A 30-60-90-day plan is the ultimate job interview tool. It makes you stand out from your competition like no other, lets the hiring manager visualize you in the job, and can secure outstanding job offers. The question is, how do you write one up and use it in your job interview?
Writing a 30-60-90-Day Plan
A 30-60-90-day plan outlines your action steps and priorities for your first 3 months on the job. Laying that out demonstrates to the hiring manager that you understand the job and can think critically about it and prioritize what’s important.
The best plans are detailed and specific. In order to do that, you need to think about this job with this company and do some research. (See how to find information for your 30-60-90-day plan here.) Include details that pertain specifically to that company, like the name of the software they use for reports or customer relationship management, for instance.
A job-winning 30-60-90-day plan should have one page for each 30-day section, organized into outline form or bullet points.
30-day Section
The first 30 days of any job usually include things like orientation, meeting co-workers, learning the company systems, getting introduced to big clients, and other things like that.
60-Day Section
The second month usually involves digging deeper into the details, once you’ve got your bearings. You might be meeting less-frequent clients, taking note of issues or potential improvements, or achieving quick wins. You’d definitely be getting feedback on your work so far, and making concrete plans for moving forward.
90-Day Section
The third month should find you up and running full force. You might be going after new clients, evaluating smaller changes you made last month in order to plan bigger ones, or evaluating your staff.
Every job has tasks to complete and problems to solve. The idea is to think about those issues in this job and plan for how you could tackle them.
Using Your Plan in the Interview
When you bring your 30-60-90-day plan to your job interview, you can show it to the hiring manager (your future boss) and go over it with them. You ask questions like, ‘I thought I might do X, Y, and Z first…what do you think?’ This turns your interview into a conversation between professionals and puts you on the same team psychologically. It gives the hiring manager a test drive of what it would be like with you in that role.
Usually the first question I get from job seekers who haven’t used a 30-60-90-day plan is, ‘How can I know details like these yet, and so won’t my plan be wrong?’ My answer is this: Of course your plan won’t be perfect because you’ve never worked there. The hiring manager won’t expect it to be perfect. But you can do your research to create a plan and give it your best effort.
The hiring manager will notice the effort and strategic thinking that went into creating your 30-60-90-day plan and be impressed. When you get feedback from walking them through your plan, you can revise it for your second interview.
A 30-60-90-Day Plan Made Easy
If you’d like to have a jump start for creating your own plan, I have developed a set of complete plans for you. Each plan is laid out with common actions for every job and suggestions for how to customize it for you. Each plan also includes coaching from me on how to personalize it and how to present it in your interview (what to say about it).
See my 30-60-90-Day Plans:
Action Plan (for every white collar job)
Sales Plan (for sales roles)
Manager Plan (for management level roles)
Executive Plan (for executives, Directors, Presidents, C-level roles, VPs, etc.)