Starting a New Job? Three Tips To Ensure Success

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Hi, a big hello from Raleigh, North Carolina. This episode is rather special. It’s episode 200, and I can’t believe that I have published 200 episodes of the B2B Marketing & More podcast. All without any sponsorships… If you are a regular listener, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t always hear from you, but I know you are out there working hard. Keep up the good work.

Speaking of keeping up the good work, some of you reached out to me in January and asked me if I have any recommendations on how to ensure new job success. So, in today’s episode, I share three things that you must-do if you start a new job.

In this episode:

• How to prepare for success in your new job
• How to be opened minded and remain curious.
• Why it’s important to set up as many 1:1’s as possible and how to do that.
• How to understand AND use processes, workflows, and dashboards.

Quotes from the episode:

“When you meet, introduce yourself, have a list of questions to ask them. Have them share their challenges and issues, and then you can see what you can do for them.”

“There isn’t a huge difference between a new job and an existing job. What matters is how you view your job and how you go about your day. Your attitude counts.”

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If you prefer watching a video, I also have a YouTube Channel; check it out and subscribe.

If you want to chat, reach out to any social media channels or email me at hello@pamdidner.com. You can also join my Facebook community: Build Your Marketing Skills to Get Ahead. When you join, you get a free Starbucks on me. You can go to the Announcement tab and click on the barcode of the gift card.

To expand your knowledge about how to achieve success in your new job (or current one), check out some of my previous podcast episodes, blog posts, and video.

Podcast episodes

Tips for a Successful Career Transition

3 Tips to Lead an Effective Marketing Team

Five Ways to Prioritize Your Workload

Blog post

How To Maximize Success As A New Manager in the First 90 Days

How The Best Sales Reps Set Themselves Apart From Competition

Video 

How to Nail Your First 90 Days As a New Sales Enablement Manager

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, a big hello from Raleigh, North Carolina. This episode is rather special. It’s episode 200. Yay!! I can’t believe that I have published 200 episodes of the B2B Marketing & More podcast. BTW, I did it all without any sponsorships… I’m just going at it for my enjoyment and, most importantly, sharing my knowledge, failures, learning, and mistakes! Sometimes, I just go for that big laugh with my guests.

If you are a regular listener, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Unfortunately, I don’t always hear from you, but I know you are out there working hard. Keep up the good work, my friends.

Speaking of keeping up the good work, some of you reached out to me in January and asked said, “Hey, Pam, I started a new marketing job. I am super excited. Do you have any recommendations on how I can be successful as a new kid on the block?”

That question inspired me to write a blog post. I also did a live video recording to talk about how to be successful in a new job. The pandemic somehow launched the so-called the Great Resignation. Many of you have either found a new career or are in the process of starting a new job. 

You can check out the blog post on pamdidner.com, “How To Maximize Success As A New Manager in the First 90 Days.” If you are not a reader and you want to watch the video on YouTube, “How to Nail Your First 90 Days As a New Sales Enablement Manager.” That video was addressed to Brennan, who started as a new Sales Enablement Manager in a new company. But a lot of the nuggets I shared in that video apply to anybody starting a new marketing position, so check that out.

For today’s podcast, I want to share three things that you must-do if you start a new job: 

#1: Be open-minded. Be curious.

No judgment. No preconceived notions. In the first 90 days, just take things in. Don’t think like, “Oh, in my old company, we did this and that.” Instead, think, “Oh, this is an interesting way to go about doing this….”

Just absorb like a sponge. Since you are new, it’s the best time to ask questions. When in doubt, just ask questions; somebody will answer you.  

#2: Set up as many 1:1s as possible

The best way to know the lay of the land is by getting to know people. Identify the people you will work with and the stakeholders you will support. Get out and meet them! Well, if you can’t get out and meet them, virtual meetings are always great.  

Send a gift card, like a $5 Starbucks card, that they can buy a coffee when they meet with you. Or, you know, share some snacks if they can meet with you in person. That’s always good, right? When you have something sweet to eat… it’s nice to build that personal relationship when you eat something together! 

So when you meet, introduce yourself, have a list of questions to ask them. Have them share their challenges and issues, and then you can see what you can do for them. That doesn’t mean that you have to do everything and solve world hunger; sometimes, you just need to listen and try to understand. 

Talk to sales, sales ops, marketing ops, marketing function leads, product teams, customer success managers, subject matter experts, even select senior executives. 

Try to meet as many people as possible. Know who is who.

The next is to know what is what.

#3: Understand processes, workflows, and dashboards

This goes beyond knowing just processes, workflows, and dashboards. You also need to understand how to use them. If you know how to use them, you don’t need to count on others to pull the information for you, and you can do it on your own—especially if you are in the crunch time that you need a certain kind of data. It’s to your advantage.

If you have a team supporting you, then great. You know their roles and responsibilities, and they can do it for you. But from my perspective, it’s nice to know the tools. The more you know, the better off you are, especially in the world of digital marketing.

In addition, know your team and the stakeholders’ success metrics. If you create your success metrics, make sure it’s aligned with your team and your internal stakeholders. 

Once you understand the processes, workflows, and dashboards, you can think about where you can provide the most value-add. But, most importantly, you will also start seeing gaps that may need to be fixed.   

Now, you can start pulling a plan together on what you will do in the next 3-6 months.

Discuss your plan with your manager and stakeholders and get their buy-in. Granted, your plan may change due to the business priority shift. But knowing who’s who and what’s what can help you reset your course and align with the right people to minimize chaos, so you can move a little quicker. Does that make sense?

So again, 

• Be open-minded. Be curious.
• Set up as many 1:1s as possible
• Understand processes, workflows, and dashboards

These three ideas also apply to people who have existing jobs. For example, in my next 200 episodes, I would like to stay open-minded and expand the B2B topics that I talk about. I will talk about other topics such as career development, for example.

The set up as many 1:1 as possible is to reach out and talk to as many guests as possible. 

The next one -understanding processes, workflows, and dashboards – is to continue to find a way to optimize my process and workflow. 

See, there isn’t a huge difference between a new job and an existing job. At the end of the day, what matters is how you view your job and how you go about your day. Your attitude counts. If nothing else, let’s take the advice from Aaron Burr to Alexander Hamilton in the musical Hamilton: “Smile more.” If you haven’t seen the show, you should. It’s wonderful.

Thanks again for coming along with me on this 200 episode journey. Here’s to many more to come. Again, thank you so much for listening. Take care. Bye!