Problem:
You have a new job you are halfway familiar with. You walk in on the first day, and you realize there is no one teach you how to get the job done. Your boss hands you a list of requirements of what needs to be done and when they need to be done and how many of those need to be done. When you go ask her questions, she says, “this is what we hired you to do.” If you want to stay at the company, you have to learn quickly how to problem solve, how to network, and how to ask good applicable questions. To even do that, you have to have good techniques and good tools. Some are complex tools, and some are simple tools. Having access to simple tools like a printer, fax machines, working voicemail, and access to certain software applications can make your first couple of months a little bit smoother while you are learning to apply the very complex tools and techniques.
Some companies are not very organized. Or maybe some departments within the company are poorly organized. Or some organization expect the person they hire to be self-sufficient even if half of the simple tools you need is missing or not set up. Maybe it was the recession economy that made certain organizations cut staff to the bone, and you are doing three or four peoples job. It is overwhelming when you don’t have an administrative assistant to do this, and your boss is hardly available for questions. But let’s take this step by step. Before you could get any task done, there is pre-work that has to be done. To reduce your stress and to help make you work smarter and smoother, let’s start with the basics: get organized.
Let’s get organized to make progress
First things first: make sure you have access to all the systems you are going to use. At my last jobs, while I had access to the certain applications on the computer, I had to get special authorizations for other pieces of the application. I didn’t know until this couple of months later after I started. At that point, I had to go my boss. She had to go to her boss. Her boss had had to send an email to her coworker/manager who owned/managed the application. The manager who owned the application had to send an email to another department for me to go through a special security clearance. In the meantime, I had to go to the department contact to get a portion of the work done. Each organization is set up different. However, if you are going to work with different applications or systems, get the information you need during the first week.
Depending on where you work and what your role and what equipment you are going to use, you may have to go through several layers. This can include setting up your voicemail, key cards to get into the department, keys for certain rooms, in addition to the special access to computer systems.
To make it easier on yourself, make a list and send an email to the boss or the designated person who is in charge, stating, I need equipment x, need to set up my voicemail, need special authorization for application y. Keep following up until you are able to get the access because the designated people may follow up with you. In my situation, I had my voicemail set up after two weeks. My printer got set up after a month, and special application, I had to do a workaround.
Organization process for getting access:
Tools I need to do the job:
Need authorization from:
Forward the email or send the paper to the designated party
Follow up as needed till you get the right tools to do the job.