David Spark is a veteran tech journalist and the founder of the media production and consulting firm Spark Media Solutions who blogs regularly at Spark Minute. He was reporting at the Enterprise 2.0 conference for Dice and Dice News.
On the first day of a new job, people would always say to me, “We won’t bother you, you’ll need time to get ‘oriented.’” What were they talking about? When I start a new job I have an empty inbox and literally nothing to do. I need no time to get “oriented.”
Usually these early days can be spent trying to find your way around. If your company is using some forms of internal or external social tools, you’ll want to take advantage of them from day one.
In an interview I did with Socialtext’s Ross Mayfield, he offered some great tips and advice for using social media tools in the workplace. He gave suggestions on how HR departments can orient new hires and how ambitious employees can use social tools to stand out.
- Get to know your co-workers before you work with them. Instead of reading that useless binder of “company policies,” why not search through the company wiki and see what employees are working on. Read the company blog. Maybe you can ID a project early that excites you. Or find a possible mentor. Ultimately, the best way to learn about your company is through its people.
- Look before you leap. A company’s social platform is a new soapbox to express your ideas. It’s also a great place to put your foot in your mouth. Be careful how you use it. Check to make sure your manager is comfortable with you working openly.
- Commenting in the work environment is different than on the public Internet. Comments on a public blog can be brash and very contentious. We feel OK with that because there are rarely repercussions and we may never see that person. Quite the opposite in an office environment. Your co-workers have different levels of sensitivities. Say something wrong and it could go down in your “permanent record.”
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Good advice, David. These days, with social media and internet marketing so closely aligned, it pays to familiarize yourself with your new company as soon as possible. I would think a supervisor would be impressed if you found opportunities to connect with employees or identify an opening for getting involved with a need that is currently under-staffed.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SmartBrief on SocMed, Kathy Meyer, Michael Garvin, Kenda Morrison, Kristina Setzekorn and others. Kristina Setzekorn said: RT @SBoSM: Using enterprise 2.0 tools to ease into your new job http://bit.ly/hPCLxG — guest post from @dspark [...]
Great tips, David. It's funny to see how companies are still going about the orientation process all wrong. It's not about policies and reading the "user manual". We can do that at home – send us the policies ahead of our first day on the job. The first day, week, year, etc. should be all about the network and mentorship. Yes, you also want to train the individual, but it's more important to engulf them in the company's culture, helping them find their fit. If they don't fit, they don't stay. Period.
Here's a post I did a while back that I think has some great relevance to your article: 5 Effective Steps for Easy Onboarding http://bit.ly/aGiGRQ. I'd love to know what you think.
Keep up the great work!
Kirk Baumann http://www.campus-to-career.com
My recent post 3 Top Ideas for Success
the earlier and louder you yell, the better. Maybe it will sink in while it's early enough to make changes without a lot of effort.