In today's world of flexible work and intensive performance assessment, careers are often measured in months rather than decades.

"It's the people, stupid!" Nigel Nicholson, professor of organizational behaviour at the London Business School, offers this important piece of advice to anyone starting a new job. "It's not the job, it's the people in the organization," he explains. "Get to know them, get to know their perspectives, get to understand what's driving them, get to figure out what the psychological issues are, what the tensions are. The more you know, the better."

Nicholson has a simple rule about what people should bring to an organization:" I call it 'VIP': vision, identity and passion. If you can bring some of all those things with you, then you will find it easier to communicate in future." What does he think is the most important thing to remember in the first 100 days? "Don't worry about whether you're going to be able to do the job or not. That's never the issue. It's the relationships that matter; the first thing is, think about the relationships."

If you're planning to change jobs or start a new career, you need to understand the transition cycle, says Professor Nigel Nicholson of the London Business School. He identifies four specific phases requiring strategies for the first 100 days and beyond:

1 Preparation

Get to know the company and organizational culture you are joining, the products/services it offers, and its key people.

2 Encounter

Listen and learn when you start your new job. Keep your eyes open and ask questions, even if they seem stupid or you already know the answers. You won't get another chance to question as openly as this.

3 Adjustment

In this phase, you aim to reduce differences between you and the organiztional environment by changing either the environment or your behaviour.

4 Stabilization

Finally, you put in place the things that are going to hold your new situation together and make you part of the organization--before you move on to the next stage of preparation for another change.

在当今这个工作灵活多样、业绩评估又十分苛刻的世界里，职业生涯通常是以月份而不是以年为单位计算的。

“人才是关键，傻瓜！”这是伦敦商学院的组织行为学教授奈杰尔尼克尔森对职场新人提出的一条重要建议。“关键不在于工作，而在于公司里的人，”他解释道，“去了解他们，了解他们的看法、动机，找出有哪些心理问题，压力又是什么。你了解得越多越好。”
尼克尔森有一个简单的原则来概括人们应该为一家企业带来什么。“我把它称作‘VIP’法则，即眼界、个性及热情。如果所有这些东西在你身上都能找到一些，你就会发现在日后的工作中沟通起来更为容易。”在他看来，什么才是职场头一百天里最应该铭记的头等大事呢？“别去担心你是否能够胜任这份工作。这从来都不是问题。最关键的是人际关系。首要的一点就是考虑人际关系。”

如果你正在考虑换工作或是开始新的职业生涯，你需要了解职场转变周期，伦敦商学院的奈杰尔尼克尔森教授说。他提出，在入职头一百天以及之后的时间里，有四个阶段需要运用特殊战略：

1.准备

了解你即将加入的公司及其企业文化，了解公司的产品/服务以及公司中的重要人物。

2. 体验

开始新的工作后要多倾听，多学习。睁大双眼，多问问题，即使问题显得很蠢，或是你早已知道答案。因为你不会再有可以这样坦诚提问的机会了。

3. 调整

在这个阶段，你的目标是通过改变环境或者自身行为来减少你和企业氛围的差别。

4. 稳定

最后，把那些构成你的新局面、令你成为公司一分子的因素归位——直到你要为下一次换工作做准备为止。