First Job Out of College
A survival guide for your first corporate job

Look competent
in your first
ninety days.

Scripts, templates, and the unspoken rules of corporate life — written by someone who spent twenty years figuring them out so you can skip the trial-and-error stage.

Read the blog → What's your Week 1 risk profile? — take the quiz
Stuck on something specific?

Pick the problem you're in.

Eight buckets that map to the real moments of a first job. Click into the one that fits today.

Week 1 → Day 90

Getting set up

13 posts →
1:1s, feedback, asks

Managing your manager

19 posts →
Briefs, decks, output

Doing the work

37 posts →
Meetings, networking

Being in rooms

15 posts →
Raises, bonuses, promo

Money & advancement

11 posts →
Conflict, credit, drama

Hard situations

6 posts →
Foreign hires, culture

Identity & fit

6 posts →
Pivots, MBAs, the long game

Career planning

5 posts →
From the blog

Playbooks for the in-between moments.

One piece a week. Templates, scripts, frameworks — all tested in real jobs.

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New · Reader Q

Readers ask. Mike answers.

Stuck on something at work? The good questions become posts. The weird ones sometimes become better posts. Send yours.

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Browse by topic

Nine pillars. One system.

The whole system, mapped. Start anywhere.

Managing Up

1:1s, expectations, alignment, and the habits that make your manager trust you.

19 posts

Meetings

Agendas, decisions, follow-ups — and how to stop meetings from eating your calendar.

11 posts

Communication

Email/Slack tone, response times, escalation, and writing like a professional.

30 posts

Execution

How to ship work, manage risk, and build a reputation for follow-through.

25 posts

Career Basics

The long game: learning, mentors, networking without being cringe.

18 posts

Compensation

Raises, bonuses, offers, and the conversations that actually move your pay.

9 posts
See all nine topics →
Interactive

Got a scenario? Generate a custom playbook.

Tell us what you're walking into. Get a step-by-step path that cites the right posts and templates.

Try the generator →
Interactive

What's your Week 1 risk profile?

Answer six questions. Get a personalized one-page plan for your first thirty days.

Take the quiz →
About the writer

Mike wrote a book about this. Here's the short version.

Mike Halpert spent twenty years at Google, Walmart E-Commerce, and hyper-growth startups managing teams of new grads — and, eventually, got tired of giving the same advice one coffee at a time. The book, Cubicle To Corner Office, is that advice written down. The blog is where it keeps evolving.

Read the short version of the book →

Cubicle To Corner Office — book cover