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30 60 90 Day Plan: What It Is And Examples

By Kristin Kizer
Jan. 19, 2023

Find a Job You Really Want In

Summary. A 30-60-90 day plan is a document written for the first 30,60, and 90 days at a new job that outlines the goals to be accomplished during the first 90 days of employment. When creating a plan, use the job description to find tasks or qualifications that are required to help base your plan around. It’s important to focus and priorities on a few things in your plan during the interview stage.

If you’re serious about achieving your goals, then you might already be familiar with the concept of a 30-60-90 day plan. You can use this approach in just about any area of your life, but it’s especially helpful in the business world.

In this article, we’ll cover what a 30-60-90 day plan is, why it’s important, and how to make one. We’ve also included a template you can use to make your own plan and an example of a completed one.

Key Takeaways

  • A 30-60-90 day plan creates goals for the first 30, 60, and 90 days you’re in a new job.

  • Having a 30-66-90 day plan ready for your job interview shows hiring managers your enthusiasm for the role, your deep understanding of the role, and what you’d bring to the table in the role.

  • Be willing to update and edit your 30-60-90 day plan as you receive feedback from your employer and begin to better understand the position.

30-60-90 Day Plan.

What Is a 30-60-90 Day Plan?

The idea is pretty simple: you have a starting point, which is the first day. Then, you create an idea of where you want to be at the endpoint, the 90th day. To create a 30-60-90 day plan, you break out your goals across those three months to come up with an actionable map that leads to the desired result.

To use one to better your career, you create it before the job interview. Then, when you meet with a prospective employer, you share it with them. This details exactly what they can expect from you and the results you’re committed to achieving.

This will not only completely wow the interviewer, but it’s also something you should already have. Every time you’re considering a new job, along with writing a resume, you should create a 30-60-90 day plan for the position. This will be your strategy document, and it is your customized roadmap to professional success.

The Benefits of a 30-60-90 Day Plan

A 30-60-90 day plan is nothing new, but it’s not often a question you are asked during the interview process. By approaching a new job with this in hand, you’re ahead of the competition in so many ways. One of the big ways you’re making a great impression is by using presupposition. This means you’re already assuming you’ll get the job. In fact, you’re so sure of it, you went through the extra effort to figure out how to succeed. How can an employer turn that down?

There are a lot of additional benefits to a detailed plan:

  • Deeper understanding of the job and what’s required

  • Thoughtful contemplation about how to achieve goals within the position

  • Demonstrates boundless enthusiasm

  • Expresses your knowledge of the role and your expertise

  • Uses out-of-the-box thinking to prompt important interview discussions

  • Puts you in charge of the interview process

  • Displays a work ethic in action before you’re even hired

  • You’ve already proven your value and worth

  • Presupposition has the employer imagining you in the position – have the competition try to top that

How to Create a 30-60-90 Day Plan

So that all sounds wonderful. But it also sounds like a lot of work. And how do you even know what the employer wants from you on day 90? The answer to that question might be more obvious than you realize. Turn to the job description.

  1. Use the Job Description. A good job description will tell you what you’re expected to do. They might not reveal specific goals, but you don’t necessarily need specifics. For instance, let’s say the job description wants someone to manage their social media presence, then one of your goals will be to increase viewership or followers on social media. If the job is for a productivity manager in a factory, you want to streamline productivity and see an increase.

    Now, work through that description with a fine-toothed comb. Pull out all of the tasks it mentions or skills that are required and try to logically determine what they’d like to see from you. You also need to be practical and create goals that you can achieve. You can’t promise more than is possible, or you’re just setting yourself up to fail.

  2. Focus and Priorities. Don’t worry; your plan does not have to be very detailed or specific. Not at the interview phase anyway. You want to zero in on some key areas where you think you can do a good job. This might have to do with the company achieving goals, or it could be you personally achieving goals as an employee. Pull out a few priorities and focus on them.

  3. Pick Your Goals. Most 30-60-90 day plans categorize goals into four different areas:

    • Learning goals. Training can take some time, and it’s difficult. Creating a timeline for learning can help.

