It’s been almost 12 years since I started at Microsoft. I was fresh out of college with an Electrical Engineering degree, meaning I had no experience with information technology or IT as they call it. I had been hired as a Support Engineer (SE) role as a college hire and would be spending my first 3 months in the Microsoft Academy for College Hire (MACH) program. I was excited, but I hadn’t really talked to anyone about what I should expect in my first 90 days. Being transparent, to this day I still feel like I failed my first 90 days, which is why I am writing this to ensure you don’t.
Today’s blog post will focus on how you can maximize your first 90 days as a college hire or even someone new to an organization. My hopes are these tips help you stand out and ensure that you achieve the success that you deserve. Let’s get into it.
1: Brand – You are what people remember about you
Let’s imagine a scenario, who would you rather work with? Your 1st option is the person that waits for instructions or needs directions before they start something. Option 2 is the person who tries things out, they may not get it right every time, but they try. Most people would say option 2. The reason why is option 2 would be seen as a self-starter, someone who doesn’t need all the details to start doing. Option 1 is the person where the due date is tomorrow, and they tell you they didn’t know they were supposed to do that. A lot of early in career folks are option 1 because they are used to the “give me homework” approach. The give me homework approach being, go to class, and get something assigned, which is not how corporate environments work. The are essentially branding themselves as the “needs” help employee.
Branding or your brand sticks with you as you move throughout your career. If I were to guess, my brand would probably be an “amplifier”, the person who tries to make sure everyone around them is successful. An example of this is, I noticed that only my manager and his peers knew how to deliver a specific executive report, so if they were both out the team struggled. I recommended that we introduce a rotation each month and by the end of it everyone was able to deliver it with easy. The team was amplified.
While I am happy with my brand, I did build it unintentionally, which I do not want for you. In your first 90 days, think about what you want to be known for? Once you do that, think about how you can be known for that? These 2 questions you should answer yourself and then start exhibiting the habits from your how. Once you’ve done them for a couple of weeks to a month, ask people around what they think of you and your work. If you’re trending positively great, if not figure out how you can pivot. Ultimately, my advice would be to start early, don’t just let your brand come to you.
2: Audit – What do you like, what do you hate?
When I started my career, I thought that I had made the wrong decision, because being a Support Engineer (SE) didn’t feel like it fully aligned with me. When I reflect on why, none of the work was proactive, I didn’t have enough technical depth, and I couldn’t innovate…yet that is. I had been afraid to tell people that because who am I to say I didn’t like my role at such a great company. About 4 years ago, I was in a panel with friends from college and felt comfortable to share how I felt about my 1st role. To my surprise, all my other friends said they had the same experience. It was such a relief, but what this taught me is don’t be afraid to audit your career early. Your role might not be a good fit for you, it doesn’t mean you don’t belong at that company, it just means that you’re not in the right role.
The advice that I give to my mentees is in their 1st 90 days write down what you like and write down what you hate. The reason why I tell them to do this is your first role doesn’t have to (and should not) be your final role. You want to know what you like and try to steer away from what you don’t. Now I don’t mean dodge learning new skills, but what I do mean is focus on what energizes you. We spend too much time at work to focus on the things that drain us. For the longevity of your career, know what energizes you and what drains you, if not burnout is hiding just around the corner.
3: Feedback – Be comfortable being uncomfortable
Before you start this section, please take a moment to comment on this blog post to let me know what you think. It can be constructive such as “This is terrible, I learned nothing new at all” or it can be positive like “we need more of this on the internet”. Overall, whether you like this blog or hate it, that feedback is useful for me. Feedback is a signal you choose to listen to or not to. It’s better to have this signal because when you don’t you can’t course correct you can’t change.
In your first 90 days in a role, get feedback especially since you can play the newbie card. Just finished the 1st part of your project, ask what did you think of how I did this, is there any way that I might be able to improve what I’ve done? When you ask, people often are willing to share with you what they think. For some reason, we’re conditioned to think you should never get bad news, but why not? If I sucked at that project I want to know, how else am I going to make sure it doesn’t suck again. You need to be comfortable asking for advice, because if you don’t you might just end up as the person everyone complains about behind your back. Yes, that does happen, office politics can be critical to how you’re perceived. Own your perspective, don’t let it own you.
Wrap-Up
Overall, your first 90 days are critical for you to pick up and learn new skills. The 3 recommendations I’ve shared today are what I believe to be the most impactful. Pilot these out and determine if they are right for you to achieve success in your first 90 days. Take command of your brand, build it, and own it in your new role. Audit your experience, know what excites you and drives your best work. Seek feedback, good, bad, or indifferent because it provides you with a chance to get better every day. Overall, take control of your first 90 days, because if you don’t you might regret it like I did.
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