Congratulations on landing your first role. You've done all the hard work and here you are finally reaping the reward, but you can't put your legs up yet. Landing a job is the first part, here's a couple of helpful tips to remember to ensure you keep it.
- Clean up your Linkedin Profile: I am sure while you were job hunting, you were told to optimise your linkedin profile and articulate all your achievements so recruiters can easily find you. Well, now you have to tweak some of those things you optimised. Things like the ‘’open to work’’ tag on your header needs to be removed. You need to re-write your professional summary in a manner that displays what you are currently doing, not what you aim to do at an organisation. You also need to include your new company in your work experience section, as well as add your company to display in your header. You have worked really hard to get to this point, why not show off the results.
- Catalogue your accomplishments and responsibilities in the workplace: If you work for a startup, chances are your to-do list for the month stays dynamic. There's always so much to do and unanticipated requests can pop up occasionally. Regardless of the magnitude of work you do daily, it could be as small as writing a follow-up email for a brand partnership deal or as big as designing user flow for a new product, taking note of it is important because your contribution contributes to the bottom line of the company. As your line manager gives you tasks, catalogue your activities in a document and stash it somewhere. Keep updating it over time. You'll find this handy when you want to ask for a promotion, salary increase or for your own personal audit
- Ask your line manager strategic questions: Considering this is your first role, you might be plagued with imposter syndrome and might feel the need to either not ask questions or to ask a lot of questions in a bid to impress. This is a perfectly normal reaction, however, asking strategic questions will serve you better. Try to observe the business or the product first and see if your question doesn't already have an obvious answer. Ask your line manager what your performance metrics will be. If your company doesn't give reviews as part of its culture, personally ask for it. Asking strategic questions makes you seem like the professional that you are.
Conclusion: Career development is a continuous journey. Getting a job is the first step and there's a lot more to do to ensure you keep your job as well as continue to improve at what you do. Implementing these tips will help you to continue to grow in your new capacity.