30 day business plan for interview

One of the best ways to stand out in your interview is to create a 90-day business plan (also called a 30-60-90-day plan) to show employers how you’ll help them in the first three months on the job.

Having a plan to learn the job and succeed quickly is going to set you apart from other candidates and make you more attractive to employers.

Let’s look at how to create a plan that will land you the job…

How to Create a 90-Day Business Plan for Job Interviews

I recommend splitting your 90-day business plan into three sections: 0-30 days, 30-60 days, and 60-90 days.

So we’ll actually be creating a 30-60-90 day plan.

We’ll divide it into three periods, and you’ll outline different goals and milestones for each of the first three months.

I’ll help you do this below.

If you prefer to lump everything together into a single 90-day period, that’s fine too.

What to Write About in Your 30-60-90 Day Business Plan

In your business plan, you want to show the interviewer the following:

• You understand what the job involves
• You’re capable of quickly learning and performing the job duties
• You’re motivated to learn and do the work
• How you plan on learning and succeeding. Which specific steps will you take to reach your goals?

So let’s look at each 30-day period now, and what should go into each…

The First 30 Days

In the first part of your business plan, you’ll want to focus on training/learning.

The company likely has a training program (if you’re not sure, this is a good question to ask in the interview ).

So what is your plan to make the most of their training, and get up to speed quickly?

This could include reviewing and studying at home each night for the first week, staying 30 minutes late to review what you learned each day, finding a teammate to have lunches with, or finding a fellow new hire to review with (if you’re in a training class with multiple people).

Other things to talk about in the first part of your plan:

• How will you learn about the company’s products/services ?
• If you’re new to this industry, how will you learn the industry/market overall?
• How will you learn this company’s systems and procedures? (They might have an employee booklet you can review, so include some time to review this in the first 30-day period of your business plan.

Your goal in this section is to show them you have a detailed plan and a lot of motivation to learn the basics of the job and understand how they operate quickly.

The Next 30 Days

The next 30 days should focus on how you’ll learn and improve by “doing”.

By now, you should be able to start using what you’ve learned to perform some of the job duties on your own.

You might be interacting with team members, customers, etc. (this will depend on your specific position)

And while learning is still a focus here, you want to show them that you plan on being ready to work hands-on and learn in a real-world environment.

Also, a big part of this section should be getting feedback from your manager to see how you’re progressing.

What is your plan for checking in, receiving and organizing feedback, and using it to improve?

Most new employees wait for their manager to set up a meeting to review their performance…

Show the interviewer that you’re different – that you’ll take initiative and be responsible for this yourself.

Employers love when a job candidate seems proactive and self-starting.

The Final 30 Days

In the final 30 days of your 90-day plan, you want to show the interviewer that you’ll be ready to use everything you’ve learned to work independently.

You’ll be up-to-speed, contributing to the team’s efforts, and not requiring any more supervision/help than anyone else on the team.

You may also want to talk about ways you’ll go above and beyond the basic job duties now.

This could include looking for processes that can be improved, finding new ways to help the company get more customers, etc.

Also, you can still include steps for getting feedback and continuing to improve.

But it should be less of a focus here. The main focus now should be on contributions, independent work, and “taking off” with what you’ve learned.

What will you be able to do for them? What will you be contributing after 90 days?

Using S.M.A.R.T. Goals

When talking about a specific goal or objective in your 90-day job interview plan, try to use SMART goals whenever possible.

SMART goals are:

Saying, “I plan on being very good at serving customers after 90 days,” doesn’t say much.

However, it sounds a lot more impressive if you say something like, “At the 90-day mark, I plan on achieving 120% of the monthly goal for customer service calls taken, and I will achieve a customer satisfaction rating of 98% or greater.”

Using “Learning Goals” and “Performance Goals”

One strategy I’ve seen used very effectively is to divide your main goals for each 30-day period into two different categories: Learning Goals and Performance Goals.

You’ll have more Learning Goals than Performance Goals in the first 30-day period.

Then, as you move through the plan, you’ll gradually shift to having more Performance Goals, and fewer Learning Goals (but still some!)

You can also add one or two personal goals, such as having lunch with one new team member per week, or visiting the gym after work two nights per week to stay healthy.

Don’t worry if this sounds complicated. Coming up soon I’m going to show you a full example of a 90-day plan for your interview, that you can copy. 

And in that sample business plan, you’ll see the three different categories laid out (Learning Goals, Performance Goals, and Personal Goals).

Creating and Formatting Your 90-Day Plan

If you’re comfortable making a good-looking document in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or some other word-processing software, feel free to use that to create your 30-60-90 day business plan.

Otherwise, I’d recommend using Canva.com .

