Fast Start - Your First 60 Days

"He tried for a quick hit, and it really backfired on him," Seale says. "His staff was up in arms. They thought he was a tyrant."

Eileen Burke, at Fleet Financial, devised a more flexible 60-day plan before she started work. But a few weeks into her new job, she was asked to help put together a financing deal for an equity firm that was trying to acquire another company. Taking on the project meant putting her own work on hold, but Burke was quick to pitch in.

"I looked at it as a great opportunity to work with people on a highly visible team," she says. "I knew everyone would benefit if I helped them."

Next 60 days: Reboot.

Almost everyone, it seems, falls into one. Sixty days skate by, then 100, and pretty soon, you find yourself in a well-worn rut. To climb out, treat your next 60 days as you would your first 60 days. The same principles that apply to new hires can help veterans to renew and reboot, says Betsy Collard, director of strategic development for the Career Action Center in Cupertino, California.

"You should treat your first 60 days as a blueprint to help you focus on your immediate future," she says. "In the long run, that approach will keep your career healthy." Collard, who has spent the past 18 years providing career-management services at such blue chip high-tech companies as Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems, recommends that you draw up a plan that builds on the 60-day basics: Extend your networking and relationship goals beyond your company to your industry. Let writing your personal job description evolve into writing a plan for your department or team.

"Giving feedback, getting feedback, figuring out your place in the office - it's a continuous process," adds Molly Buchholz. "I'll be working on these things long after my 60 days are up." And that's the point: Whether you're starting a new job or sticking with the job you've got, treat your next 60 days as you would the first 60 days of the rest of your career.

Cheryl Dahle cdahle@fastcompany.com is Fast Company's Web editor.