New work advice
Do * Report to work early or on time. * Be a good listener. * Ask questions. * Dress according to your employer's policy. * Maintain a positive attitude; your attitude represents that of your employer. * Be respectful of your co-workers. * Be flexible.
New work advice
Don't Be late or absent without notifying your superior. Partake in workplace gossip. Abuse cellphone usage. Boast about your accomplishments. Assume something is acceptable without asking. Have a sense of entitlement; your employer doesn't owe you a job. Abuse your employer's Internet/email policy. Be negative about anything.
You got the job.
Now what?
There are plenty of tips offered by professionals on how to keep the job once you've landed it, but let's get a few things out of the way first. For example, it may come as a shock to those entering the work force for the first time, but you will not be earning what the owner or CEO is making at the end of your first week.
You also aren't likely to have three weeks of vacation - or any for that matter, at least not right away - and you might actually be expected to push a broom, take out the trash or do any number of other menial chores.
And - this may come as the real shock to the system - your boss is very likely to ask you to put your cellphone away during office hours. Like, the whole time.
And whatever you do, if that happens, don't go home and post on your social media page that the boss is a big ol' ogre.
This isn't high school or college anymore, and there are certain rules and expectations that new employees need to know if they plan to keep that new gig, and especially if they have aspirations of advancing. Some are as simple as showing up on time, dressing properly for the job and being ready to learn each and every day.
Jean Dake is retiring this week as director of career and student employment at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga but, over the years, she has seen and heard it all when it comes to students entering the workplace for the first time.
"We talk to students about professionalism," she said. "One of the biggest things we hear now from employers is about dining etiquette, believe it or not. We have to tell them not to slurp their soup, don't order the most expensive thing on the menu, don't salt and pepper your food until you taste it. And don't pull yourself out at any time to go out into the hall to text your friend."
Yes, the advent of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have added a new wrinkle, she says.
"You can get the job, but then you might do something stupid on social media or, heaven forbid, you talk about your boss or employer on there," she says. "The younger generation is used to sharing too much."
Just saying too much or offering an unasked-for opinion can be detrimental to one's career, so many professionals advise remaining silent and doing more observing and listening than talking.
"Sometimes it's best to just get in there and observe and learn," says Amy Hoagland, director of career services at Miller-Motte Technical College.
The for-profit school has created a program that requires its students to treat school as a professional working environment from the minute they apply, Hoagland says. Students are required to observe a business-casual dress code; those in any of the medical-related fields such as massage therapy, for example, must wear scrubs to class from day one.
"When I went through admissions I was told to wear scrubs," says Miller-Motte graduate Stacey Hodge. "They gave us a pair, and then changed it up so you didn't have to wear black, and people could choose, but it got out of hand, so they went back to black for everyone."
Hodge, 48, now works at Massage Envy at Hamilton Place. She's been the new employee before so she's seen what it takes. The key to being a good therapist, or a good employee in any profession for that matter, is to be professional, she says
"You have to sell yourself. If the appointment is at 9, you can't walk in at 9:05. Have your hair done and your uniform clean and ready and not wrinkled and prepared to meet the world. If you wear makeup, make sure it's not last night's makeup."
Yes, she's seen that happen.
New employees should always remember they are being observed and judged by everything from how they dress to the questions they ask to their punctuality. Hoagland says that research has found that "it takes an additional 27 meetings to overcome a bad impression."
Trey Brown, 39, recently graduated from Miller-Motte and has been working at Blue Cross/Blue Shield since. Prior to that he was a lab supervisor at the Allergy and Asthma Group and before that he worked in a warehouse. All of those experiences were different, he says, but the key to making the transition was to learn what was expected and to do it. Knowing the rules of the game is important no matter where you are.
And, as a supervisor, he's observed when new employees mess up.
"They come in late and not looking so great or chewing gum," he says. "They can also be bad about being on their cellphone or texting, or if they have downtime they are on the computer looking at Pinterest."
But, as he says, "that is what the 90-day probationary program is for," for weeding out bad employees. And for those of you who don't know what the 90-day probationary program is, it's the period of time in which your employer can fire you for any reason at all. Yes, any reason, even chewing gum.
"I did have a case where one girl had not even been there five full business days and was asking for vacation time," Brown says.
That sense of entitlement seems to be a theme with many new young employees, say those who've been working full-time for a while. Hoagland says "it's the No. 1 thing we hear."
"New employees will say, 'That's not what I expected, I expected to do this, or I expected six digits (in salary). You are interviewing for a job, but if you come across asking, 'Do I get benefits or do I get time off' instead of getting in there and getting to the job, you could be in trouble."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.