Create a 30-60-90 Day Plan for Starting a New Job

You have been hired, now what? Many people feel lost when they first start a new job, and this 30-60-90-day plan can help to alleviate some anxiety.

In many cases, it can be difficult to adapt to a brand-new environment and culture where you work as well as meeting all of your new co-workers.

In order to ensure that they made the right hiring decision for their company, employers will want to see that you can successfully integrate yourself into your new company in 30, 60, and 90 days.

What is a 30-60-90 day plan?

A 30-60-90 day plan will set out specific milestones for you within 30 (1 month), 60 (2 months), and 90 (3 months) days of starting at your job that will help to ensure that you feel comfortable in your new position, and your managers have faith you can perform well in your role.

When to make a 30-60-90 day plan?

Before you accept a new role, ask your employer what milestones they expect you to meet 30, 60, and 90 days after starting. Once you have the plan in place, be sure to check in with your manager 30 days after starting so that they can assess how well you are performing.

30, 60, and 90-day milestones should be manageable, so don’t expect yourself to have completely conquered it by the 30-day check-in. It is better to have a plan that is flexible and can adapt as you go.

Benefits of creating a 30-60-90 day plan

Many employees are thrown into a new role with no direction on what is expected. 30-60-90 day plans set out specific goals and objectives that the company expects from an employee within 30, 60, and 90 days, so there will be less ambiguity in your role.

It helps ease the transition and allows you to be more productive in the earlier stages of your new job. They also allow companies to track new employee performance within that time frame.

Once you know what is expected of you 30, 60, and 90 days after starting your new role it will be easier for you to ease into the position.

30-60-90 day plans also allow you to identify what’s just not feeling right or if there are some challenges that weren’t foreseen.

Scope of a 30-60-90 day plan

Before you start writing a 30 60 90 day plan, you’ll want to think about the overarching elements that it’ll be composed of.

• Determine your top priorities
• Create a list of SMART goals
• Identify what metrics you’ll use to track your success

Top priorities

These are the broader aims of your plan, things such as:

• What tools you’ll need to learn in order to perform your role
• Who you’ll be in direct communication with on a day-to-day basis
• Internal processes
• Answers to common questions

It’s essential to identify these priorities in order to make the goals you set achievable.

SMART goals

SMART is a tool for planning achievable goals, it stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. 

Specific

Your goals should have a clear and specific focus in order for them to feel achievable. Nothing kills productivity like a problem that feels too big to solve, which is why you should avoid goals that are too general. 

For example, a goal to increase sales is too general. There are hundreds of ways businesses can increase sales, and not all of those will be relevant to your role.

A more specific goal would be to implement Abandoned Cart Emails that retarget leads who have already shown an interest in purchasing.

To narrow down your goal, ask yourself these questions:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why is this goal important?
• Who is involved?
• Where is it located?
• Which resources or limits are involved?

Measurable

It’s essential that you have a way of tracking your goals and measuring their success. This is how you demonstrate how effective your process is and gives an indication of when you have achieved your goal.

If we use the example from above, “increasing sales” is obviously not a measurable goal. By adding a figure or percentage to work towards, to make the task more digestible. For example: send automated emails to leads who abandoned their cart with the aim of getting 20 purchases in 90 days.

Is 20 purchases an impressive feat? Well, it depends on what you’re selling. But regardless of that, you can still demonstrate the effectiveness of a strategy by setting goals like this.

Achievable

It seems obvious, but your goal has to be achievable.  Even if it’s specific and measurable, you’ll still need access to the right resources and knowledge in order for the goal to be viable.

Don’t waste your time on something that’s not attainable.

Relevant

Your goals should be set in the context of those around you or in that of a larger plan. If your goal is completely unrelated to those of your colleagues then you won’t be contributing to anything larger than yourself.

That’s not to say your goal isn’t worthwhile, but this might not be the time to set it.

Time-bound

All goals should have an expected date for completion, something to work towards. This is the only way you can plan each stage accordingly and track their success.

Metrics for success

We’ve covered the ways you should devise individual goals above, but you should also think about what metrics you’ll use to track the success of your 30, 60, 90 day plan. Try to come up with at least one metric for each month of the plan.