The website has great templates for creating a PDF, and it’s free to use. I use it myself for creating images and PDF guides for this blog .

Make it EASY to Skim and Read

I’d keep the whole document to 1-2 pages maximum.

It’s an outline/presentation, not an essay. 

Try to avoid long paragraphs and giant blocks of text with no spacing.

Make it skimmable and easy to read.

Use headers, bullets, etc.

Here’s a full example of how you might lay out your 90-day plan…

30-60-90 Day Plan Template/Example:

0-30 Days: (Write your main focus and objective here. The priority should be learning and getting up to speed on the basics as quickly as possible. What will you need to learn to perform well in the job, and how will you learn it?) Learning Goals: Learn the company’s entire product offering Study the top 3 competitors’ product offerings to understand strengths/weaknesses Review training manual, and bring any questions to direct supervisor before the end of month 1 Listen to at least 4 sales calls per week with senior team members Learn all industry terminology so I’ll be ready to communicate effectively with prospects and customers Meet with supervisor at the end of each week to discuss progress, questions, and results achieved Performance Goals: Score 100% on the training manual examination on week 3 Personal Goals: Get coffee with each team member before the end of the first month 30-60 Days: (Write your main focus for the next 30 day period here. You should still be learning, but the focus now shifts to taking what you’ve learned and using it in the real world. You want to start doing the work and learning through experience). Learning Goals: Continue listening to 4 sales calls per week with senior team members Find team members to listen to at least 10 of my sales calls per week and provide feedback Meet with supervisor twice per week to ensure I continue learning and progressing as quickly as possible. This will include reviewing my sales call results and the tactics I’m using and working on as I listen to team members Take one free LinkedIn Learning course to improve my sales skills outside of work hours Performance Goals: Conduct a minimum of 12 sales calls per day Convert one sales call per week into a customer Qualify leads and do thorough research of potential clients before calling, so that at least 80% of prospects I speak with are fully-qualified for our products Follow up with each potential prospect/lead within four business days of initial conversation Personal Goals: Have at least two lunches with Supervisors or Team Leaders from other departments to grow my network and better understand how other areas of the organization work. 60-90 Days: (Now you’ll want to show that you’re ready to produce at a high level and be a valuable member of the team. Your learning is never fully done, but this section should talk far less about learning, and really focus on demonstrating what you’ll DO for the employer after 90 days on the job.) Learning Goals: Meet with supervisor once per week to track progress and continue learning sales tactics Performance Goals: Conduct a minimum of 25 outbound sales calls per day Convert 4 sales calls per week into customers Qualify leads and do thorough research of potential clients before calling, so that at least 90% of prospects I speak with are fully-qualified for our products Ask for referrals after each completed sale, and/or after determining a sale is not going to occur. Goal: Obtain five qualified referrals per week and contact each referral within 24 hours. Personal Goals: Join the gym and go every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for one hour minimum.

You can alter this example however you want. This is just one way to set up your 30-60-90 day plan for a job interview.

If you invest the time into creating a plan like this, it will make you stand out and will boost your chances of receiving a job offer.

And once you’ve created a template for yourself, you can re-use it for multiple interviews by changing the basic details to match each job.

How and When to Show Interviewers Your 90-Day Plan

The best time to mention your 90-day plan is at the beginning of the interview.

As you sit down, mention that you brought it by saying something like this:

“By the way – I put together a 90-day plan demonstrating some of the ideas I had for what I could accomplish in the first 3 months in the role. Whenever you think it fits well into the conversation, I’d love to show you some of what I was thinking.”

Now they’re immediately impressed with your preparation and effort, and they can decide whether they want to look at it immediately or discuss your 90-day plan later in the interview.

Either way, you won’t have to constantly think about finding the right to mention it, and you’ll make a fantastic first impression to begin your interview. 

The “Hidden” Benefit of Creating a 30-60-90 Day Plan for Interviews

The steps and free template above involve some work, so you may be thinking, “Is it really worth creating my 30-60-90-day plan for my interview?”

In case you’re on the fence, here’s one of the biggest benefits that you may not have realized.

Creating your plan doesn’t just show hiring managers you’re motivated and ready to hit the ground running.

It also better prepares you for the interview, and for responding to all of the questions that they’re planning on asking you.

You can’t create a 90-day plan without researching the team and company, reviewing the job description, etc.

So you’re going to have a big advantage throughout the interview in terms of showing your new manager that you grasp the role and know what’s needed in the first 30 days, 60 days, and beyond.

You’ll be able to ask better and more unique questions in the interview , too. While other candidates are asking simple questions like, “What is the company’s mission?” or, “What are the typical working hours?” you can ask advanced questions like:

“As mentioned in my 90-day plan, I’d like to be able to contribute <key goal> within the first 60 days. To do that, I’ll need to absorb as much information as possible in my first month. Can you share a bit about what type of training is provided to new hires, and what type of feedback I’d get from my new manager and team as I learn the fundamentals in those first 30 days?”

