When people start a new job, they think the most important thing to do is learn how to do it. They don't realize that the most important part is not the "how" but rather the "why".
Recently, I have seen a person fail at a job because of this fatal mistake. This individual entered a company and then, for the duration of the probation period (6 months), failed to connect with anyone. Naturally, at the end of the probation period, the company noticed they would break the contract and gave this failure to connect with his coworkers as the motive. He explained that since he was on probation, he wanted to fully focus on his tasks instead of trying to connect with his team or figure out what was happening in the rest of the company. This is an extreme case that illustrates the dangers of making this mistake.
The recruiting interviews evaluate the hard skills, and the probation period evaluates the culture fit. Every well-run and responsible company knows this and will act accordingly with this process. Sometimes people fail because of insufficient competence in terms of hard skills to do the job. But that happens very rarely since nowadays the normal recruiting process scrutinizes these skills at a sufficient enough level to be reliable.
After this incident, I give this advice to every person who starts at a company I am in: expand your area of influence, go to every meeting in the beginning even the optional ones, and try to meet everyone around you. Bonus: listen to their problems and try to think of a solution. Sometimes there's a problem that the company has been trying to solve for months and then a new pair of fresh unbiased eyes provides the critical feedback that pushes the solution forward.
Recently, I have seen a person fail at a job because of this fatal mistake. This individual entered a company and then, for the duration of the probation period (6 months), failed to connect with anyone. Naturally, at the end of the probation period, the company noticed they would break the contract and gave this failure to connect with his coworkers as the motive. He explained that since he was on probation, he wanted to fully focus on his tasks instead of trying to connect with his team or figure out what was happening in the rest of the company. This is an extreme case that illustrates the dangers of making this mistake.
The recruiting interviews evaluate the hard skills, and the probation period evaluates the culture fit. Every well-run and responsible company knows this and will act accordingly with this process. Sometimes people fail because of insufficient competence in terms of hard skills to do the job. But that happens very rarely since nowadays the normal recruiting process scrutinizes these skills at a sufficient enough level to be reliable.
After this incident, I give this advice to every person who starts at a company I am in: expand your area of influence, go to every meeting in the beginning even the optional ones, and try to meet everyone around you. Bonus: listen to their problems and try to think of a solution. Sometimes there's a problem that the company has been trying to solve for months and then a new pair of fresh unbiased eyes provides the critical feedback that pushes the solution forward.