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How to Start a New Job on the Right Foot | Accounting & Finance
The New Year calls for resolutions and new challenges. Many accounting and finance professionals will be starting a new job or will be starting their job search.
Joining a new workplace is exciting, but also a new job can be daunting. How do you prepare for your new opportunity and make a good first impression?
Whether you're a senior finance professional or at the beginning of your accounting career, here are our 10 tips for starting a new role on the right foot:
1. Prepare For Day One
Preparation is key to a successful start and will help relieve new job anxiety. Before your first day of work:
Review Financials and Media Exposure: A few weeks before you start, research the organisation’s performance as well as the challenges and successes it's faced.
Refresh your Knowledge of Systems: If you already know which software the company uses and have experience with it, refresh your knowledge. If you don't have any previous experience, it's a good idea to complete some research.
Plan Your Commute: If you're working on-site, plan your route to the office so you arrive on time to hit the ground running. It's also useful to know when your new team typically works from home if hybrid is an option.
What to Wear: Ask your manager or recruitment consultant what the company's dress code is so you feel more confident and comfortable on your first day.
2. Establish Clear Goals Early
In the first few weeks, meet with your manager to discuss expectations. Don't hesitate to ask questions such as:
What should be the priorities for my role in the first 90 days?
Which metrics or deliverables will I be measured against?
How does my role align with organisational and team goals?
Asking for guidance will help make a good impression. It'll also help you start to map where your priorities lie in the first weeks on the job.
3. Learn the Culture
Every organisation has a unique culture, and adapting quickly is essential to building relationships and making a great first impression. Pay attention to:
Communication Styles: Understanding how your team shares information is part of getting to know them. Is emailing, WhatsApp or face-to-face preferred?
Decision-Making Processes: Are important decisions made collaboratively or top-down?
Workplace Trends: How does the team approach hybrid working, dress codes, and informal interactions?
Adapting to the culture doesn’t mean conforming to the norm, but rather aligning with company norms can help you integrate more smoothly.
4. Build Relationships
As you step into your new job, be sure to network with all teams and colleagues.
Utilise LinkedIn: Start building connections with your colleagues by connecting on LinkedIn and leaving a note about looking forward to working with them.
Make an Effort to Meet Your Colleagues: In the lead-up to your start date, seek to introduce yourself to team members and other departments you’ll interact with.
Seek a Buddy: Identify someone in the company with a good level of experience who can help you settle in and learn on the job.
Attend Social Events: It's a great way to start building rapport. Whether there are team lunches or coffee runs, company events, or social gatherings happening outside of work. Your participation will help you to start forming relationships with your colleagues.
Strong relationships with your team will provide you with a good support system.
5. Showcase Your Expertise (Without Overstepping)
You should feel comfortable sharing your previous experience and your expertise, but maintain a balance between confidence and being receptive to new ideas.
Contribute in Time: After you've taken the time to understand the organisation's processes, start to offer areas of improvement and new ways of completing tasks.
Avoid Criticism: Rather than critiquing the current processes of your new team, share your ideas as enhancements to existing methods of task completion.
Don't be Afraid to Ask Questions: Demonstrate your commitment to learning and the business by asking questions and displaying curiosity.
6. Stay Curious and Invest in Continuous Learning
The accounting and finance sector experiences constant evolution with new regulations, technologies, and best practices emerging all the time. Demonstrate your commitment to learning and your role through:
Implementing a personal development plan: Map out what you want to achieve in the first year of your role. What do you want to learn and what skills could you improve? Setting milestones shows your commitment to personal development.
Attend Training Sessions: If your employer offers external training courses, these are a great way to refresh your knowledge and demonstrate your commitment to continuous improvement.
Staying in the Loop: Sign up for industry newsletters and updates from trusted organisations such as the ICAEW.
Pursuing a qualification: If you aren't already qualified, completing CIMA, ACCA, or ACA studies is a great way to introduce new and structured knowledge to the business.
7. Seek and Act on Feedback
Feedback can help you improve in areas you haven't considered. Rather than waiting for your monthly or annual performance review:
Request Regular Check-Ins: Weekly check-ins don't need to detail your progress or goal alignment. Rather, it can help you structure your week and stay on top of a heavy workload.
Implement Feedback: Show that you value feedback by taking steps to actioning it.
8. Leverage Your Recruiter
If you secured your new opportunity through a recruitment consultant, reach out to them during your onboarding process. At Venture, we:
Offer insights into the culture and expectations of your new team/organisation so you feel prepared for your first day.
Provide advice on navigating challenges you experience.
Act as a mediator when it comes to concerns you may have.
Creating lasting partnerships is embedded in our company values. We ensure your long-term success by guiding you through the job searching process and we also keep in touch throughout the duration of your new career move.
Although the prospect of a new team, business and job role is daunting, starting a new job is an exciting opportunity to advance your career and expand your skill set. By preparing thoroughly, embracing the company culture, and focusing on continuous improvement, you’ll set yourself up for success in your new role.
Happy new year!