The Best Tips for a Smooth Job Transition

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The First 90 Days" by Michael Watkins. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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Have you been laid off or presented with a more lucrative job opportunity? What challenges will this transition bring into your life?

Whatever the reason, job transition is a major change that presents a host of challenges in both occupational and social spheres. Accordingly, it’s important to manage yourself by supporting your psychological transition and the transition of your family.

Here are some tips on how to make a transition to a new job as smooth as possible.

Transitioning Jobs

Job transitions are stressful and overwhelming not only because of the potential implications for your career but because your personal life will be impacted as well.

During your professional transition, you might be losing access to your normal support network, and your family might be undergoing significant changes as well. And yet, you will likely also have greater responsibility than before.

These issues were all at play for Stephen when he accepted a new position at his firm’s unit in Canada. Not only would his family be moving from New York to Toronto, his children would need to change schools in the middle of the year, his wife would need to find new clients for her freelance work, and Stephen would need to build a new professional network while proving himself in his new role. Without a plan for managing these moving pieces, Stephen risked reaching a stage of burnout that would undermine his ability to be successful overall.

By choosing to proactively manage all aspects of your job transition, you can fend off potential burnout and build a positive foundation for you and your family.

Manage Your Stress Levels

Start by taking stock of how you are feeling by using the structured reflection guide outlined below:

How do you feel so far? On a scale of high to low do you feel:

Excited? If not, why not? Are there any steps you can take to change this?
Confident? If not, how can you build security around the transition?
Agency over your own success?
Disconnected? Are there gaps in key contacts you need for a smooth transition?
Concerned? Have you already observed certain dynamics in meetings or early interactions that worry you?
Proud? Are there moments or steps that you have already handled well? By contrast, have you recognized some things you could have handled differently?

Based on these observations, try to identify the biggest challenges or obstacles you face moving forward. Are those impediments informed primarily by situational considerations? Or are they perhaps a reflection of something within your own control? For example, consider the following possible personal weaknesses you may have that are undermining your ability to transition effectively:

Inability to draw healthy boundaries which renders you vulnerable to a sense of overwhelm and being pulled unsustainably in too many directions.
Defensiveness which may result from insecurity related to the transition. It can catalyze problematic behavior such as unwillingness to take other’s opinions into consideration or doubling down on bad ideas for fear of looking weak or incompetent.
Isolation caused by failure to establish necessary connections or to establish an approachable tone.
Avoidance based on fear of making big decisions early on or shouldering the responsibility for tough HR calls. Those choices may be painful but cannot be avoided—they will only stew and grow if left unattended.

Any one of these tendencies, or several of them in tandem, can contribute to a heightened sense of stress. It’s well documented that a healthy amount of stress can be essential for propelling action. However, as stress levels increase, you’ll eventually reach a point where your performance is either undermined or you burn out completely.