Table Of Content1 IN 4 EMPLOYEES WON’T MAKE IT THROUGH S 25% of employees will not make it
THEIR FIRST YEAR ON THE JOB—WILL YOU? through their fi rst year on the job.
I
N
No worries. Sink or Swim shows you how to
NEW JOB. NEW BOSS.
be a top performer from day one. In today’s job market,
K
getting to “yes” doesn’t mean getting a break. Like most new employees today, you’ll
12 WEEKS TO GET IT RIGHT.
probably get thrown into your new position with little or no training. You’ll have to
“sink or swim” in the fi rst 90 days—or face termination.
O SINK
{“Everyone starting a new job should}
R
have this book under their arm at
work, next to their plate at dinner, S
and under their pillow at night.”
W
>> Jeff rey Fox, author of the national bestseller, How to Become CEO
With week-by-week charts, and straightforward, no B.S. information, Sink or Swim R
I
enables you to decode the company’s culture, discern what your priorities should be,
M
and survive and thrive in your fi rst twelve weeks—no matter what industry you’re in.
Milo Sindell M.S., is a business consultant. He provides a range of guidance to Fortune
500 companies, including Intel and Sun Microsystems, in the areas of: strategy develop-
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ment and implementation, change management, organizational design, global knowledge
management systems implementation, and employee development and integration.
Sindell
Thuy Sindell, Ph.D., is a leadership consultant. She creates customized leadership
&
programs for executives and managers of Fortune 100 and industry leading companies.
Sindell,
She helps leaders develop their strategic thinking, infl uencing, and coaching skills.
Ph.D.
Cover Image © Brand X Pictures/Alamy, Ltd.
Author Photo © Lisa Keating Photography
$14.95 (CAN $16.50) Business/Careers
ISBN-13: 978-1-59337-540-9
ISBN-10: 1-59337-540-9
Milo Sindell and
Thuy Sindell, Ph.D.
www.adamsmedia.com
New Job. New boss.
12 Weeks to Get It RIGht.
sINK
oR
sWIM
Milo sindell
and Thuy sindell, Ph.D.
Adams Media
Avon, Massachusetts
Copyright © 2006, Milo Sindell and Thuy Sindell.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be
reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher;
exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
Published by Adams Media, an F+W Publications Company
57 Littlefield Street
Avon, MA 02322
www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN 13: 978-1-59337-540-9 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-44050-091-6 (EPUB)
ISBN 10: 1-59337-540-9
Printed in the United States of America.
J I H G F E D C B
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sindell, Milo.
sink or swim: new job. new boss. 12 weeks to get it right. / Milo Sindell
and Thuy Sindell.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-59337-540-9
1. Success in business. 2. Work. 3. Self-presentation. 4. Career development.
I. Sindell, Thuy. II. Title.
HF5386.S55 2006
650.1—dc22
2005026069
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard
to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not
engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or
other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should
be sought.
—From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a
Committee of the American Bar Association and
a Committee of Publishers and Associations
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their product are
claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Adams Media was
aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters.
This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.
Contents
1 User Instructions
29 Chapter 1 . . . . Week 1: Case the Joint
51 Chapter 2 . . . . Week 2: Get a Firm Grip
75 Chapter 3 . . . . Week 3: Buckle Down
101 Chapter 4 . . . . Week 4: Immerse Yourself
129 Chapter 5 . . . . Week 5: Climb onto the Observation Deck
151 Chapter 6 . . . . Week 6: Ignite Your Star Power
171 Chapter 7 . . . . Week 7: Do Lunch
199 Chapter 8 . . . . Week 8: Map Your Coordinates
223 Chapter 9 . . . . Week 9: Look in Your Rearview Mirror
247 Chapter 10 . . . Week 10: Perform a Reality Check
273 Chapter 11 . . . Week 11: Declare Victory
295 Chapter 12 . . . Week 12: Raise Your Sails
311 Conclusion: Your Inspiration
313 Index
iii
ACknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge all sets of parents who inspired us
to always be and do our best. In particular, we want to thank Gerald
Sindell for his input and support of the book from start to finish.
Thank you for helping us find our voice.
Thank you to our book agent, Michael Snell, and acquisition
editor, Jill Alexander, for your enthusiasm regarding the power,
impact, and potential of Sink or Swim.
We want to thank Sue Bethanis, Anthony Perry, and Jeff Sanders
for your high-level and detailed review of the book. Your input was
tremendously valuable to the end product. Thank you for making
the time in your crazy schedules to make this a priority.
Finally, we want to acknowledge the professional influences in
our life including Marshall Goldsmith, Beverly Kaye, Sal Falletta,
and Sue Bethanis. Thank you for your generosity and guidance.