How to create a 30-60-90 day plan

When you are creating a 30-60-90 day plan, you should ensure the milestones outlined will allow for success and productivity within the first few days of starting. A great way to lay a foundation is to use what questions and comments were made in your interview.

Look at how closely aligned your skills and previous experience are to what is required in this new role and how that may impact how quickly you can become productive.

If possible, you should consider speaking to the person who previously occupied your role, they may well have some tips and tricks for impressing your new managers.

What to include

While your employer may have given you some guidance on how they would like to see the progress of your role within 30, 60, and 90 days, it is ultimately up to you how to achieve this. There should be specific milestones in place for each time period, that you can aim to achieve.

30 day plan: Learning and familiarization

30 days after starting you will have met with your manager to discuss company culture and objectives.

Become familiar with the products/services your company offers, the target market, major competitors in the industry, and how your role contributes to overall business objectives.

Understand the infrastructure of your company network/systems and software, including the location of files, folders, printers, etc., as well as who has access to what information do they have a traditional hierarchical work set up or work in cross-functional teams.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions in these first 30 days. Curiosity is an indicator that you want to do your job well and reduce the time you need to take up from other people in the future.

Finally, look into the best practices for your role. Are you expected to create email campaigns? Take a look at the best practices for email subject lines.

60 day plan: Apply learning and develop skills

60 days after starting, you should be applying what you’ve learned and develop your skills.

Take time to formulate opinions on how the company’s products/services can expand their reach, identify new opportunities within target markets under-served by their current offering.

Stay up to date with industry news so that you are knowledgeable about recent changes in your field.

Continue to build your network, it is important in all roles, but especially in sales.

Begin applying what you have learned about the company’s infrastructure and technology systems to become familiar with how your department functions on a daily basis.

90 day plan: Demonstrate success

90 days into your role, the third month, you should aim to demonstrate success. Take the lead in performing tasks and show managers or stakeholders how far you’ve come.

Start to show how your actions positively impact shared projects and the business as a whole.

Consider attending at least one industry conference/trade show to build your network and learn how other professionals approach roles similar to your own.

30-60-90 day plan example

The sample below shows how the milestones outlined in the 30-60-90 day plan may play out over time, depending on what you are expecting to achieve. Remember that this is just a sample and your own plan will be tailored specifically towards your role.

First 30 days

Focus: Learning.

Priorities: Meet your team, gather internal resources, understand what’s required of your role, learn what’s expected of you by managers and stakeholders, and identify the challenges you may face.

Learning goals

• Reference internal materials that are relevant to your role.
• Access tools and platforms you need to perform your role, such as email accounts, CRM software, customer support systems.
• Set meetings with colleagues and managers to acquaint yourself and build relationships.
• Review current SEO strategies and editorial guidelines.

Performance goals

• Write a blog article.
• Post to social media.
• Ask for feedback on your performance and work it into your plan.
• Ask what other skills you need to learn in order to grow quickly.

Personal goals

• Get acquainted with your team.

Second 30 days

Focus: Apply what you’ve learned.

Priorities: Start to perform the entirety of your role and determine how you can have a positive impact on the business.

Learning goals

• Take 2 internal and 1 external training course to become more proficient.
• Shadow a team member or manager to understand how your role impacts their work.

Performance goals

• Write 8 blog articles (2 per week).
• Compare engagement with your articles to that of pre-existing articles.
• Create a social content calendar for the month.

Personal goals

• Develop relationships outside your own team.

Final 30 days

Focus: Demonstrate success.

Priorities: It’s time to start forging your own path and take initiative within your team. Demonstrate the impact of what you’ve done so far and make suggestions on how to push the boat out. Here, you should start thinking about goals for the rest of the year (and beyond).

Learning goals

• Identify courses or conferences that you can use to develop your skills further.
• Review your past goals with the metrics you set yourself.

Performance goals

• Perform your responsibilities at a higher level than before (more articles, more engaging content).
• Pitch a project or campaign.
• Complete a project or campaign and report on its success.

Personal goals

• Immerse yourself in the company culture and social events, with the intention to become an advocate.
• Lead a meeting with your team.
• Demonstrate the value you’ve provided in the past 90 days to your team or manager.