198 APPENDIX The first item on your list should be to thoroughly understand the job in question. For further guidance on researching and understanding your job, please refer back to Chapter 3, Being prepared. 2. making a poor first impression First impressions count. Before you get close to doing any actual work, the first thing you'll be doing is `meeting and greeting' ­ and first impressions are extremely important. Everyone you meet in your first few days will be making initial judgements about you ­ and often on the basis of just a few minutes spent together. Sounds scary? It's not really. It's what you do naturally every day when you meet new people ­ when you go to a party, for example, or out for dinner with friends of friends. So don't put yourself under too much pressure. But do be conscious of the impression you'll be making on others. Make a poor first impression and you might not be able to recover from it. How quickly do you sum up someone you've just met? It's probably just a couple of minutes. Make sure that you make a powerful first impression on everyone you meet today ­ start your new relation- ships off on a positive foot. Start as you mean to go on.