4 Ways To Adapt To Your New Company’s Culture

Starting a new job is an exciting time. You’ve been through the rigorous selection process and now you’ve accepted the offer of employment. As your first day gets ever closer, the excitement builds but so might the nerves. You may begin questioning whether you will fit into the company as well as you did at your last role. It’s a common thought and one that isn’t without foundation, with statistics saying that nearly 90% of all hiring failures are due to poor cultural fit. So what can you do to ensure that you hit the ground running?

Do your homework

You’ll have done plenty of research on your new company when going through the application and interview process. However, you shouldn’t stop there. It’s important to do some research on the company culture, and how you might fit into that. You can do this in several ways. You can:

● Ask anyone that you know there about what it is like to work there, ask them about what you should look out for, and be aware of.

● Check out the company Facebook page, LinkedIn page and other social media sites. What’s the tone of them? Formal and official, or chatty and informal? This can give you an insight as to what you can expect.

Be Confident

Don’t go into your new company shy and retiring. You need to start as you mean to go on. Walk into your new office confident and with a smile. As humans, we are naturally drawn to people who are confident so it's a powerful tool to fit in, in your new role. Remember, you have been chosen over and above a lot of other very strong candidates so there’s no reason to doubt yourself or your abilities.

Be Open

Whenever a team gets a new member, there is always a slight change to the dynamic, it is perfectly natural as we are all different and bring different things with us. What is important however is to be open with your new colleagues. Any suggestion that you are in anyway standoffish or distant will make it more difficult for you to fit in. If they suggest lunch out or a drink after work, even if it’s not really your thing, go along and show willing. It will help you adapt to company culture and help you integrate into the team.

Give It Time

If you feel that you are not settling into your new company then don’t panic! Every organisation on the planet has its up and downs, and if you arrive during a particularly busy and frenetic period then the feel of a company may be different than at other times during the year. You really need to give it time for you to fit into your new company and its culture, sometimes these things don’t happen overnight. Whilst you may feel somewhat out of your depth for the first few weeks, you’ll almost certainly be happy and contented within a few months."