    • Performance goals. What are you expected to do at your job, and can you go above and beyond?

    • Initiative goals. How will you take the helm in your position and stand out?

    • Personal goals. Are you integrating into the team and company culture?

    This can be the most challenging part of the plan, but it’s also where you’re going to showcase your work. The goal area will form a significant portion of your final plan.

  4. Support Your Goals. You’ve picked a few goals you think the company wants or you want. The focus is on your learning goals, performance goals, initiative goals, and personal career goals.

    You have spelled out what they are, and now you need to figure out how to get there. Bullet pointing your process is usually the best way to go. You might want to create a list of things that need to happen to hit the goals. Your situation might require steps in order. Whatever the situation, break down your process.

    This is where your individual skills and background can shine. If you have specific experience doing one of the steps, make sure to mention it. Note how you’ve succeeded in the past and explain why that process is a proven winner. You’re better at this than the other candidates; tell them why.

    Note that this area is vital for your purposes; it’s how you will fill in your 30-60-90 day plan. This is the process you’re going to use and break down to get to the results. Try making a worksheet for this step and then plugging in the bullets in the three sections.

  5. The First 30 Days. Finally, we’re getting into the meat of this. It’s important to pick goals and understand how to achieve them before writing this section. Now, you’re heading into a new job, and you’ve got to play it slowly at first. You’ve got onboarding to do, you need to learn the culture, and you don’t want to come across too pushy at first.

    This should be your understanding and baseline phase. You want to learn the ropes in your job. Get an idea of where things stand, what the past productivity was like, and begin to make practical goals. Keeping your plan fluid and flexible is important. Redefining your 30-60-90 day goals, based on on-the-job experience, should be one of your goals.

  6. 60 Days (or the Middle 30 Days). So, you’re pretty familiar with the company, the people, and the process at this point. You’ve got some great goals that are now truly lined up with what your employer desires. It’s time to evaluate. This entire period should be dedicated to evaluating processes, people, customers, etc. It’s time to see what’s working and what isn’t and where there’s room for improvement.

  7. 90 Days (or the Last 30 Days). Your last 30 days of the plan are about implementing the new procedures and beginning to track the improvements or changes.

  8. Create Measurements of Success. Somewhere in your plan, you’ll need to have a way to measure success. This might be something you develop in step one, step two, etc. It can come about at just about any point when you see how to prove and measure success.

Remember that you can create a 30-60-90 day plan for anyone and any job. You don’t have to be a high-level executive with a plan to save the company from bankruptcy. Your goals can be related to learning the job, inside and out. They can be initiative goals and a description of how you’ll step into a position of leadership or value for the company. You can even take this approach into your regular life and create personal goals.

It’s All Part of a SMART Approach

The SMART technique is very popular in business, probably partially because the acronym is so clever. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. If your goals fall within those parameters, they’ll make an excellent addition to your 30-60-90 day plan. In fact, they can even guide the creation in a way that makes it easy to write.

How to Use a 30-60-90 Day Plan

It is often very beneficial to come into a job interview with a 30-60-90 day plan and present it to the interviewer. It shows them how serious you are about the job and that you’ve already got ideas to do it better, or at least to the best of your ability.

You might be interviewing with a hiring manager. If it’s not someone who heads the division or a specific department manager, it’s best to create a leave-behind plan that can be passed on to that person.

A key is not to get defensive about your plan in the interview. Remember, it’s very preliminary as you don’t know much about the company’s ins and outs. Be flexible, versatile, and ready to change directions.

When you have the job – pull out your plan and begin revising it. You might want to show it to your manager along the way. This can help you both to stay on track with their goals and your career goals. Expect to make a lot of changes to it in the beginning. Eventually, it’ll be a perfect guide for getting stuff done.

Template for a 30-60-90 Day Plan

The following is a very basic 30-60-90 day template to help you write your own plan. Yours will get more involved and specific to your career track, but it’s still a useful starting point.

