New hires often start in September. Here are the top 10 things to do at a new job. You only have one shot to make a great impression, and how you are perceived will affect you for years to come.

1. Go in person. You can make more of an impact than over Zoom and build connections with people.
2. Befriend colleagues/peers, admin, and staff. Go out of your way to be helpful to everyone you work with, not just those above you. It’s more fun working as part of a team, and you never know when you will need someone’s help (which will be often when you are starting out). When I was a junior lawyer, I was especially grateful for fellow associates as my sounding board and for experienced paralegals who had my back in closed door meetings I wasn’t part of.
3. Impress mentors (so they can guide you/tell you how things are done) and sponsors (who can get you on the right projects and advocate for you).
4. Observe where power flows. Look at the official org chart, but also figure out where revenue is coming from and which departments/leaders are most important. Who makes the decisions, who are the gatekeepers, who is up and coming? Get on their good side by being easy to work with and always providing excellent work product.
5. Communicate the way the recipient wants, e.g., email, text, Slack, or (gasp) by phone or in-person. This way you will get a faster response and not annoy people. Lawyers are already known as the Department of No, so you need to overcome that bias!
6. Learn your managers’ and client’s expectations on timing and priority. Sometimes it’s a hard deadline, and sometimes it’s not. Often managers won’t remember what they’ve assigned to you or how much you already have on your plate, so you have to know what is most important to work on.
7. Study your company’s industry and your clients. You must understand the business to give good legal advice and to win the trust of your clients. Anticipate their needs, and research answers to potential questions before meetings. Know your client’s risk tolerance, which is different for each company and industry.
8. Manage mistakes. You will make them, but how you fix them is key. Own up to them and explain how you will solve the mess.
9. After you establish yourself, you can say no so you aren’t drowning with work or stuck with all the bad projects. I recommend you check in with colleagues and mentors on how best to do that at your organization.
10. Volunteer for plum projects (then make sure to do a great job). You don’t have to blindly accept assignments. Befriend managers/clients (whom you have impressed with your work/style) to be able to get first dibs on what you want to do.