A Good First Week

READING

A Good First Week

You cannot learn everything in five days. Smart new starters don’t try.

Your first week in a new job is not a test of your English. It is a test of something simpler: are you friendly, and do you ask questions? Nobody expects you to know the systems, the names or the rules. They expect you to greet people, smile, and learn.

Start with names. On day one, someone will show you around: the kitchen, the meeting rooms, the front desk. You will meet ten people in ten minutes and forget nine names. That is normal. The trick is easy: write things down. A small notebook in your first week is worth more than a perfect memory.

“In your first week, one good question is worth more than ten silent hours.”

Then, ask. Many new starters stay quiet because their English is basic. This is a mistake. A short question — “Sorry, where is the meeting room?”, “Can you show me how to use the printer?” — does two jobs at the same time. It gives you the answer, and it starts a conversation. The coworker who helps you today is often the friend who helps you for years.

Learn the small routines too. Where do people eat lunch? When do they take a break? Every office has little rules that are written nowhere. If you watch and copy, you will settle in faster. And if you get lost in the building — everybody does — laugh about it. A person who can laugh at a small mistake looks confident, not weak.

The one-week plan. Day 1: learn three names. Day 2: ask two questions. Day 3: eat lunch with someone. Day 4: say one thing in a meeting, even something small. Day 5: thank the person who helped you most. That is a good first week — in any language.

By Friday, you will not know everything. But people will know you: the new person who greets everyone, asks good questions and writes things down. In every office in the world, that person does well.

This reading was written for Fluent at Work and draws on widely shared, non-proprietary advice about starting a new job. It is original educational content, not a reproduction of any single source.

📘 Key vocabulary ▶

to greet — to say hello to someone in a friendly way.
to show someone around — to take someone on a first tour of a place.
the front desk — the desk at the entrance where visitors arrive.
to write things down — to put information on paper so you don’t forget it.
a coworker — a person who works with you, at the same level.
to settle in — to start to feel comfortable in a new place.
to get lost — to not know where you are.