You Got a New Job! What’s Next?

What a relief — you aced the interview and landed a job! Although the stress of job hunting is over, now is not the time to relax. You’ll need to rely on some of the same tactics you used to secure your new position to make sure your first days and weeks as an employee are successful.
Here are five things you need to take care of before you start your new job:
Update your threads
Hopefully, you learned about the company’s dress code expectations during your interviews. If not, ask.
If you’ll be wearing a uniform, find out how much of it will be given to you by the company, and which pieces of it you’ll be responsible for yourself.
If you need to upgrade your wardrobe to include more business-appropriate attire, don’t overdo it. Make sure you’re covered in the wardrobe department for the first week. Spend that week absorbing what the company’s culture is really like, and then, at the end of the week, reexamine your current wardrobe and supplement it as needed.
Make sure you’re covered
Many companies have a waiting period before a new employee’s health benefits kick in. It’s critical that you find out what your health insurance position will be for the coming months.
If you left a company to start this new job, you need to fill any gap between coverage. Your former employer is required by law to inform you about COBRA coverage, but bear in mind that COBRA allows you to extend your current health insurance options — and it can be expensive.
A less expensive option, and your only option if for some reason you aren’t covered by COBRA, is to purchase an independent, short-term health insurance policy. Instead of extending your current coverage, you can raise your deductible and limit your coverage in order to lower your insurance premiums while staying insured.
Dive into the company
You researched the company before you applied for the job. Now that you have the job, shift your research into high gear. Find out everything you can about the company — from its official “About” web page to financial reports — so that you feel like you know as much, if not more, about the company than your average coworker.
Don’t rely solely on the information the company gives out, either. Find out what people in the industry are saying about the company in press releases, on ranking sites and even among your friends and neighbors.
Know where you’re going
In the week before your first day, review the routes you might take to and from work and plot out a course for that first day. It might take you a couple days of negotiating traffic and trying different routes to find the one that is most efficient.
While you’re out and about, take note of the restaurants and other shops in the vicinity of your new job.
Sleep tight
With the excitement and anxiety of starting a new job, this might be one of the most difficult things to do: Get a good night’s sleep the day before you start. You want to show up for your first day on the job (early, if you can) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and eager to prove yourself.
Granted, your first day will largely be spent filling out tax documents and other paperwork, so getting enough rest becomes even more important: You don’t want to fall asleep during the tedious paperwork process.
Your first day on a new job should be full of hope and confidence. Take a deep, calming breath before you start, and remember that this is the beginning of a new adventure in your life. Good luck!