777--A Jackpot Career Combination

You’ve finally landed the job, signed your offer letter and resigned from your old position. It’s time for that new career challenge that will hopefully take you to the next level. But few, if any of us, approach starting the new job any differently than we did the last one. In today’s ultra competitive job market, is it critical to get off to a fast and productive start with your new employer. Following the 7-7-7 combination provides you with the groundwork for a successful start and gets your career trajectory going in a solidly upward direction.

First 7 Days: The first chance to establish chemistry and make first impressions with your new co-workers, subordinates and senior management. This first work week and a half are an excellent time to reach out to new co-workers and get on a solid footing with them. Be certain to stay engaged and attentive in conversations, do more listening than talking, and soak up valuable personal information to establish rapport. Invite co-workers to “get to know you” lunches or coffee breaks. These are excellent opportunities to understand their perspectives, personal likes and dislikes, and the direction they see the business headed. Make certain to use this time as a quasi-classroom to learn not only the industry, but also the company organization as well. Get a better grip of the business and personal alliances that are currently successful and understand where you want to begin aligning yourself for the future.

First 7 Weeks: Early success during this period will help you gain both personal and professional momentum. Take on new projects and tasks that will likely to have a positive outcome and immediate bottom line impact. Be certain to maintain an accelerated learning curve both inside the organization and your respective industry segment. Begin to build solid interpersonal relationships with team members and make mental notes of co-workers you can count on. Focus professional attention towards creating alignment between yourself and your new boss. Understand that this period is a great time for senior management to see your talents and capabilities up close and personal. Your ability to successfully handle challenging initial tasks and projects will go a long way towards stepping up the ladder.

First 7 Months: Your understanding of the organization, its strengths and weaknesses, and future career alignment should all be a priority during this period. Having a strong grasp of the business model and where the company is currently and where they want to go will aid you in positioning yourself for this important stage. Your ability to understand how the company, people and teams under your direction fit into the larger plan for success are critical to the formulation of your plans for the near future. By now, hopefully, senior management has recognized that they made a great choice in bringing you onboard. You may be called upon to restructure and weed out sub-performing member of your own group or team. You may also be asked make new hire recommendations based on where the business unit as a whole is going. Seek consensus from other senior managers on these early hires.

Starting a new job allows you to begin a whole new trajectory of growth for your career. Using the 7-7-7 method during your initial time with your new employer will certainly get your career trajectory going in the right direction.

Executive recruiter William Werksman is a frequent columnist to job boards including http://www.NevadaJobBoard.com addressing both the candidate's and employer's perspective. Werksman's expertise has been featured in business magazines, national newspapers and television news segments. His firm, Resource Partners, is recognized as the leading source of specialized and executive talent in the Casino and Gaming industry. He manages a staff of recruiters out of his firm's Las Vegas, Nevada headquarters. He may be reached at: Bill@CareerInsider.com