User InstrUCtIons
Congratulations! You worked hard to find the right company, did all
the right things to make your resume rise to the top of the pile, and
aced the interviews. Now you’ve got the job. They chose you.
You are embarking on an adventure that requires swimming in
uncharted waters. Your destination is clear: success in your new job!
However, getting to your destination will require that you stay on
course, make savvy decisions, and stay afloat.
In your hands is your new-employee life vest: a week-by-week
guide to achieving great things during the first twelve weeks on the
job. Whether you are starting your job next week or have already
begun, today is the day you jump in and start swimming.
Maximum success in your new job requires that you be your
own champion. What does being your own champion mean? You
have the power to control the choices you make. Specifically, that
you:
1. Always look for opportunities in every situation .
2. Know your strengths and where you contribute value .
3. Know when and how to ask for help .
This book provides you with the 5 Sink or Swim skills you need
to master in order to be your own champion and succeed!
2 Sink or Swim
Why Does It Matter?
Over the past forty years, the implied social agreement between
employers and employees has changed. Employers, under the old
contract, acted as parental figures and provided employees with a
lifetime of structure and support in exchange for hard work and
loyalty.
Today, the concept of lifetime employment is unimaginable and
probably undesirable. The fact is that over time most people get
bored and benefit from a change. Even worse, if you are reporting to
a boss who does not treat you particularly well, years of employment
in the same situation can be profoundly demoralizing.
What’s important for you to understand is that you own your
career. You are responsible for setting professional goals, identifying
and developing the right skills, and building your resume. Every
time you develop new skills, you become even more valuable in the
job market.
Companies also understand that the contract has changed:
Employees aren’t married to the company anymore. To retain their
employees, companies must offer a range of benefits. Smart compa-
nies understand that it not only takes a competitive salary to attract
and retain good employees, but it also takes programs that support
the employees’ needs and interests.
Smart companies, however, also know that all of these benefits
are not enough to keep the best employees from going to the com-
petition. Therefore, they strive to provide opportunities for employ-
ees to learn new skills or change jobs within the company in order
to keep people engaged and motivated.
However smart companies may be, you as an employee must
also be smart and make the most out of your job. You have two
responsibilities.
User Instructions 3
1. A responsibility to your company to do what you were hired to do .
2. A responsibility to yourself to develop your skills, create and iden-
tify opportunities, and manage your career .
Your company should be clear about what it expects of you;
however, you must also take charge and be clear about your expec-
tations of your employer. What do you want in exchange for con-
tributing your skills, abilities, and expertise? Besides your salary
and health insurance benefits, what else do you want? What about
learning opportunities so you can have more skills and be more
marketable? What about career advancement? What about a positive
work environment? You won’t get what you want if you don’t know
what you want. When you have both sets of expectations clearly
defined (i.e., for your company and yourself), you will be able to
provide the maximum value to your company and in return have
your own needs met. Sink or Swim will give you the skills and tools
to strengthen your relationship with your employer and be your
own champion.
How to Use This Book
We know what it is like to start a new job. It is both exciting and
nerve-racking. Most of all, it is an opportunity. In your hands is a
resource that we would have loved to have had as new employees.
It is a compilation of our knowledge, experience, and best practices
assembled into a user-friendly format.
Read the 5 Sink or Swim skills areas in this section before you
start your job. Like anything else, it is important to understand
what you need to do and why before you actually go do it. Each
chapter will provide you with weekly detailed information about
4 Sink or Swim
how to apply the 5 Sink or Swim skills explained in this introduc-
tory section. During your first twelve weeks at work, use the cor-
responding week as your guide to focus and develop the right skills
at the right time, plan your activities, and build momentum toward
success.
If you are getting ready to interview for a job, read this section.
It will give you a head start. You’ll take away some ideas about ques-
tions to ask about the company as well as questions about the job for
which you are interviewing.
If you have already started your job, it’s not too late. It’s time to
jump in now! Read this entire introduction before your next day at
work and make sure you do everything mentioned in each of the
weeks until you catch up to your current week.
Your mission is to get up to speed as quickly as possible in your
first twelve weeks on the job. Why twelve weeks? In most compa-
nies, there is a period of approximately ninety days in which you and
the company decide if this new arrangement will work out. That’s
why first impressions matter. Ninety days is not a long time. There-
fore, it is critical that you swim with the current and keep your head
above water. Remember, people are watching and paying attention
to you; use it positively to your advantage.
This book helps you figure out what you need to do as you
go through each workday and -week: set goals, establish milestones,
develop contacts, and build relationships. Each week is different and
builds on the work you did in the previous week. Throughout the
first twelve weeks you will gather information, think about what
you are learning, apply it, and continuously fine-tune your Sink or
Swim skills.
Learning is a dynamic and ongoing process. What does that
mean? Dynamic means learning is in motion—you read something
in the book, try it out in real life, and then go back to the book and
