Maintaining Your Career

What should I expect the first week on the job?

Your first week on the job is your best opportunity to make a great first impression. Your first week on the job is pretty much going to be getting to know your coworkers. Don't be shy. Don't wait for your coworkers to come up to you and introduce themselves. Be proactive. Go around, meet people, shake hands, let them know that you're eager to get to work, and "Hey, what can I do to assist or support you in what you're trying to do here?" That's the most important thing that you can do, because people will immediately then get a perception of you that "This is a real team player, eager to get to work, and somebody that we can count on."

What are the warning signs that I might be fired?

The warning signs that you might be fired are: number one, your duties wind up being minimized, responsibilities are taken away from you. You become excluded from key meetings, key communication. Relationships start to change. Those can be very subtle changes in communication and e-mail. Communication can wind up becoming more curt or less frequent.If you sense that there are issues, if you sense that people are not happy with you, for goodness' sakes, be proactive and go and talk to the powers that be and ask them, "Is there a problem? Is there an issue? What do we need to do to change this situation? I love my job, I want to stay here. What do we need to do to work together and work this out?"