The Crucial First 60 Days

The American experience by Cheryl Dahle

Congratulations, you've got the job! But forget about a honeymoon. If you're lucky, you've got 60 days to prove you can fit in and perform.

It's barely two weeks into her new job at an advertising giant and Molly Buchholz has just had a dispute with the company's media director, her first with a colleague. Despite the media director's objections, she has advised her client to turn down a flashy sports sponsorship deal.

Though she believes she made the right decision, Buchholz frets over the fallout: Did she come off as pushy? Did she break an unwritten rule? Did she insult someone whose support she'll need down the road? Buchholz was a star performer at her previous company but she feels tentative at her new one. She doesn't yet speak the language.

Not so long ago, a fresh recruit could expect a little time just for settling in. But now that rapid technological change and competition have quickened the pace of business, the honeymoon is over.

"Companies used to have a 90-day probation period", says Linda Seale, head of the Seale Group, a US executive coaching firm. "Now they can't spare more than 60 days". It's not uncommon for people to be hired and fired within a matter of weeks.

"The biggest mistake that a new hire can make is to lose a sense of urgency", says Seale, whose background includes a stint as head of human resources for the notoriously high-speed MTV Networks. "Before you know it, you're stuck with whatever impression you may have haphazardly left for others to see".

First 14 days: Get to know four new people

Leave at home the fallacy that your success depends on your work. "The combination of your performance and your personality determines how you're viewed", says Seale. "Probably 95% of firings are the result of failing to fit into a company's culture. If people don't know you, they can't trust you".

Seale suggests that you come up with a strategy before you step into the 'meet' market: Seek out the regulars (your team-mates, the guy in purchasing, the deal-makers, people in-the-know). Then start eating. Put aside two days each week. The point is to find out how your new workplace really works.

This should continue beyond your first two weeks. Seale recalls the fate of a talented but socially inept employee at Saatchi & Saatchi. "It was around the 90-day mark for a wave of new hires, and we were doing informal performance reviews. We drew a blank when this guy's name came up. He hadn't connected with anyone. None of us knew him. He had no credibility, and he was fired at the end of his first year".

First 30 days: Have a 'How am I doing?' meeting with your boss

Don't assume that your boss knows what you're doing. Managers usually assume that you're doing what they expect. "It's not the boss's job to ask what you're working on and how it's going", Seale says. "It's up to you to seek out the boss".

Molly Buchholz gave herself a 30-day deadline for checking in with the person who hired her. "People who expect others to come to them spend too much time waiting around", says Buchholz. "I want to be more aggressive. I want people to know I'm here". Buchholz's sit-down with the senior VP in her division allayed her worries about the disagreement over the sports sponsorship deal. The whole thing turned out to be a non-issue.

First 45 days: Write your job description

Forget about asking for a job description, says Seale. That pithy paragraph reflects only what your superiors think your job will be, not what it is. How does the real job differ from what you were led to expect? Are there new opportunities? Get your questions down on paper, then review them with your boss.

Elisabeth Hahn, 39, has an impressive background in the art world. In March 1997, she was hired by a large, New York-based brand-management-consulting firm to develop its business in Europe. It promised her plenty of training. But once she took the job, Hahn found that little training was available. And instead of being left to do big-picture market analysis, she was asked to dive in and produce business leads. "I came to realise that the original job definition was wishful thinking on my boss's part" Hahn says.

Looking back, Hahn says: "The lesson for me is that you should never act out of fear ... When I got the offer, I was afraid that if I asked too many questions, people would change their minds about me".

First 60 days: Get something done

Seale cautions against hastily assembling an agenda of easy-to-nail action items. To be sure, you must do enough to signal your potential. But be careful to pick projects that make sense. Eileen Burke, at Fleet Financial, devised a more flexible 60-day plan before she started work. But a few weeks into her new job, she was asked to help put together a financing deal for an equity firm that was trying to acquire another company. 'I looked at it as a great opportunity to work with people on a highly visible team', she says. "I knew everyone would benefit if I helped them".

Adapted from Cheryl Dahle, Fast Company