Name: 5 Things You MUST Do After Starting a New Job!
Uploaded: 2024-06-24T04:03:42.000Z
Duration: 7 min 4 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

In a recent article, Zara Zhang talks about the key quality that sets new graduates up for success in the corporate world.

And that is the ability to make things happen.

She argues this ability has four components.

First, know who does what, second, know when to escalate, third, know what's in it for them, and fourth, know when to communicate.

This article stood out to me not only because Zara is a Harvard graduate who edited for the Harvard Crimson, worked at a larger venture capital firm, GGV Capital, but she is also an accomplished product marketing manager at ByteDance.

And as a fellow product marketer in the tech space, who's not as accomplished, I can't help but share these insights because everything she wrote, I had to learn the hard way, and I wish this cheat sheet existed when I entered the workforce.

So in this video, I'm going to combine Zara's tips with my personal experiences and leave you with five things you can do to accelerate your career in the corporate world.

Diving right into number one, know who does what.

Here, Zara's talking about who actually does what regardless of their title.

It's sort of like if you wanted a meeting with someone senior, it's often better to know their administrative assistant who has access to the boss's schedule.

Take a look at what I did with your calendar there, hot shot.

Zara then says when people fail to get things done, it's not because they're incapable, it's simply because they haven't found the right person.

For example, back when I was in the sales team, I naively thought anyone in the marketing team could help me with building a case study.

In reality, marketing is split into many smaller pods, and had I taken the time to figure that out, the project would have gone so much smoother.

Proactively schedule one-on-ones and coffee chats with cross-functional team members.

I've made videos on these topics, so I'll just leave the highlights here.

There are three insights you want to uncover during your one-on-ones.

First, their key performance indicators, KPIs.

This is literally how their success is measured during performance review.

And knowing this will help you figure out what synergies there are between your work and theirs.

Second, their personal goals and aspirations.

For example, I will let colleagues know about internal transfer opportunities if I know they're interested.

This buys me goodwill and helps us connect on a more personal level.

Finally, what resources they have access to.

For example, the analyst team might have the data you need to build your next business proposal, and maybe the marketing team has leftover budget to make it happen.

Pro tip, and I've mentioned this countless times, you should always end these chats with, based on what we discussed today, who else do you recommend I reach out to?

Over time, the snowball gets bigger and you will have created a significant personal network within the organization.

By the way, I've linked Zara's full article down below where she shares her own experiences.

As a new joiner, you hear things like, ask anything you like, there are no stupid questions.

But just like arguments with your partner, how you go about it will impact the end result.

First, you want to apply the concept that the best teachers are those who are just one step ahead of us.

As a new account manager, the best advice I received when it came to actual selling were from colleagues who joined six months before me, as opposed to my manager and other senior leaders.

Second, when you do go to someone with questions, always show what actions you've already taken.

They see you're proactive and now they have a starting point to give you actionable advice.

Third, when you feel overwhelmed with the amount of new information thrown at you, prioritize the topics that have a direct impact on your core KPIs.

This shows whoever you're asking for help that you're able to effectively manage your time.

Tip number three for new grads, know when to escalate.

In plain English, escalating is basically going over your colleague's head and talking to their boss directly.

Zara argues there are two situations where you want to do this.

One, if you expect pushback from a teammate because your idea will generate a significant amount of extra workload for them, or two, they agree to help you, but their work is subpar and is affecting your deliverables.

So this is where my opinion differs slightly from that of Zara's, and I think it's mainly because Google has a relatively flat work structure, whereas ByteDance is more top down.

Nothing wrong with that, by the way, just different company cultures.

In my experience, even if the senior leader of another team is invested in your idea, it's usually their direct report who's responsible for the actual execution.

So if you could get that person's full buy-in through what I talked about in tip one, identify synergies, exchanging resources, building a personal connection, that would result in the best possible outcome without burning bridges.

Of course, sometimes you just have to escalate.

In those instances, I recommend making your manager aware of the situation first.

They can escalate on your behalf or at least back you up if needed.

Tip number four, know how to host a meeting that doesn't suck.

But Zara summarizes our collective pain points perfectly.

If people leave wondering why was I even in this meeting, then this was a failure on the part of the meeting organizer.

They have failed to fully communicate the context of the meeting to the participants beforehand.

Whoa, that actually sounds pretty mean when you say it out loud, Zara.

First, if it's a new initiative, align with each stakeholder individually before a larger team meeting.

Show them the outline of your project and let them see how it's going to benefit them as well.

This is a sign more communication and planning are needed.

And it's great you can take care of this offline instead of being challenged in the meeting.

Second, during the meetings, instead of sharing every single specific detail that you as a project manager need to know, only present information relevant to the attendees.

This will keep the meetings short and efficient.

Third, always send a recap email with clear action items and owners.

So everyone knows what deliverables need to be reviewed next week.

I know, I know all this sounds like a lot of extra effort, but if you gain the reputation of someone who hosts productive meetings, you'll be entrusted with more autonomy and freedom at work.

Last but certainly not least, know your boss.

For better or for worse, your manager plays an instrumental role in your corporate experience.

And research backs up the old saying that people leave managers, not companies. 57% of employees have left a job because of their manager.

I've been very lucky to have supported managers throughout my entire career so far, but looking at my colleagues who are not as fortunate, but are still able to manage up effectively, I've noticed a common theme.

Your manager can only be your biggest advocate if you give them the tools to do so.

A great way to do this is to regularly document your wins.

Someone emails you a thank you note, label and save it.

Another team message you about the positive impact of your project, screenshot it.

Your new process drove cost savings of 20%, write that down.

You now have a treasure trove of achievements you can bring up during your next performance review.

And your manager can then use those to be your advocate during calibration meetings.

Of course, there's a lot more to managing up in the workplace, so I highly recommend you check out my video on how to have productive one-on-ones with your manager.

Huge shout out to Zara again for writing such an amazing article.