Signing for a new job is always an exciting time. There’s a lot of change going on, and this often goes hand in hand with uncertainty and stress.

It’s the job of your employer to take care of these factors in order to make your transition as fluent as possible. If you know that almost 50% of new employees start looking for another job within the first year it should be no surprise that we at Aprico Consultants treat onboarding, the period when a new employee starts, with priority. But what are the actions we take and why do we take them?

We are great…

Everything starts with perception: your perception of the situation will have an influence on your feelings and your behavior. That’s why we value a positive and genuine perception of Aprico as an employer, also called our ‘employer brand’. Investigation points out that actively promoting our culture, values and successes will benefit our employer brand, which has a positive effect on commitment and participation in tasks outside your function.

This information forms part of the first interview with Aprico. But once on board, there are still uncertainties, so it makes no sense to stop giving you this information. Not only will you receive a lot more information with a welcome pack, you will also have meetings with HR, your account manager and your subject matter expert who are happy to provide you with the information and support needed. Next to this you will be invited to one of our monthly events where you can feel the culture, or you can participate in an information event where the results of the past period are communicated.

…And so are you, so that’s why we are a match

We have hired you for a reason and this reason can be communicated. The added value of a newcomer isn’t always communicated, and that’s a pity. Being complimented and feeling appreciated by your leader will result in feeling a stronger fit between yourself and the organization. The idea that employees perceive themselves as a good match for the organization, is a dream for every employer: together you will manage great things, and this in the long run.

When starting at Aprico, your subject matter expert and you will sit together to map your current functioning and your career goals, which will be part of your personal development plan. On top of this you can have insights into your personality and strengths with one of the coaching sessions offered by HR.

As you will see, we take your onboarding seriously. We will not overload you with hollow positive messages or promises we can’t keep, since it will not feel sincere. In fact it can even be a dangerous game and have the opposite effect. Onboarding should be the start of an open relationship where mutual honest communication is the key to a long journey.

For reasons of simplicity we will limit the framework to recruitment. When an interviewer asks someone the “tell me about yourself” questions he doesn’t really mean that he wants to hear about you as a child, as a student or even as a professional. No, he wants to know what you can bring to the table, he wants to hear what makes you good and even better than the other candidates, he wants you to convince him that you are the person who will be able to solve his problem! When you are asked the question in a networking session, what the person wants to know is “Is this person worth getting in contact with?”

For some people selling themselves comes easy, for others it takes some time to prepare. When you wish to prepare your answer maybe you can use these questions:

• What problem do you solve? What is your added value?
• How do you do it differently from other people? What makes you the person you are?

You had me at hello!

The first things you say and the way you tell them are by far the most important. Make what you say unique. Why are you different and even better than others?

Practice!

Know what you want to say, but beware: it must seem natural and conversational, even spontaneous, as if you just thought of it at that moment. Even though you have to prepare it in advance you don’t have to memorize it. It shouldn’t sound like a rehearsed lesson. It’s best if it is a little different each time.

Don’t be a mouse!

Tell your story enthusiastically and with confidence. Put a smile on your face and keep eye contact. You have to care about what you say.

Done?

Of course not! If you are doing a screening this was just the first part, the introduction.

Now it’s time to check with your audience which parts of your experience/history/CV you need to elaborate on. And this is where STAR training comes in handy ;o) (yes this will be the subject for the next post).

So next time someone asks you to tell them about yourself make sure you get them at hello!

Please do not forget to leave remarks, or share your thoughts via the comments.

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin-can openers. (Underworld – Born Slippy)

Making choices can be terrifying! What if you make a choice and in the long run it turns out that you have made a wrong choice? Should you make choices thoughtfully and painstakingly or quickly and decisively? What is the impact of my choices? Choosing is losing: If I choose one thing I will lose the other because it will no longer be available etc. Most people are afraid to take risks because if you risk something you might miss something. Be aware of this when taking decisions: taking risks can lead to nice rewards.

A few years ago a colleague came to me with a specific problem and asked my opinion on a choice he had to make. After he explained his choices I told him that I didn’t understand his hesitation because, for me, the issue boiled down to this simple question: “What is best that can happen if I choose it and what is the worst that can happen if you do not?” If you are honest with yourself and can predict the impact of your choice just go.

Let’s look at an example: Will I have a cup of coffee?

Q1: What is the best that can happen if I choose coffee?
A1: I will have a great cup of coffee.

Q2: What is the worst thing that can happen if I choose coffee?
A2: The coffee will be cold and I will not like it.

=> Bad coffee is not the end of the world so go for the coffee!

Example 2: You are single and interested in meeting new people: Should I approach the beauty sitting alone?

