09/14/26

For your entire academic life, course assignments, deadlines, and what it takes to “succeed” has come with clear instructions and expectations.

This should not come as a surprise, but in your professional career, these signals are not as obvious. You may be lucky to work for an organization with a detailed performance review system or a manager that goes above and beyond to set clear expectations, but the vast majority of roles have little to no formalized structure to understand what “great work” really looks like. It is assumed by many managers that a new hire needs to learn “how things are done around here” quickly and intentionally, and if they don’t, they may not be around very long. 

It is your job to figure out the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are most critical to your role and create opportunities to show early progress milestones.   

Understanding the Essentials

In most cases, the job description and information you gathered during the interview process will give you a good sense of your initial key priorities and performance expectations. However, priorities change quickly, and it likely won’t be long before your key responsibilities are radically different from when you started. 

Especially for entry level roles, your success will be primarily dependent on your ability to meet the predetermined performance standards. Depending on the nature of your role, KPI’s may be quite obvious (ie. sales goals, delivery timelines, reduced error rates). Give yourself time to understand your role and determine what growth areas are needed. 

In your first week:

• Ask directly. “What would a strong first ninety days look like for a high performer in this role?”
• Spot what gets rewarded. Watch how the strongest colleagues operate and notice what earns praise and recognition.
• Name the gaps early. Identify, refine, and build upon your skill gaps in the critical internal systems and tools. 

Regardless of the task at hand, managers appreciate proactivity, thoughtful questions, and employees who demonstrate understanding of the business beyond their individual contributions. Find opportunities to show that your ideas and abilities extend beyond your current role and be seen as someone who can “get things done.” KPI success measures output, but the soft traits are what earn trust and can help demonstrate future success in more significant roles.

Setting Clear, Measurable Goals

The fastest way to close the gap between what you think matters and what is most important is to set a few (3-5) clear goals to track performance and onboarding progress. Vague intentions like “ramp up quickly” or “be a strong contributor” give neither of you anything to check against. Translate each priority into something measurable with a number and a timeframe (own the weekly report by day thirty, close your first ten tickets by the end of month one, cut your error rate in half by the end of the quarter). I encourage you to research the SMART goal setting methodology for a detailed guide of comprehensive goal setting. If this is not common practice for your manager, use any focused 1 on 1 time you have with them to make sure your efforts are pointed in the right direction. 

The opinions your manager and peers form in your first 90 days tend to stick and can compound into a long-lasting reputation. Show them that you think in terms of broad business outcomes rather than your individual contributions. Thoughtful questions and realistic outcome-based goals demonstrate commitment to delivering great work in your current role but also hints at your ability to achieve greater things in future roles. 

The new hire who gets stretch projects in year two is usually the one who looked coachable from the start. This mentality is relevant at all levels within an organization but is essential for making a name for yourself early on in your career.

Build Your A+ Onboarding Gameplan 

Getting clear on what matters is only half the battle. You still need a system to balance priorities, plan your week, and stay organized to deliver great results. I’ll be sharing these systems and skills this fall through Denison Edge in Clocking In: Transition from a Student to Career Schedule. The biggest early wins come from knowing what counts and having a system to achieve your goals.