What to Do in Your First Week at a New Job
In your first week at a new job, observe on day 1, map the people on day 2, learn the work on day 3, start contributing on day 4, and reflect and plan on day 5. Follow the day-by-day checklist below to set the tone for your first 90 days.
Your first week at a new job is the first five working days of your new role, and it matters more than it looks. Spend it observing on day 1, mapping people on day 2, learning the work on day 3, contributing on day 4, and reflecting on day 5.
It is weird. You do not know where anything is. You do not know who anyone is. You do not know the unwritten rules. You are trying to look confident while feeling completely lost.
That is normal. Everyone feels that way, even people who seem like they have it together.
But your first week matters more than you think. The impressions people form in week one tend to stick, and research backs this up: in a study published in Psychological Science, people formed stable judgments of someone after seeing them for a tenth of a second, and those judgments held up even with more time. You do not get a second chance to make a first impression.
Here is a day-by-day guide for your first week. Follow this and you will set yourself up for a strong first 90 days.
Day 1: Observe and Absorb
Your first day is not about doing work. It is about showing up ready to learn.
What to do:
Arrive early. Not ridiculously early. 10-15 minutes. It shows you are serious without looking desperate.
Introduce yourself to everyone. Not just your team. Say hi to the person at the desk next to you. Introduce yourself to the admin. Smile and be warm. People remember who was friendly on day one.
Take notes on everything. You will be given a lot of information. Login credentials, team structures, project overviews. Write it all down. Do not assume you will remember it later.
Ask your manager for a 1-on-1. If they do not schedule one, ask for 30 minutes sometime in week one. Use this time to ask: "What does success look like for me in my first 30 days?"
Do not try to impress anyone with ideas yet. You do not have enough context. Listen. Observe. Absorb.
Day 2: Start Mapping the People
On day two, start building your relationship map.
What to do:
Set up 15-minute intro meetings. Message 3-5 key people: "I am new on the team and would love to grab 15 minutes. I want to learn what you do and how we work together. Do you have time this week?"
Find the informal leaders. Every team has them. The person everyone goes to with questions. The person who has been there forever. The person who actually knows how things get done. Identify them and build a relationship early.
Learn the communication norms. Is the team on Slack, email, or Teams? What is the response time expectation? Do people message after hours? Learn the rhythm.
Start your win log. Yes, on day two. Log one thing you accomplished or learned. "Set up all my accounts and tools." "Met with Sarah from marketing and learned how our teams collaborate." Small wins are still wins.
Day 3: Understand the Work
Now start understanding what you are actually here to do.
What to do:
Review your job description again. You read it during the interview process. Read it again with fresh eyes now that you know more about the company. What seems different now? What questions come up?
Ask your manager about priorities. "What are the top 3 things you want me focused on in my first 30 days?" Make note of the answer. This is your roadmap.
Look at past work. If you are in a role where previous work exists (reports, campaigns, code, documents), look at it. Understand the quality bar and the style. What does good look like here?
Identify one quick win. Is there something small you can do in your first week that would be helpful? A document to organize, a process to streamline, a question to answer. Find it. Do not do it yet. Just identify it.
Day 4: Start Contributing
You have observed for three days. Now start adding small value.
What to do:
Take on one small task. Not a project. A task. Something someone else was going to do that you can take off their plate. This shows initiative without overstepping.
Share one observation. Not a criticism. An observation. "I noticed the team uses three different tools for project tracking. Is that intentional or did it just evolve that way?" This shows you are paying attention without being pushy.
Continue intro meetings. You should have 2-3 more set up. Keep meeting people. Keep building your network.
Log your wins. You should have 3-4 entries by now. Keep going.
Day 5: Reflect and Plan
Your first week is almost done. Take a breath and get organized.
What to do:
Make note of your first impressions. What surprised you? What matches what you expected? What is different from what you were told in the interview? This is useful context for later.
Review your notes. You should have a lot of them from the week. Organize them. What are the key themes? What do you need to learn more about next week?
Plan week two. What are your top 3 priorities? What meetings do you need to set up? What do you need to start working on?
Review your win log. You should have 5-7 entries from your first week. Read through them. You did more than you think.
What should be on your first week checklist?
If you only do five things in your first week, do these:
- Meet your manager and ask what success looks like at day 30
- Set up intro meetings with 5 key people
- Learn the communication tools and norms
- Start a win log and add to it every day
- Identify one small quick win you can deliver in week two
How do you make this automatic?
If keeping track of all this sounds overwhelming, Soar90 does it for you. The app gives you a daily task plan for your first 90 days, sends you reminders, tracks your wins, and builds your review report automatically.
$9.99 one-time. No subscription. Try the free demo at soar90.com.
The Bottom Line
Your first week is about showing up, paying attention, and starting to build relationships. You do not need to change the world in week one. You need to show that you are present, curious, and organized. The rest follows from there.
References
- First impressions: making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face, Willis and Todorov, Psychological Science (2006)
- Essential ingredients for an effective onboarding program, Gallup
