed. Carry the list with you and look at it often.
• Be yourself — that is one of the principal reasons you were hired.
• You don't have to do it all in one day (or even one week or one month).
• Make a new start. If there are work habits you'd like to improve, decide how to do that and follow through. Also remember that the strengths of your work style will help you thrive in your new role and environment.
• Use your job description as a planner: what are your regular responsibilities, and what special projects should you be anticipating as additions to your daily tasks?
• Make a To Do list and a To Learn list each day, and develop a system to keep track of your formal and informal learning.
• Talk to your colleagues about the work, the culture of the organization, and about their roles. Learn about each other — you'll be spending a lot of time together.
• Do your best to take on unexpected challenges. They are part of every job.
• Evaluate your progress each week. Your job description can be helpful. Add observations from your new experiences.
• Make sure you are doing the right job (as well as doing the job right). Ask for feedback from everyone, and set up a time for regular discussions with your manager.
• In today's environment, expect organizational change and view it as an opportunity for professional development.
• Recognize and reward your successes. Add them to the story you know best — yours!

How can the Alumni Career Center help you get a great start on your new job?

• Career Advising — Whether this is your first position after graduation, a career change, or the next position within your current career path or company, a one-on-one discussion with an advisor can help you focus your performance goals and design a plan to reach them. You can also arrange periodic tune-up sessions with advisors to affirm that you're doing the right job as well as doing the job right. Career advising is a feature of the Alumni Career Center's Comprehensive Service Package, available for an annual fee of $160 to Alumni Association members. An option to meet one time for one hour with a career adviser for a $40 fee is also available to Alumni Association members.
  
  
• Professional Development Workshops — We conduct workshops on many topics related to preparing for and implementing a successful job search strategy. Fees for individual workshops are $25 and all workshops are offered at no additional charge as a feature of the Alumni Career Center's Comprehensive Service Package. See the calendar at www.uiaa.org/calendar for details.
  
  

• Jobsmarts for Twentysomethings, by Bradley G. Richardson
  
  
• Love Your Work and Success Will Follow, by Arlene S. Hirsch
  
  
• Personal Best: 1001 Great Ideas for Achieving Success in Your Career, Joe Tye with National Business Employment Weekly
  
  
• Take This Job and Love It: How to Change Your Work Without Changing Your Job, by Dennis T. Jaffe, Ph.D. and Cynthia D. Scott, Ph.D., M.P.H.
  
  
• Winning Office Politics, by Andrew DuBrin
  
  
• Work Types, by Jean M. Kummerow, Nancy J. Barger, and Linda K. Kirby
  
  

• Benefits Link - articles on more than 50 topics related to employee benefits.
  www.benefitslink.com
  
  
• Business Week Online - business and career management articles from current and recent issues.
  www.businessweek.com
  
  
• Career Journal - career management information and additional resources from the publishers of The Wall Street Journal.
  www.careerjournal.com
  
  
• Fast Company - find out what is going on in today's and tomorrow's workplace in the "Work Matters" Career Center.
  www.fastcompany.com
  
  
• Career Center at Monster.com
  www.monster.com
  
  
• WetFeet - find sources in "Managing Your Career" in the Career Center feature.
  www.wetfeet.com

Can't find the resources you are looking for? Have questions about the Alumni Career Center services? University of Illinois alumni can ask our career experts for help with job searching and career questions.