5 Ways to Prepare for Your First Day of Work
You made it through the grueling process that is the job search, you went to interview after interview until finally you landed the job!

All your hard work doesn’t stop there. It’s a new company with new people and you want to make sure you make the right impression on the first day. Here are some tips to make your first day go as smoothly as possible.

1. Eat breakfast

You don’t know the office culture yet and you might find yourself taking a later lunch than usual. Avoid getting “hangry” and making a bad first impression by giving yourself enough time in the morning to eat breakfast. As a bonus, you’ll hopefully be more awake by the time you reach the office!

2. Dress to impress

It is much better to be over-dressed than under-dressed. You don’t want to show up looking too casual. When you put effort into your appearance it shows that you care how you represent yourself. Companies are interested in employees who will represent themselves and their company well. Being under-dressed will garner attention from your superiors for all the wrong reasons.

3. Plan out your route to work ahead of time

Maybe you moved to a new city and there are new traffic patterns. Use Google Maps to estimate how much time it will take you to get to the office. You don’t want to be late because you got lost. Your boss will probably be forgiving because it’s your first day, but you don’t want to start off wasting their time.

4. Arrive Early

Because you planned out your route ahead of time, you can make sure to arrive early. It shows that you took the initiative to prepare and are ready to hit the ground running and get to work -- which is exactly what you were hired to do! Live by the rule that “10 minutes early is on time and on time is late.”

5. Come prepared with your own materials

Most offices will have a desk set up with pens, notepads, and sticky notes. On the off chance that you aren’t set up with these things right away, it’s always better to have than have not.  Make sure you have a notepad to take notes on. The first day is usually full of onboarding information, so be sure to write (or type) it all down.

Bonus: Ask questions

In my first job in college, I learned that it was much better to ask questions than do something wrong. Your supervisor will appreciate you asking for clarification before you make a mistake that costs them time and/or the organization money.

There’s no guarantee that your first day will be a smashing success, but by implementing these tips you can give yourself a fighting chance. Most of the time that’s all you’ll need to crush your first day.

via GIPHY