The bottom line is:

By creating a 90-day plan for your job interview, you’ll not only impress the hiring manager with your effort, but you’ll also be much better prepared for the interview as a whole so that you can land a new job faster.

Employers will see that you’re focused on being a high performer when starting a new job and that you’re already well-informed about the role and their needs and ready to contribute at a high level as soon as you’re hired. This will impress any hiring manager.

About the Author

Read more articles by Biron Clark

4 thoughts on “Free 30-60-90 Day Plan Template for Interviews”

Thanks for the generous guidance. I have a job interview coming and they said they will send me the topic for creating a 30-60-90 plan the day before the interview, but never created one before, so this was very, very useful!

Is there a template please that you have

This is very timely information. I was asked to bring a 90 day plan to my face to face interview later this week. Thank you!!

Hello have you got an example of your presentation x

Comments are closed.

Successful 30-60-90 day plan

Ivan Andreev

Demand Generation & Capture Strategist, Valamis

December 27, 2021 · updated April 2, 2024

17 minute read

A 30-60-90 day plan can help you prove to a new employer that you know your role within a new company. It demonstrates that you understand the position’s responsibilities and are prepared to tackle them, starting on day one.

A successful plan also helps you to better adapt to your new role and work environment.

What is a 30-60-90 day plan?

When to use a 30-60-90 day plan, benefits of a 30-60-90 day plan, 30-60-90 day plan template with example, 30-60-90 day plan example, tips for creating your own 30-60-90 day plan, 30-60-90 day plan tips for executives and managers.

A 30-60-90 day plan is a formalized document containing intents, goals, and actions that a new employee plans to execute to maximize his efficiency in a new role.

A 30-60-90 day plan can be used in any position or company.

For a regular employee, a 30-60-90 day plan is a way to show the interviewer that you know what to do and have a plan for this new role . It is a type of preparation that a prospective employee might opt to create before their interview, or it might be something an interviewer requests applicants to create.

For executive positions, the purpose of the plan is the same, the only difference is the scale of the plan, or the department level that it would apply to. A prospective manager would prepare the plan to show what they will do to succeed in the role.

The plan should demonstrate that new employees are able to set goals that are in line with the company vision.

This plan is ideal for those who are seeking to make a strong positive impression during an interview.

It demonstrates what you will bring to the job, highlights your seriousness about the position, and shows that your goals dovetail with those of the company.

No matter the level of the role, a strong 30-60-90 day plan can be an asset during the interview process.

Regular level employees can show the value that they will bring to the team, and higher level employees can demonstrate how their leadership will create positive effects within their team or department.

Many hiring managers want to see that their new hires are serious about their jobs and career. This plan gives insight into how a new hire plans to fulfill the goals of their new role, their understanding of various processes and how they tackle challenges.

While it is most commonly used for those who are beginning new positions, it can also be used to work on a new project. The same template can be helpful to set actionable goals and achieve them in regards to a new project that you are working on.

Career development plan template

This template helps employees and bosses plan together for career growth: set goals, assess skills, and make a plan.

A 30-60-90 day plan is a helpful tool for both the candidate and the organization.

When a candidate writes a good plan, they demonstrate competency, while potentially impressing hiring managers.

The organization can then use the plan to judge the potential candidate for suitability within the role, department or team.

Here are a few of the benefits of creating one:

1. Increased chances of being hired

Because you will be doing your homework before the interview, it proves that you are a committed team player.

This often impresses your interviewer and can give you a larger chance of being hired.

2. Positive impression on the interviewer

If you are a new employee or a potential hire, a 30-60-90 day plan can show to your employer that you know what you are doing. It demonstrates that you have a plan in place.

Prepare it prior to your interview even if your interviewer doesn’t request one.

3. Smooth onboarding

Starting a new job can be rough sometimes. A 30-60-90 day plan helps you to better integrate yourself into a new team and makes a smoother transition for you.

In creating this plan, you will have to research the role, the tasks you will be assigned, and set out plans for completing them.

In doing so, you’ll be formulating solutions, considering the best plan of attack, and gaining a deeper understanding of the job. This will help set you up for success from day one.

4. Increased productivity

Because you will have a clear goal to work toward in your first 90 days, you have better focus and increased productivity.

Each day, you should know exactly how your tasks fit into the bigger picture of your 30-60-90 day plan.

There are four key areas that should be included in your 30-60-90 day plan:

• Personal goals
• Actions and metrics

In each phase of your plan, you should have something that you are focused on learning.