Q1: What is the best that can happen if I approach this attractive person?

A1: The person is nice, you get to know a new person and… who knows where this can lead?

Q2: What is the worst that can happen if I approach this attractive person?

A2: The person is terrible / rude / smells bad / etc.

=> At the worst, you have lost a minute of your time but at least you tried and should it work who knows where the story will lead. The rewards can be great!

If you can simplify your choice to this simple question it will make it easier to make the choice.

Once the choice has been made the next step is even more simple (it might be terribly difficult in practice but oh so simple in theory): “Live with your choices, see if you made a judgment call on the best /worst question, adapt your choice-making-process accordingly and keep going.”

Whatever the outcome you should never feel sorry about the choice you made if you weighed the pros against the cons based on the information available to you at the moment you took your choice.

For me, this was the first blog-type text I have ever written. In the best case someone will like it, try the idea behind it and will find it easier to make choices in the future. In the worst case no one will read this and I have wasted 10 minutes of my life.

Please do not forget to leave remarks, or share your thoughts via the comments.

First things first; check out the company and the position. Check the company webpage, the LinkedIn pages (both of the company and the people who work there), Twitter and whatever else you can think of. If it really is your dream job why don’t you look up the number of the recruiter and give them a ring, ask questions about the function and tell them you will send your CV. Be proactive!

When you are satisfied that the job/company is what you are looking for it is up to you to send your CV and, being a man/woman of the world, you wouldn’t mind a small checklist. In that case check this list:

• Send a copy of your updated CV (do not forget the attachment to your mail).

• Include contact details (oh, those CV’s without telephone numbers, what is the point in expressing your interest in a job if you cannot be bothered
  to talk about it on the phone). Include your LinkedIn page, Twitter (if you use it for professional goals) and other professional accounts (e.g.
  github?).

• Include information about who you are, what position/responsibility you are looking for, what you are NOT looking for. Include this in a paragraph
  “About me” or put this info in a cover letter (if you believe in them).

• Group the information on your CV: put your studies, trainings and certifications together, separate your professional experience from your
  internships, …

• Provide names of companies you worked for, together with dates, roles, responsibilities and achievements.

• Give all the relevant information. Do not worry about the 2-pages rule as long as the information on your CV is relevant, organized, well-written
  and to-the-point people will read it.

• Take a moment to think about layout, colours, titles, etc., pass a spellchecker over it and ask someone to proofread it.

• Include a picture on your CV if you have a good headshot lying around (not a must, but you can if you would like to).

Finally – adapt your CV for the position you are applying for. This is not meant to encourage you to lie, but think about putting certain experiences in
the spotlight for certain positions (if you are lucky and you have a good job description, this will give insight in the things that the employer values).
Again, do not lie – lying is a bad idea!

When you have sent your CV follow up on it. If you are sure that your application fits with the job description contact the recruiter when you feel it
takes him/her too long to reply.

Best of luck and please comment if you feel that something important is missing from this list.

* The original title for this blogpost was “do’s and don’ts: sending your CV”. But then I realised that we are in the year 2016 and the act of sending
a CV might be outdated. People use “Apply with LinkedIn”, get into contact via Twitter and apparently even through WhatsApp. Whatever the medium you
choose there are still some basic truths.

For me DEVOPS is the combination of a lot of best practices of different IT domains such as Agile principles, Application Lifecycle Management processes.
There is no “one fits all” solution to be implemented and it’s really dependent on the organization. The end goal of DEVOPS is to reduce “time to market”
and improve the quality of the released product.
There are, of course, always quick wins every organization should have that might have to be put in place and the best option is to identify what is going
on in the organization right now.

Many companies start with buying and implementing new tools in order to get their performance improvements but often this doesn’t end well for several
reasons. In most cases tools introduce standard processes and, with a default implementation or supported by a vendor consultant, the new processes will
not be aligned with the procedures and processes of your organization. This will lead to frustration in the end-user community and the result will be an
even worse performance.

A much better approach is to first document the value-stream map for your product. The value-stream map tells you the story of your product (or a feature)
lifecycle from conception till release in production.

Based on my experience, two main tracks are really key in a DEVOPS program:

Automate as much as possible.

The value-stream map can be used to identify the processes that can be automated to increase the velocity and quality of the execution

Collaboration within the teams

Not only is collaboration between Development and Operations as the acronym DEVOPS would suggest required, but so too is collaboration between all the
teams involved in the product delivery. Stakeholders, representatives from the business, development and testing, operations people, etc. are all
responsible for delivering the product with speed and with high quality.

So, if you ask me, if DEVOPS is required the answer is YES, but adapted to your organization. I do not believe that you have to try to deliver 10 times a
day as some companies do but a collaborated automated delivery process is definitely a must.