30-60-90 Day Plan

Name ________________________________________
Position_______________________________________
Company _____________________________________

30 Days (Date Range)

Summary of your priorities:

Goals Measurement/Metrics Notes
Learning
Performance
Initiative
Personal

60 Days (Date Range)

Summary of your priorities:

Goals Measurement/Metrics Notes
Learning
Performance
Initiative
Personal

90 Days (Date Range)

Summary of your priorities:

Goals Measurement/Metrics Notes
Learning
Performance
Initiative
Personal

Example of a 30-60-90 Day Plan

Name: Sarah Harrison
Position: Marketing Specialist
Company: ACME Corp.

30 Days (9/2 – 10/2)

Summary of priorities: Learn as much as possible and become adept as possible at my position. Learn the team dynamics and my role as a part of the team.

Goals Measurement/Metrics Notes
Learning Learn regularly used software or apps so well that I could show someone else how to use them. Watch videos or ask for help as needed to accomplish this.
Performance Complete all projects correctly and on time. The bare minimum for the future, but this will take a lot of work and asking questions at first.
Initiative Establish efficient and effective systems for accomplishing regular responsibilities and keeping records. Can always improve systems later, but need to be fully organized and able to find anything.
Personal Have a personal conversation with each member on the team to get to know them and ask what I can do to make their work lives easier. Open door to ongoing conversation and feedback.

60 Days (10/2-11/2)

Summary of priorities:

Become adept at handling more unusual tasks and start contributing ideas and strategies to the team.

Goals Measurement/Metrics Notes
Learning Seek out and complete at least one additional training to fill in knowledge gaps. Read some articles or take some online classes to help me better fulfill my responsibilities to the team.
Performance Contribute (and implement, if approved) five digital marketing strategy or content ideas. Contributing is more important than implementing, as team may have already tried ideas in the past and failed, so they may not let me implement all of them.
Initiative Suggest two ways to make team workflow more efficient. Could be anything from data collection to filing. Be respectful and feel out if suggestions are welcome.
Personal Meet five people I regularly work with outside of the department — in person, if possible.

90 Days (11/2-12/2)

Summary of your priorities: Start contributing even more to the team and be proficient at my daily responsibilities.

Goals Measurement/Metrics Notes
Learning Find and complete one more training to fill in any skills gaps or to grow in an area of expertise. Can be soft or hard skills. Consider asking boss what they’d recommend.
Performance Complete three successful social media ad campaigns. At least set up — doesn’t have to be complete if they run longer than one month.
Initiative Suggest one entirely new marketing initiative. Needs to be well-researched and planned.
Personal Ask for feedback on overall performance from boss and at least one other coworker. And then implement those changes.

30-60-90 Day Plan FAQ

  1. What does a typical 30-60-90 day plan look like?

    A typical 30-60-90 day plan should have a set of objectives for you as a new employee to achieve in your first 30,60, and 90 days at a job. This allows for you to have a smooth transition into the new role and company. This plan should be created with a manager to help set expectations and for them to monitor your progress.

  2. How do you answer interview questions about 30-60-90 a day plan?

    When answering questions about a 30-60090 day plan during an interview, you should first consider your goals and provide examples and be specific on how you would reach them. When considering your goals, write down what you would want to achieve in your first 90 days of the job. The goals will vary depending on the position or industry, but having a set of generic goals will help you have industry specific goals.

    Provide examples of goals that you have had in the past and what you did to reach them. If you don’t have any prior experience to draw from, use a time that you took initiative and learned a new skill.

  3. What should you avoid doing in your first 90 at a job?

    In your first 90 days at a new job, you should avoid faking any knowledge or experience. This is especially important if you are new to the industry or company. Not all companies will have the same policies and procedures so asking questions will show you wanting to learn new things. You should also never assume anything. Assuming can lead to miscommunication and mistakes. Just ask a question if you are unsure about something.

  4. Why should you create a 30-60-90 day plan?

    You should create a 30-60-90 day plan because it helps give you a deeper understanding of the job and what’s required. This is especially important during the interview process because it shows the interviewer that you have enthusiasm and knowledge of the job. It also helps display your work ethic before you are even hired.

References

  1. University of Houston – The 30-60-90 Day Plan: Your Secret Weapon for New Job Success

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Author

Kristin Kizer

Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.

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