New job checklist

You've got the job.  You've transitioned smoothly out of your old position. Now what?

The whirlwind of starting a new job can be overwhelming. Time is a-ticking, though, so make sure you do a few things before the new job becomes old hat.

To help you out, here is a new job checklist (also a downloadable PDF). Some of these should be done immediately (like benefits enrollment) while others are just nice to do eventually (like updating your Facebook).


Update these

• Resume. The best time to add in a new job to your resume is right at the beginning, when the job   description is handy. Though your initial entry may be a near cut-and-paste, it will be much easier to change it as your job evolves than trying to hunt it down later. 

• Emergency contacts. If you have listed a daytime contact number anywhere (for example, kids' schools or childcare, condo associations, etc.), you'll have to swap out your old job's phone number. I usually put in my cell number for personal reasons, but if you're comfortable with it, you can put your new job number, too.

• LinkedIn and other professional and/or social media sites. If you have any personal memberships to professional organizations, or just Facebook, don't forget to update those, too. LinkedIn is especially important to keep up to date – it lets your professional network know where you've moved on to.

Do these

• Reevaluate your retirement plan. Whether you have a plan through your previous employer or a personal account you contribute to (or both!), now is the time to assess your retirement planning and saving. Take into account the benefits, if any, offered at your new job. Things you may consider - rolling over your 401k, increasing or decreasing your annual contributions, or the balance of investments in your portfolio.

• Revisit your budget. Your new job probably comes with a new salary, so make sure you can meet your budget. Or just look at how much more savings you'll be able to squirrel away – that's always good, too.

• Update your references. You've probably already thanked your references and let them know the outcome of the search, but it's always good to keep the lines of communication open. Now is also a great time to reach back out to any new references you approached at your most recent position (if they weren't references already).

• Benefits enrollment. Most employers give about 30 days for initial enrollment in benefits programs, and many will give you a packet of information before you start to begin musing over. Take inventory of what's being offered and find the plans that work best for you.

Once you're in the office

• Get set up. Make sure you have (or will be getting) all the things you need for your new job, such as a computer, keyboard, phone, etc. 

• Meet and greet. Who will you be working with and what will your priorities be? Sometimes your boss will have it all ready for you, but if not, it's a good idea to identify those you'll be working with closely and get to know them and what expectations they may have. 

• Set a regular schedule. Your new job may have different hours than your old one, and though the difference may be small, it could throw a hitch into your regular routine. Try a few things during your first few weeks on the job and find your rhythm again. If your employer is flexible, it may mean customizing your work schedule to your other obligations.

• Set goals. You probably know what you'll be doing, but now that you're there it's time to set some tangible goals. This is how you'll be evaluated at your first review. Be realistic but don't be afraid to aim high.

• Jump on in! The best way to get acclimated to something new is to just jump on in. Your employer has already shown they're confident in your abilities, now shine!

Download the PDF checklist here.

What do you think are must-dos when you get to your new job?

Choosing your communication method

Call, email, text, Skype? Far too often I look down at my phone to contact someone, only to get stuck with the question, "Should I call? Text? Email?" With so many options right at our fingertips, what format of communication is best used when? Your distinctions may differ slightly with industry norms, but here is a general overview of when to use which communication method and what kind of urgency is most appropriate.

Phone
When to use it: When you need something immediately (a task or an answer) or need to schedule something for the future. Also good for meetings or discussions when getting together in person is not feasible. I've noticed the phone has fallen by the wayside for many people who don't have assistants, but if the person you're trying to reach has an assistant you can call, that's often the most direct route to reaching a real person.

Urgency: Medium to high.

Email
When to use it: When sending attachments, longer explanations, requests for information or to follow-up on a previous conversation or phone call. Email is also a nice format for long form personal communication, like keeping in touch with old friends. Check out additional email tips in this post (one of my first on the blog).

Urgency: Any, but make it clear in the message if you have a deadline or timeline to meet. If you need it within the hour, a phone call would be better—there are no guarantees that emails will be read right away.

Instant Message
When to use it: Some good uses for IMs include asking a clarifying question, prepping for a meeting or making plans (for a meeting, lunch, etc.). If you're asking a question that requires a lot of explanation, just walk over—IMs are best for one or two sentence answers.

Urgency: Low to medium. Since people may not be at their desk or available to chat at all times, you should expect that they'll answer on their own timetable.

Text Message
When to use it: To find someone in a crowd or at an event, or when meeting up outside of the office. Best used sparingly and when you only have mobile access.

Urgency: Medium (though it varies). In my head, I often think of text as the most immediate, second only to phone. Because of this, I have my phone set to vibrate on text, but never for email.

Social Media (Facebook or Twitter)
When to use it: Facebook and Twitter are most useful in a business setting to build personal rapport or to make new connections. When making new connections, use social media to bring the conversation off-line or to more traditional business communication by getting email or phone info.

Urgency: Low.

What is the communications urgency hierarchy in your industry? How do you decide what format to use?

There's an app for that

The last few apps I used on Tuesday evening.

I have a confession to make: I'm addicted to my smartphone. It's the first thing I pick up in the morning and the last thing I check before I fall asleep.

At last check, I had 61 apps on my phone, including the ones that came pre-installed. Here are some of my faves! Just for reference, I have a Motorola Droid (first gen) and all of my apps were free. 

