How to Impress Your Boss at a Startup - The Muse

How to Impress Yur Boss at a Startup - The MuseHow to Impress Your Boss at a Startup Tzu siches a lot of pressure that comes with starting a new job. Aside from learning new systems (and, inevitably, having to remember everyones name), theres also that underlying urge to impress. After all, its important to show your boss that he or she made the right decision in hiring you.The question is, how can you stand out without being over the top?To get some ideas, we asked 10 entrepreneurs from YEC to share one thing a new hire did to impress them in the first few weeks on the job. Heres what they had to say.1. Get a Head StartA new employee once arrived on his first day of work having already completed the first weeks training material, which wed sent out with his offer letter. He had also familiarized himself with the tool we were using. Getting the introductory work out of the way on his own allowed him to really dive right in.- Simon Casuto, eLearning Mind2. Take InitiativeA new hire cr eated new financial spreadsheets with different margin assumptions across multiple business channels. And when I say a spreadsheet, Im talking about the mother of all spreadsheets. The new hire saw an opportunity and took the initiative to solve a problem and improve something she thought could be better. To this day, we still use it, and its become the go-to for financial modeling.- Mark Samuel, Fitmark3. Shadow Other TeamsOne thing a new hire did that really impressed me was shadowing every department in the office. It demonstrated that he had a genuine interest in not just his silo, but in understanding the big picture and how the whole business operates, which helps in finding opportunities for improvement and collaboration between all the different units.- Basha Rubin, Priori Legal4. Make Great Suggestions for ImprovementWe recently hired a young guy to zustrom our operations. Hed worked for Lockheed Martin previously, and we knew he was detail-oriented. On his first two days, we walked through the business, and I told him to assume we were doing things incorrectly. On day three, he drew out our entire business and highlighted the biggest pain points, laying out changes he wanted to implement. He was right on- Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches5. Find Ways to Increase EfficiencyWith a fast-growing company like ours, theres always an opportunity to create a business process or increase efficiency. In the recent hires first week, he developed a tool that allows managers to see resource utilization for each project and availability across multiple teams, which improved our bottom line by 15%. It wasnt his task, but he saw a pain point and took initiative.- Jyot Singh, RTS Labs6. Ask the Right QuestionsNot only did she do her homework on the company, offering up details from our history and suggestions for how we could improve certain aspects of our marketing and product rollout (while maintaining a politeness), but she asked the right questions. I was blown away when a new hire made it her mission to see what solutions had been tried before so she dont retread.- Rob Fulton, Exponential Black7. Loop Your Network InI was very impressed when one of our new hires inquired about sending out a company e-blast to her personal network to announce her arrival. Not only was this a great way to let her network know she had changed jobs, but it also added a few hundred new contacts to our startups database. Although this employee didnt work in business development, her great idea helped us secure new customers.- Brittany Hodak, ZinePak8. Admit What You Dont KnowI appreciate new employees who read our press and know the website cover-to-cover. Thats awesome. However, when a new employee is willing to say, I dont know, that takes guts. This person wants to give me, the boss, affirmation that I hired the best candidate. I dont expect a new hire to know all the answers. A new person willing to admit he or she is still growing is a gift to any company.- Mi chael Simmons, Hayloft 9. Get to Know Your New BossExecutives often walk into an office where nobody will look them in the eye and actually say something. It can be scary, but a good morning and enjoy your evening every day to the people you work with (regardless of their role) goes a long way. Im always impressed by employees who come into the job on the first day and make an effort to talk to everyone around them, including their bosses.- Cassie Petrey, Crowd Surf10. Act as an OwnerFounder is an attitude, not a title. One of our new hires at a previous startup distinguished himself right away by looking beyond his role and responsibilities and made an impact all over the company, particularly in ways that improved the productivity and effectiveness of others. Its no surprise to me that he ended up leaving a few years later to start his own successful startup.- Amit Kumar, CardSpringPhoto of people working courtesy of Shutterstock.