It's often a very exciting experience to receive an offer of employment and start a new job. You worked hard on your application, spent days preparing for your interview and maybe waited weeks to hear whether you got the job.
Hi…you got the job, and we hope you can start on Monday.
Yes!! You got the job and your start date.
Brilliant!
However, some employers require new staff to complete a probationary period satisfactorily to continue to work and progress within their organisation.
This can be a very stressful period of time for new employees as they have to learn the employer's way of working, catch up on the latest systems and usually jump straight in on the daily activities.
But with support, new employees can successfully scale through their probationary period.
Here are some tips that could be helpful.
Research: Research the requirements for your role within the team as part of the organisation and ensure you clearly understand your probationary period requirements and the timeline for each requirement to be met. Promotion(s) have been achieved immediately after a successful final probationary review following this principle.
Seek professional advice and support: Employability service providers, particularly those with lived experience, are more likely to have a sound understanding of and practical knowledge of how to support you to meet the key performance indicators you may require to pass your probationary period.
Positive Attitude: Always maintain a positive attitude when providing support and services to clients and during interactions with colleagues at all levels.
Positive Impression: Aim to leave a positive impression on every client you work with.
Confidence: Show confidence with clients as well as with colleagues.
Develop and maintain good working relationships with your peers: Build professional relationships with colleagues (especially those within similar roles if possible). Find out what tasks they complete within their teams daily and any tips they can offer. Request their support if they can enable you to learn any relevant skills you may be struggling with.
Request feedback: Appreciate positive input and use this as a template to improve. Evaluate negative feedback to turn your weaknesses into strengths.
Time management: Practice effective time management in terms of attendance and punctuality, as well as job scheduling and implementation within deadlines.
Engage in regular learning and ask questions: When in doubt, ask questions. However, in a work environment, each person has tasks to complete, and colleagues may only occasionally be readily available to answer your questions. You may therefore find it very helpful to invest time in self-directed learning.
Volunteer for projects or tasks: Often, there are occasions where colleagues within your team or from other areas within your organisation reach out requesting volunteers to assist them with tasks or aspects of projects to meet deadlines. It is a rewarding experience if you can help your colleagues.
Regularly measure your progress: Some candidate(s) who regularly measured their progress against their work objectives/key performance indicators ahead of the end of the probationary period reported that it enabled them to remain on track and successfully complete their probationary period with excellent grades.
Do you wish to know more or have a conversation on how you can receive tailored support to enable you or someone you know to pass their probationary periods?
Answer the poll below,
Would you attend a session on How to pass your job probation period successfully?
- Yes
- No
and we will be happy to create a session on this critical success at work.
Also, join our Career Accelerator program, where we dive deeper into these and other subjects.
We have lived experiences in various sectors, including IT, Telecommunications, Marketing, Health and Care sectors etc. and look forward to supporting you.
Thank you to Jovita Adegun, our Senior Career Development Officer, for sharing these tips. They have proved successful steps in her career, and she is passing this on during her 1:1 and group sessions.