The name of the topic today sounds very obvious, may be rude to lot of  People.

But looking back at my working life, I think this topic needs more introspection.

We all remember the first day we join in a new job. You are all well dressed, kind of stuffy suit, if you are in US. Waiting to prove yourself that your employer or client made a good choice hiring you.

If you are like me, you would say “Hello” to everyone we run into that day, trying to remember their names. Sometimes, your boss may be nice enough to introduce you to the people around and show you the restroom and the break room

But sometime, you are on your own. First day passes ok for most of us, since we get to ride the beginners luck.

But from Second day onwards, we try to drift apart and try to settle in our comfort zone. We try to find people who have something common with us, like the same group, same ethnicity etc. This is the start of our progression or downfall in social group.

I think, we should first try to map out what we want to achieve in this job or contract and work towards accordingly.

I have seen people getting on the phone on the very second day and start talking in their mother tongue loudly. I am referring to mother tongues other than English.

This is not called for. But most of us ignore the writing on the wall. Unknowingly we make ourselves obnoxious.

The other kind of new employee is one, who doesn’t socialize from second day on. I understand sometimes, it takes a while to make friends or acquaintances. But I also think we should make an effort.

Job is not just about your technical skills, it more about people skills. Unless you are top notch developer, who doesn’t want to be distributed writing the next big application you should start building a rapport with the team and in general with the company.

I have noticed, most of the time, when you join a company, stuff starts happening. There might be rumors about downsizing, outsourcing etc.  As a smart employee or individual, you should start building your grapevine sources to know the facts and rumor mills.

The faster you build relationships, the better you are off and your future. Projects gets cancelled or extended but it only matters if you are in the game. You can plan accordingly as you digest the information and would not be left in the dark.

Bottom-line, Network, And Network. Old advice but still works.

Let me know your thoughts, as always, happy surfing.