Connecting

• Gmail/Email. Since the Droid has a Google operating system, Gmail is the default email application. The other email app supports multiple accounts from various servers, and I use that one for my work account and Hotmail account.
• Twitter for Android. I like the official app for my personal Twitter account.
• Facebook. I'm not nearly as active on Facebook as I am on Twitter, but I check Facebook often just to keep up on what's happening and see pics of my friends' kids (yes, I actually like when people post those).
• Messaging. More of a function than an app, I prefer text to phone calls (or really short emails).

Productivity

• Toggl. This time-tracking tool is a great way to keep track of how much time you spend on projects (useful for billing or as reference). It also syncs to the web-based site.
• Astrid Tasks. Keep your to-do list on hand, add deadlines and reminders, and mark them off as you go. I use this more for blog ideas or to-dos that need alarm reminders.
• Evernote. Like Pinterest before Pinterest. You can add photos, audio, text notes, and webpages and tag them into different categories. Plus it syncs with the desktop app.
• Hootsuite. I use Hootsuite to keep an eye on multiple Twitter accounts for work. I wish the mobile app had better Facebook Page support (the web-based one is great).

Organization

• Calendar. This syncs automatically with my Google Calendar and the calendar tied to my work email account (in Outlook).
• Key Ring. One of my favorite apps ever--it keeps track of all my membership accounts, like Safeway, Ulta, Southwest, Sephora... I noticed recently there are exclusive deals on here, too...good to know!
• Diet & Food Tracker (Spark People). From time to time, I like to track what I'm eating just to make sure I'm not over-doing it. I've been using the Spark People website for years, and the mobile food tracker is just as good as the one online.

Reference

• Dictionary.com. Handy. Just handy.
• News and Weather. Pulls from Google News, with the same categories.
• Weather Channel. I program all my favorite places so I can see the weather in So Cal or Miami at a glance.
• Shopper. Great for reading specific product reviews (just scan the barcode) or checking prices elsewhere.
• Gas Buddy. Much less planning needed to use this mobile app compared to the website. Wish I'd had this sooner.

Fun and games

• Yelp. The filters on the mobile app are much more limited than the website, but definitely a handy tool when you're traveling to a new city.
• Fandango. Check out movie reviews and playing times.
• Words With Friends. No explanation needed.

One of the things I like about the Droid is that I can place shortcuts to web bookmarks on my home screens, which in some cases works just as well as having a dedicated app, thanks to some great mobile websites. My favorite bookmarked sites are Google Reader, Google Docs, and ESPN News. I also use my phone camera a fair amount (most of my weekly link photos are cell phone pics).

I put out some feelers a while back on my Facebook page about your favorite apps. Here are some of the responses:

Realtor.com and Urban Dictionary - Amy B.

The Onstar My Link app, FB and my bank's app. You can take pictures of checks to deposit them! - Kathleen M.

What are your favorite smartphone apps for work or for fun?


*This is not an advertisement for the Droid or Android operating systems. It's just the only smartphone system I know.

Facebook friend lists—what you need to know if your coworkers are your Facebook friends

Back in college, social media was just a fun place to virtually hang out with your friends. Ah, to be back in the days when The Facebook was only open to .edu addresses and we were so cool for having a profile. Our parents weren't on it. Neither were our bosses. These days your grandma can probably see what you're doing on Facebook, and in the workplace social media can get you hired or fired.

While in some workplaces it is uncommon to add coworkers on Facebook, in others it is part of the company culture to do so. I happen to work at the latter, where our CEO is often the first to friend you, and our HR director next. And they will hound you when you don't accept (all in good fun, of course). They're perfectly nice people, but I'm pretty sure they don't want to hear me gushing over my nephew's latest cute words or my husband's latest culinary masterpiece.

Enter: Facebook friend lists

Facebook friend lists allow you to segment your friends and apply global or selected privacy settings to those categories of friends. So you could group your family into one, and make sure they can't see your college photos. Or keep your coworkers from seeing what your brother posts on your wall. Once you get these lists set up, it's easy to keep them maintained--every time you accept a friend request there is an option to "add to list." Friends can be on more than one list.

Setting up a friend list
Choose "Friends" from the left navigation, and "Edit Friends" from that page.

Select "Create a List." You'll also see options to edit the lists your friends appear on from their listing.

Name your new list and scroll through to select friends or type in names to add them to the list. Click "Create List" to finish.

Using lists for privacy: Case-by-case
We'll get to global privacy settings next, but what if you have specific posts you want to keep from a certain person or group of people? You can do that right from your status message or shared photo/link. The options are by the lock icon in the share section of your profile.

You can choose to make it visible to limited people, or hide from select friends. For the hiding options, you can type in names of individual friends or lists. You can make this the default setting from here, or do it in your overall privacy settings. Make sure to "Save Setting" before you post.

Using lists for privacy: Global settings
To apply sitewide privacy controls using lists, select "Privacy Settings" from the top right menu.

To use lists, choose "Customize settings."

You will see a list of actions or areas of information, each with a drop down menu to the right. Select "Customize" to see the same customization menu as above (in the case-by-case section).

You can also select custom settings for each photo album you've created. At the bottom of the "Things I share" section in the above screen, there is a text link that says "Edit privacy settings for existing photo albums and videos." It will show you the screen below with the option to customize viewing permissions by album.

Well there you have it—a quick rundown of Facebook lists. As you can see from my screens above, I keep my Facebook pretty locked down, with many sections visible only to me. I don't put a ton of controls on lists otherwise, instead opting for case-by-case filtering or just simply making sure I don't overshare on Facebook in the first place.

Are you friends with your boss or coworkers on Facebook? How do you manage what is seen or not seen? Have you "liked" The New Professional on Facebook yet?