A journal for your first thirty days in a new job

What should you write in a new-job journal?

Choose four sections: questions, reference points, learnings, and follow-up conversations. A note like “ask where to find the current procedure” is often enough; copying the entire procedure into a personal file creates a copy that’s hard to maintain and sometimes prohibited.

Check your organization’s rules before using a personal medium. If the notebook needs to be work-related, ask where to store it and how to manage it. The guide to organizing an idea notebook can inspire your organization, but your employer’s rules remain the framework for work information.

How should you organize your new-job journal?

At the end of an orientation session, note what you know how to find and what’s still unclear. The address of an authorized internal resource may be more useful than an imprecise summary. If you didn’t understand something, write down the question right away instead of turning a guess into an instruction.

Group non-urgent questions for your next scheduled conversation. However, raise any uncertainty about safety, access, or an action that’s difficult to reverse right away. The guide to daring to say I don’t know helps you make a clear request without putting yourself down.

INRS emphasizes the importance of welcoming and training new hires on health and safety. This responsibility doesn’t rest solely on the new employee. Your notebook can help you identify missing information; it doesn’t make the absence of necessary training acceptable.

What should you pay attention to during your first week?

Try to understand what’s expected: what result is required, by when, and what level of approval is needed? A task may seem simple but still require approval before it’s sent. Write down the questions you want to ask, then keep the answer in an authorized medium.

Also identify people’s roles without turning your notebook into a file of judgments about colleagues. “This person approves purchases” is a functional reference; “they always block everything” is a broad interpretation. For conversations that helped you, you can keep a simple note inspired by the conversation journal.

Finally, observe your own learning. What have you managed to find on your own? Which step still needs a demonstration? The skill learning journal suggests describing the task and the conditions instead of rating each day with a general competence score.

How should you use the journal during the following weeks?

During the second week, revisit your open questions. Some have been answered along the way; others call for a conversation. Remove duplicates and rephrase vague questions. “How do I do this well?” becomes “What approved example can I look at for this type of deliverable?”

During the third week, note one situation you understand better. Describe the information that helped you, the person or resource you can turn to again, and the limits of what you can do on your own. Progress is real even if it covers only part of the role.

In the fourth week, schedule a check-in with your usual point of contact. Choose a few things you’ve learned, one specific challenge, and a request for clarification. Our end-of-course review provides questions you can use in this meeting, without assuming onboarding is complete after one month.

Read alsoScripting: Write your dream life to clarify what you want

How should you write when you compare yourself with colleagues?

Compare equivalent situations. Someone who has been there for several years has reference points you’re still learning. Write down the specific step that challenged you and what would help you move forward. The guide to comparing yourself without putting yourself down helps turn a broad comparison into useful information.

Also, avoid turning your journal into daily proof that you deserve your place. You can note a question without adding ten accomplishments to make up for it. A first period naturally involves learning, but an unrealistic workload or conflicting expectations are worth discussing, not silently absorbing.

After a mistake, separate the facts, the correction, and what you learned. Don’t copy sensitive data to build a personal record. The inner dialogue after a mistake can support the way you speak to yourself, while professional corrections follow the organization’s procedures.

What should you do with your notes at the end of the first month?

Review the sections and keep only what remains useful under the applicable rules. You should be able to find reference answers in approved shared tools; personal impressions may not need to be kept for long. Don’t move work content to a personal account just to keep it more easily.

You can write a very general personal review: what you like about the pace, what you’d like to clarify, and what you’re learning about the way you work. The weekly journal review offers a short format that doesn’t require you to keep a complete record of the job.

If onboarding continues to be difficult for you, seek an appropriate conversation: with a manager, the person responsible for onboarding, or a workplace health and safety contact, depending on the issue. The journal helps you prepare facts and questions; it doesn’t replace the shared resources you need.

To prepare a question, you can use a short phrasing: “I understood that this step came before sending; can you confirm who approves it?” It points to the specific issue that needs clarification without hiding the uncertainty. Then note where to find the answer, not just what you think you heard. If two people give different instructions, flag the contradiction with the appropriate person rather than choosing the version that seems simplest. The notebook makes the need for a decision visible; it doesn’t replace that decision.

An example of a useful, straightforward note

After a demonstration, you can write: “I know how to find the template; I still need to check the order of approvals.” This sentence identifies what you’ve learned and what you’re still wondering about without copying the contents of a file. In your next conversation, it lets you ask for a specific confirmation instead of starting the whole explanation over from the beginning.

Add a very simple follow-up marker: question asked, answer to find, or accompanied practice to plan. Once the issue is resolved, mark it as such. That way, you avoid keeping a long list where old difficulties still appear open and give a misleading picture of what you actually have left to learn.

If a procedure changes, don’t just update your personal note. Check where the current approved reference is kept and ask how the team is informed about the change. Your notebook can remind you to check, but it shouldn’t become a competing version of the instructions the team uses together.

For a complementary perspective, watch this video from TED.

Sources

• INRS. “New employees: key points to remember.” Welcoming new employees and providing safety training are part of a collective effort. View the resource.
• CNIL. “Mobile apps: Your privacy will need better protection.” App permissions, data, and settings. View the resource.