New Year, New Job: 5 Ways To Successfully Start Your New Job in 2022
Many of us are starting new jobs in 2022, myself included. Whether you’re starting something new or wanting to start your year off on the right foot, the first step in any good plan is to make goals, a pathway towards success and a system for tracking your progress. In this week’s article, I outline five ways to successfully start your new job or revitalize your focus in your current role in 2022.
1. SMART Goals
The best goals are SMART goals. The letters S and M generally mean specific and measurable, while A is for achievable (or attainable), R for relevant, and T for time-bound.
An example of one of my 2022 business SMART goals is:
S: Get into podcasting
M: Appear on 10 podcasts
A: I decided on 10 as I already had 4 booked from 2021 so 6 more seamed attainable for me
R: Podcasting is a great way to connect with a large audience and helps build my business
T: All of 2022
My SMART goal written out would look something like this:
Over the next 12 months of 2022, I want to get into podcasting. I plan to appear on 10 podcasts utilizing my coaching network to secure guest spots. Podcasting is a great way to connect with a large audience and helps build my business in a fun and authentic way. I am excited and engaged by this goal and have a pathway forward towards success.
With SMART goals, the end game is growth. Sometimes growth is marginal, sometimes it’s big. It’s good to have a balance of aggressive growth opportunity goals (perhaps I could have appeared on 20 podcasts vs 10?) and smaller opportunities that feel reasonable, relevant and achievable to you. Be sure to track your progress (I use a simple Microsoft Excel document) to ensure you’re happy with how you are moving towards your goals.
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As you start a new role, you might have SMART goals specific to the first 30, 60 and 90 days. Then after 90 days, reevaluate what the rest of the year might look like for you (I’d probably tag your manager in on this conversation too so they can help create some of your SMART goals with you). Keep revisiting your goals and making sure they make sense.
2. Networking
Networking is a fantastic way to start any new job. Knowing who you need to know to progress your SMART goals forward is key. Perhaps it's your manager or internal colleagues but likely it’s folks outside your team, or perhaps even outside your organization.
Take the time to ask people out for coffee, lunch or even an afternoon walk as a “hi, I just started and want to get to know people” vibe. At this point, ask everyone and say yes to any and all opportunities to connect. Networking teaches you the organizational culture, establishes relationships and helps build your own brand presence and expertise in your new role and tells others how you bring value.
The last four jobs I’ve had, I got through my network. I intentionally built a robust network through authentic curiosity and a commitment to learning about others so I can best help them, not them helping me. When you show up for your network, your network will show up for you.
Start small, perhaps just walking around the office and introducing yourself for 10 minutes a day. If in a virtual setting, grab 10 minutes on people’s calendar for a Zoom or Teams call. It might feel a bit forced but trust me, eventually you’ll need to know these people whether it’s to get current work done or opportunities for future collaboration, so take the time, put in the work and make yourself known to people around you.
3. Professional Development
One of my graduate school professors told me to invest in at least one class’s worth of tuition per year on professional development after graduation. For me that was about $5,000. When I first started my career, I was really overwhelmed at the prospect of spending that kind of money just on professional development!
I had an honest and truthful conversation with my first manager about my career, my goals and how I envisioned the first couple of jobs going. We set up a plan on what skills, certificates and professional organizations I needed to join to get there, and wouldn’t you know, it all came in at about 5k a year!
I asked my manager for funding and was able to get about 2k-$2,500 a year for professional development. I applied for young professional scholarships to attend conferences and usually got a discounted rate. One year I didn’t get the conference scholarship so I set up shop at a Starbucks near the conference hotel and asked folks to go on one to one coffee dates. This was 100% free (minus cost of coffee!) and was insanely valuable in my own development and future job opportunities.
Investing in yourself looks a little different at the start of your career than towards the end. Now I have the money to invest in professional development and I focus on much more expensive certificates and growth opportunities that really progress my career goals. I still make use of free things like YouTube videos or free learnings I get as part of my job (LinkedIn Learning) but I’m much more open to seeing the value in investing in my craft now compared to the start of my career.
The main takeaway here is no matter your budget, make investing in your continued growth a priority when starting a new role. Work with your organization, your manager and those around you to keep moving your skill set forward and be committed to lifelong learning.
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4. Rest
Building in rest and relaxation time is the balance to the excessive amount of doing and learning we undertake when starting new jobs. Take your weekends, use your holiday, if you can close your laptop at 5pm, do so.
Finding a balance between being and doing is no easy job but listen to yourself. If you’re tired, rest. If you’re energized, strike while the iron is hot!
Now is the time to establish a healthy relationship with your new job. If you’re using the new year to reset some of your 2021 habits, start with building in boundaries and balance to work first. When we have balance and feel a true sense of alignment in ourselves and our work, it often spills into our personal lives as well.
5. Risks
The new year gives us the time to challenge ourselves, to leave the previous year behind and begin anew. If you’re risk averse like me, perhaps start with one super challenging or risky activity per year. In 2021, for me it was starting this blog and this business. In 2022, I’m challenging myself to take more risks in my business by creating an online course, managing content creators and showing up in places I haven't before (podcasting, YouTube, anything video- yikes!!).
I encourage you to seek risks, small or big, it doesn't really matter. The point is to change the way you see the world. By pushing ourselves to get comfortable being uncomfortable, we are establishing a growth mindset and this is the key to evolving in our career from year 1 to year 50.
Starting a new year, a new job or creating a shift within yourself to start new habits towards a better relationship with work can really put you on a healthy career path that is sustainable and rewarding.
Create goals, build a network to help you achieve your goals, invest in yourself, rest and take risks!
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Meet The Writer!
Hi! My name is Nadia Ibrahim-Taney and I help people design happy and fulfilling careers through authentic career coaching. My expertise includes career exploration guidance, resume writing, interview prep and LinkedIn profile optimization. My pronouns are She/ Her/ Hers and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I focus on how diverse identities impact and influence folks holistically and professionally. Please connect with me on LinkedIn or at Nadia@beyonddiscoverycoaching.com
