On the eighty-first installment of Tristan's Tips, our amazing host Tristan Layfield talks about starting a new job remotely. Since COVID-19 has started many of us began working from home. With more and more companies deciding their workforce will be working from home for the foreseeable future, many new hires will be starting jobs remotely as well. Check out the five tips Tristan suggests to start off on the right foot! Zach also makes a special announcement - click here or the link in the show notes to register for The Access Point, a live interactive weekly webinar that's focused on preparing Black and brown college students and recent graduates for work!

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TRANSCRIPT

Tristan: What's going on, Living Corporate? It's Tristan back again to bring you another career tip. Today, I want to talk about starting a new job remotely.




Since COVID-19 has started many of us began working from home. With more and more companies deciding their workforce will be working from home for the foreseeable future, that means many new hires will be starting jobs remotely as well. This can be a challenge because oftentimes you don’t get to meet your boss and colleagues in person and most of your onboarding process will be self-guided. So here are 5 tips to help you start off on the right foot.




First, stay in contact with your manager. Since you aren’t in the office it is much more difficult for your boss to know what’s going on. And you know what they say, out of sight out of mind. That means you need to make yourself and the work you do more visible than you typically would. I suggest setting up regular one-on-ones by video to not only establish your relationship with your boss but to keep them up to date on how onboarding and your work is going.




Second, set up time to meet coworkers one-on-one. You don’t want your first communication to be requesting something from them and they don’t even know who you are. Since you don’t have the benefit of just chatting in the hallways of the office try to replace those casual interactions by reaching out to each person on your team with an introductory email and a request to set up a meeting. This can be by video call or it can just be over the phone if everyone is Zoomed out. But you want to make the time to begin developing relationships with your team.




Third, don’t be afraid to ask more questions than you normally would. I know oftentimes we shy away from asking too many questions for fear of looking like we don’t know what we’re doing. But that line of thinking is completely wrong in this instance. Asking questions should show your managers that you are engaged and taking ownership of your onboarding and learning process. It may also help them iron out kinks in their virtual onboarding process which will help future new hires.




Fourth, if you weren’t assigned a mentor then find one. Identify someone on your team in the same time zone as you that you can establish a good virtual connection with. Ask this person if you can come to them with any questions that you may have over the next couple of weeks. If they say yes, figure out what the best method of communication is for them and make sure to use that method since they’ve graciously agreed to help you.




Fifth, set up a dedicated space to work. One of the mistakes that many people make when first working from home is thinking they can just work on the couch or in bed. While tempting, these spaces don’t put you in the right mindset for work and often lead to low productivity. The day before you start, set up your workspace complete with a comfortable chair, a desk, and all the tech your company provided you that way you can spend the first day focused solely on your onboarding.




Remember, many companies and organizations are new to remote onboarding and remote work in general. So you probably want to pack your patience as this is an adjustment for all parties involved.




This tip was brought to you by Tristan of Layfield Resume Consulting. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @LayfieldResume or connect with me, Tristan Layfield, on LinkedIn.