Before you start
What Your Offer Letter Does Not Say
A contract settles pay, notice and hours, and says nothing about any of the things that determine what the job is actually like.
What the people on this page had to find out, and where from
Which repository is the real one
you asked1Four days of reading the wrong one first
The holiday booking process
written down1The one thing properly documented
That your manager prefers a written update on Mondays
told3Said in passing, in week three
three things you had to know · one of them somebody told you · the median arrived in week 1 · the other two you went and got
Three of the things this page is about. Two of the three were answerable in a message sent the week before you started.
A useful onboarding review separates time spent learning from time spent blocked, so teams can see the official overview and discuss the pattern with the employee rather than relying on impressions.
A useful independent source for this stage of work is Khan Academy.
Seven things about the job that were nowhere in the paperwork
Which two of the four products you would actually work on
worked out3Worked out from where the meetings were
That your predecessor left four months ago
told2Mentioned in passing on a call
That the role was created after a reorganisation
written down7In a public announcement from the previous year
Who your work is actually for
you asked4Three people were asked before the picture settled
That the team has no written definition of done
worked out6Noticed by asking for one and finding there was none
That your probation involves a formal review
written down1In the contract, and read properly only once you looked for it
What the team was told about why you were hired
you asked5Asked directly, and the answer was useful
seven things you had to know · one of them somebody told you · the median arrived in week 4 · the other six you went and got
Seven things that shaped the job, and only the probation clause was in the paperwork. Nothing was concealed: a contract is a legal document and these are not legal facts. One person's own twelve weeks.
Your contract tells you what you will be paid, how much notice either side must give, and what your hours and holiday are. It is a legal document and it does its job.
It says nothing about what the work is, who it is for, what will be expected of you, or why the role exists. None of that is concealment; those simply are not legal facts.
The seven things it leaves out
What you will actually work on. A job title covers a wide range. A company with four products has put you on one or two of them, and which ones determines most of your next year.
Why the role exists. A replacement, a growth hire, or somebody's idea that has not been fully agreed with anybody. These produce very different first six months.
What happened to your predecessor. If there was one. Not gossip — if the last person in your seat left after seven months, that is a fact about the seat.
Who your work is for. The person you report to and the person who consumes your output are frequently different people, and it is the second whose opinion will determine how the job goes.
What "good" means here. Almost never written down, and the subject of its own note in the last section.
How probation actually works. This one often is in the contract, in a clause nobody reads, and it is worth reading before rather than after.
What the team was told about why you were hired. They were told something. It shapes how you are received, and you can simply ask.
Which of these to ask about, and when
| Question | When | Of whom |
|---|---|---|
| What will I actually work on | Before you start | Your manager |
| Why does this role exist | Week one or two | Your manager |
| What happened to my predecessor | Week three or later | A peer, privately |
| Who is my work really for | Week two | Your manager |
| What does good look like | Week three | Several people |
| How does probation work | Before you sign | The contract |
The timing matters more than the wording. Asked before you start, "why does this role exist" is a sensible question from somebody organised. Asked in week eight it sounds like a person wondering whether they should have come.
Reading the probation clause
Worth doing properly once, before you sign, because it is the one item on this list that is genuinely written down and almost nobody reads it.
What you want to know: how long it runs, what notice applies during it, whether there is a formal review and when, and whether anything about your pay or benefits changes at the end of it. Those four are usually all in one paragraph.
Knowing them removes a specific and common anxiety, which is the vague sense in month two that something is being assessed and you do not know what or when.
The thing the letter gets right
One thing worth saying, because this note is otherwise a list of absences.
Your pay, your notice period and your holiday entitlement are settled, in writing, and they are the things hardest to change later. Everything else on this page is discoverable in your first month by asking. The contract covers precisely the parts that are not.
So read it carefully once, ask about the rest afterwards, and do not expect it to tell you what the job is. That is what the first ninety days are for, and the rest of this collection is about how to spend them.
The sentence worth getting in writing
One thing on this list is worth having written down before you start, and it is the first: what you will actually be working on.
Not as a contractual term. In the email that confirms your start date, in one line, in your own words.
Looking forward to it. My understanding is that I will be mostly on the pricing side to begin with, working with the team on the integration — let me know if that is not right.
If it is right, nothing happens and you have a dated record of what was agreed. If it is wrong, you find out three weeks before starting rather than three weeks after, which is the difference between an adjustment and a disappointment.
This takes one sentence and almost nobody writes it.