You’re probably familiar with tools like Zoom and Gmail, but how you use them is more consequential at work. Your professors weren’t in charge of how much money you could make, and they wouldn’t be around as you progressed in your job. Even in the hottest job market for entry-level workers in years, mistakes here can have consequences.
In many sectors the demand for communication is greater than ever, now that some workers are at home more often. And this demand falls heavily on those people who are just starting their work or career.
After getting a new job during the pandemic, I can relate. It’s hard to get to know coworkers or show your work to senior leadership when you’re working from your kitchen table. So here’s a starter guide to emailing, messaging, and video chatting in the modern remote-ish workplace.
make an impression
You have demonstrated proficiency in all the skills required to land the job, which is great. For your career to grow and grow within a company, you need to be seen and heard, said Gorik Ng, a career advisor to undergraduates at Harvard University and author of the bestselling self-help book for early career professionals. For starters, he says, you need:
Pay attention to preferred methods of communication. Ask Day 1: What’s the best way to get in touch? E-mail? Call? Lazy? (Don’t text your boss unless they text you first.) “Each manager will have a different preference, and just indicate that you’re eager to contribute,” Mr. Ng said.
There appears to be a general trend among managers, which Mr. Ng calls “bundle and escalate.” Don’t ask 10 questions in 10 separate releases—batch them together before contacting your manager.
On video calls, arrive early and stay late. “There is always that awkward time before the most important person arrives, where everyone is eagerly waiting for someone to break the ice,” Mr. Ng said. This can be a good time to socialize. In the end the slowness can pay off, too. Someone in the group may want to stay on the call to chat.
Study the internal directory. Don’t just look at your team, said Mr. Ng. Look up offices and teams, note down names and titles, and research LinkedIn. “Dig for similarities,” he said. “Do you have any mutual friends, school, or hobbies?”
For those who can work individually and whose organization uses no seating, aka hot desking, he suggests choosing seats closer to common areas. “Stay close to the action,” he advised.
Virtual-Meeting Virtuoso
Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Webex and BlueJean are some of the more widely used videoconferencing platforms. Find out which ones are deployed by your company and pre-download the app for your desktop and mobile devices, then try a test meeting before joining an actual meeting.
Peggy Hsu, a university recruiting manager at videogame platform Roblox, suggests that new employees turn on their cameras by default in meetings to build relationships with coworkers. And don’t forget to dress for the part, at least from the waist up.
You’ll want to make sure you look and sound great. A little height for your webcam and the light in your face goes a long way. Logitech’s $60L Glow clip-on light produces softer, flatter light, but any lamp or nearby window helps. Just make sure it’s not behind you. In Zoom’s video settings, turn on the touch-up feature and enable “Always show video previews when you join a meeting.”
When sharing your screen, present only the active window, not your entire screen. Try not to multitasking during meetings—especially when you’re presenting, obviously. Make sure that notifications are turned off by enabling Do Not Disturb.
The whole world knows this, but still it has to be reiterated: Be silent when you are not speaking. And don’t forget to unmute when you are. (Use keyboard shortcuts like the push-to-talk space bar in Zoom.)
Chat-App Caution
Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your employer to see on Slack or any other company communication tool. Any message you send, whether it’s in a public group or a private direct message, can potentially be viewed by an administrator. This also applies to your email, shared cloud-storage system, and video-call chat channels.
If your company uses Slack, you can visit the app’s workplace settings to view the organization’s policies on conversation history retention and message export. If your company uses different software, check your employee handbook.
My favorite Slack feature is its third-party integration with calendars like Google Calendar and Outlook. When activated, you can sync your schedule with your Slack status, so when you’re in a meeting, your availability with a calendar emoji will be set remotely. When it’s time to join a meeting, you’ll receive a Slack direct message with a link to join the call.
Channels and groups can quickly become overwhelming. Organize your sidebar into sections can help: Right-click on a channel and select “Create a new section.” Command-K).
Set reminders to see messages again. Hover over a message, click the three dots next to it, and go to “Remind me about it.”
There are lots of notification customizations. Go to Preferences and set a custom schedule for receiving notifications so you’re not pinged in the middle of the night. Also set up “as soon as I’m idle” notifications on your desktop on your mobile devices.
And remember to add context to your messages. Don’t just say “hey,” and boom.
Email Like a Pro
Extremely long emails are a common new-age pitfall, according to Renate Norman, general manager of global university recruiting at Microsoft. “Get to the point quickly,” she said. She recommends starting with a summary and your main point or request at the top. You can add more details later, but if it’s getting too messy, pick up the phone.
The Undo feature is an email lifesaver. This will give you a grace period—also known as a “whoops” moment—before your email gets to the recipients. In Gmail settings, you can set this undo duration to 30 seconds. In Outlook Settings, go to Mail, click Compose and Reply and scroll down to Undo Send, where you can set the duration of up to 10 seconds. Do it.
If you’re working late, or you have coworkers in different time zones, you can also schedule a delivery using Send Schedule in Gmail by clicking More Options, then Delivery Options, or clicking the down arrow next to Send. can delay.
Biod? carefully
Bringing your own device is a policy that more companies are adopting. While this means you can use your favorite phone or laptop with work apps, it often comes with a trade-off: Some activity on your personal device may be monitored by your employer.
Many companies require employees to download a management profile to their personal mobile devices. Before installing, review its permissions. Common Access includes the ability to erase all data and settings, as well as remove applications and data in case your phone is stolen. Still on your family plans? Make sure your name is on Caller ID.
When you need to work on your personal computer, an easy way to keep things separate is to use two different browsers—for example, Chrome for work, Safari for personal stuff.
If all this sounds overwhelming, that’s because it is. Even the most experienced among us forget to unmute and accidentally send an email with a typo. Take a breath you got this. Whatever you do, don’t just zoom out of bed.