What makes a good employee ?
How to succeed – a few simple pointers
YOUR MAIN PRIORITY IS TO IMPRESS THE EMPLOYER IN THE FIRST 2 WEEKS.
THESE NOTES WILL HELP. THEN KEEP IMPOROVING YOUR PERFORMANCE
1. Be 10 minutes early for everything
2. Carry a note book – make daily notes
a. Of your start time, end time, hours and main tasks,
b. About the tasks – make some notes of things it will help to remember
c. Set alarms and reminders
3. Offer to help –
a. even outside working hours - cleaning, carrying, cooking, dishes.
b. Get involved with everything.
c. You are living and working in the same place. It is not like a normal job where you work in one place
and then go home to somewhere else. Everything happens in the same place. So you have to be
especially good at engaging with people and helping out with all day-to-day life tasks.
d.Some of these will be outside working hours. See all these moments as opportunities to us to be a
useful part of the team. Many of these things will be an opportunity to learn and develop new skills,
for example, helping the boss out in the workshop in the evening with maintenance tasks.
4. Communication
a. Speak slowly, separate the words
b. repeat instructions back to the people that gave you them so that they know you understand. (Just
saying yes is just saying yes!)
c. Check when the job needs to be done by.
d. Report back when the job is completed.
e. If it is a more complicated task operated down in your book. Will
5. Be proactive
a. After your first few days….
b. try to think ahead what your employer wants you to do next. Check with them if they want you to do
it ‘ I thought it would be useful for you if I started to do this, can I have your permission to proceed’
c. definitely do not sit back and wait for instructions. If you do this the employer has to be doing the
thinking for you as well as for himself and so you become a burden, not a benefit.
d. if you have nothing to do and have not been given any instructions find some simple task (sweeping,
cleaning up) and do that until you have another job to do
6. Phone
a. Stay off your phone when you are with other people.
b. Stay off your phone during work hours unless you are required to be using it for your work.
7. When it gets difficult make extra efforts to engage with the people around you and the tasks you have to do.
You will create more respect if you do this, because it shows that you are committed to the role and to the
people there.
8. Accommodation
a. Leave it neat and tidy at all times
b. Leave it cleaner than you found it
9. Check in with your employer every week about how you are doing, what you can do better, how to improve.
10. Ask questions about what the reasons are for doing things that way. Show a professional interest in your tasks.
It will make the job more interesting if you know why you are doing it that way.
How to succeed – a few simple pointers
YOUR MAIN PRIORITY IS TO IMPRESS THE EMPLOYER IN THE FIRST 2 WEEKS.
THESE NOTES WILL HELP. THEN KEEP IMPOROVING YOUR PERFORMANCE
1. Be 10 minutes early for everything
2. Carry a note book – make daily notes
a. Of your start time, end time, hours and main tasks,
b. About the tasks – make some notes of things it will help to remember
c. Set alarms and reminders
3. Offer to help –
a. even outside working hours - cleaning, carrying, cooking, dishes.
b. Get involved with everything.
c. You are living and working in the same place. It is not like a normal job where you work in one place
and then go home to somewhere else. Everything happens in the same place. So you have to be
especially good at engaging with people and helping out with all day-to-day life tasks.
d.Some of these will be outside working hours. See all these moments as opportunities to us to be a
useful part of the team. Many of these things will be an opportunity to learn and develop new skills,
for example, helping the boss out in the workshop in the evening with maintenance tasks.
4. Communication
a. Speak slowly, separate the words
b. repeat instructions back to the people that gave you them so that they know you understand. (Just
saying yes is just saying yes!)
c. Check when the job needs to be done by.
d. Report back when the job is completed.
e. If it is a more complicated task operated down in your book. Will
5. Be proactive
a. After your first few days….
b. try to think ahead what your employer wants you to do next. Check with them if they want you to do
it ‘ I thought it would be useful for you if I started to do this, can I have your permission to proceed’
c. definitely do not sit back and wait for instructions. If you do this the employer has to be doing the
thinking for you as well as for himself and so you become a burden, not a benefit.
d. if you have nothing to do and have not been given any instructions find some simple task (sweeping,
cleaning up) and do that until you have another job to do
6. Phone
a. Stay off your phone when you are with other people.
b. Stay off your phone during work hours unless you are required to be using it for your work.
7. When it gets difficult make extra efforts to engage with the people around you and the tasks you have to do.
You will create more respect if you do this, because it shows that you are committed to the role and to the
people there.
8. Accommodation
a. Leave it neat and tidy at all times
b. Leave it cleaner than you found it
9. Check in with your employer every week about how you are doing, what you can do better, how to improve.
10. Ask questions about what the reasons are for doing things that way. Show a professional interest in your tasks.
It will make the job more interesting if you know why you are doing it that way.