Below you will find 3 “must-prepare” actions to keep in mind for the first day at a new job/client…

Introduce yourself

Prepare to introduce yourself a multitude of times during the first days. You will be introduced to a lot of people within your team, your department and
even other departments of the company. It shouldn’t take more than 2 to 4 minutes. State your main skills, your best achievements and at least why you have
been hired. This stage is crucial and the first impression you’ll leave with people will stick. Do not mess with it. Do not forget to smile and afterwards
try to remember the names of your colleagues.

Locate yourself within the building

Once you have your badge try to situate your location. Who is sitting next to you, where are the exits and the restaurant, the toilets and, most important,
the printer and IT support. Try also to identify the working environment: where is the boss, the assistant, the top management level places. You might need
them in the future.

Be independent quickly

Do not hesitate to ask questions on how things work the first day. But one thing your team will really appreciate is that you do not disturb them after the
second day. Get up from your chair and try to find out why you still did not receive your PC, get your password and start to configure your tools alone… be
proactive, try to locate the right people and solve your own problems.

With this is mind, you should be ready to meet your client and have a great first day at work.

Here are some of them!

1. Be rigorous

Do not allow any little mistakes to slip into your report. The report has to be factual and complete. You do not have the info before the meeting? Add “investigation ongoing” and explain when arriving at this topic. If not applicable, put NA. Do not leave any blank spaces. Provide figures and keep your planning up to date. Your action plan should be updated. Prepare all your presentations so that they flow. Have a copybook with you so you can take notes.

2. Foresee, predict and get the information

As a PMO you have to foresee all types of questions and actions. The best course is to get the information before your Project Manager asks for it. He/she will rely on you and that’s your job. To do this you may have to ask either a lot of questions directly to your team or gather information during project meetings. It is a big mistake to “just assume”. Be sure of what you are talking about. A delay! Why? How? Who? What are the main impacts? Think of solutions and propose if needed. You must be two steps ahead and also have a helicopter view.

3. Become essential

Think of everything in detail like his/her assistant. A meeting to participate in, a presentation to prepare, a deliverable to provide soon… you must prepare and provide elements of it before he/she even thinks about it. For example, you’ve noticed that a project meeting is missing from the calendar!
Alert your project manager and plan corrections quickly if needed. There is a Steering Committee coming up! Take 5 days to start preparing the presentation and the deliverables before he/she mentions it. Got it? OK! Go!

4. Be the link with the operational part of the team

You need to be the link between the project members and your project manager. You’ll have to get the feeling of the ground (lots of stress due to the different constraints, the planning stretches, etc.) and the top management. Identify your points of contact and meet them frequently. Brief your manager once a week or when it’s asked for.

What do you think? Do you have more qualities you would like to share with us?

Dress like them

I usually dress as a consultant the first week: suit, blouse and heels. But as days go by I adopt the dress code of either my team or the management I am working for. Without getting into extremes (jeans and sneakers) I’m as relaxed or sophisticated as they are. Doing this allows me to be integrated more quickly and the “external” label will disappear. It’s one of the key success factors of the mission (the integration of course).

Eat with them

Never eat alone and, unless you have an awful lot of work, take your time. This is the best part of the day! You’ll gather more underground information from everyone present, from the new upcoming organization, from your chief (is he well appreciated or not) and opportunities and much more. You may select to eat with your boss one day, the next day with your colleagues or even someone from another department. You’ll hear all the gossip of the company. The trick is: listen to it, filter it, use it but never, never, never join the gossiping yourself.

Do not sign deliverables as a consultant

As I am paid to deliver a service (a document or any other kind of deliverable) I will do my very best to deliver a high-quality document, but I realize that the final product will belong to the company. It will no longer be mine, and as such I will not add my name (unless asked explicitly) or my company’s name. If I work with a team member I will, however, always add his/her name. I have learned, with tears and blood, that as a consultant you have to “erase” yourself sometimes and let other people take the laurels.

Have THE good attitude

Just keep in mind that whatever you are doing to be part of them, you ARE NOT part of the company. It is a thin line between being part of a team at a client and being an employee of a consultancy company at the same time. You might work with your client-colleagues every day, but in the end you will always remain an external consultant and should behave as one. Remember to stay courteous, never bite back and do not enter personal fights or arguments.

Give your opinion and defend it

As an external you’ll be asked to provide your point of view! This is not a trap but a stairway to heaven (credibility). Jump on the opportunity and carry it out in the correct manner. For example, I never compare two companies or badmouth former colleagues, former bosses or situations. I prefer to highlight the good points of each one.

Just keep these tips in the back of your head and we are sure that you will blend smoothly into your new client environment.