This might mean meeting with your team to understand their pain points. It might mean learning the ins and outs of your company’s product to make better sales pitches.

Particularly in the first 30 day phase, you should be doing a great deal of learning.

This is part of your plan that should start to take shape. In what areas can you improve performance (either your own or the company’s)?

This should help you to better align your personal responsibilities with the mission of the team you work with.

Start to narrow down what the priority is so that you can better set personal goals in the next section.

This is the best place to mark down exactly what you want to accomplish.

Make sure that you have some insight into your goals and why they are essential to achieve.

This helps to keep your focus clear and doesn’t allow you to lose sight of the company’s mission.

Action and metrics

This is the stage where you determine how you will measure your progress toward your goals.

How will you know when you have achieved a goal? It is important to have specific qualifying action steps behind each one of your goals so that you do not lose momentum.

• If you want to improve your sales pitch, then you might sit in on a sales call with a seasoned salesperson three times this week.
• If you want to reduce the budget, you might have a goal to spend 10 percent less on office supplies.

Whatever your goal is, you need to have an action step associated with it to help you measure your progress.

During the first thirty days in your new position, you spend as much time as possible learning about your company processes, your team, product or the services you sell. This might involve things like:

• Interviewing team members to assess their strengths
• Joining staff on sales calls to learn more about the product or service
• Interviewing customers to learn more about their needs
• Spending time with customer service to determine where your product or services fall short
• Pinpointing current goals and seeing if progress is being made
• Reviewing the budget

Once you have a firm grasp on who you are working with and how you are expected to perform, it is time to implement new aspects of your role.

For regular employees , the focus should be stepping more fully into your role. You have taken the time to learn what that role is, now you should be beginning to deliver results and reaching good working performance.

For higher level employees , like executives or managers, you will start setting new goals for your team. Create goals based on the information you learned during the first thirty days. This is the time for you to share your new goals with the team and start to hold them accountable for the changes.

Regardless of the level of your role, this is a time for you to set goals along with actionable steps you can take to achieve them.

All goals should be specific and measurable. You should also be able to achieve them within a specific timeframe.

TIP: Set a clear metric so you will know when you have achieved each goal.

For example, if your goal is to improve your sales pitch, you might have a metric of observing a more seasoned sales professional in a number of phone calls. You might also have them listen in on a few of your sales calls to offer constructive feedback .

As you move into the first ninety days of your position, you should be ensuring that your performance is in line with company goals and the goals for your specific role.

You should have a solid foundation of knowledge regarding your job, the ability to complete your tasks properly, and an understanding of how your performance helps the organization.

For employees, this is a prime moment to look towards leadership opportunities. Ask yourself ‘what path do I want to take with this organization?’ and begin to set yourself up for that journey. Take initiative and reach out to stakeholders who may be able to help you.

For management level employees, this is when you can start to make bigger changes. Look at the overall picture of your company or department and determine where changes can be made. Ensure that each team member is where they are supposed to be, review the budget, and replace ineffective processes with new ones.

Much like your goals set for the first sixty days, all goals here should still be measurable, time-bound, and specific. While this is bigger picture thinking, each goal should still be realistic and attainable.

While some hiring professionals will come directly out and ask you for a 30-60-90 day plan, many will not.

It is still an excellent idea to create one to show just how you will stand out in the workplace.

As you begin to write this plan, you should ask yourself: What changes would you make and how would you go about your new role in the first ninety days? This will help you create a solid plan that will impress hiring managers.

1. Identify the company’s mission

You can’t create a plan until you have a clear idea of what the company is looking for.

You should spend a great deal of time researching its mission, core values, and any information you can find on its current processes or products.

Each plan should be catered specifically to the culture of the company you are applying to work for.

2. Thoroughly understand the job description

You should tailor your plan to the position that you are applying for instead of overreaching your bounds.

You might have many ideas for the company as a whole, but pay careful attention to the job description.

• What is the role?
• What would your responsibilities be?
• What expectations does the company have?
• Is there a probation period?

3. Explain your plan thoroughly

When you head into an interview, you must prepare a copy of your 30-60-90 day plan.

It can be in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, slides, or paper.

However, you should do more than just slide it across the desk and hope that they understand it. Present it to the interviewer in detail.

4. Don’t be ashamed to brag

Present your plan in great detail.

When you discuss the goals you want to set, it is important to relate these goals to accomplishments you have had in the past.

What have you done that was similar at another company? Focus on your future at this new company but don’t forget about all of the amazing things you have done in the past!

5. Identify your priorities

Setting goals can be challenging if you aren’t aware of your priorities.

Why were you hired for this exact position? Maybe your goal is to solve a specific problem within the team, or perhaps you just need to be the best you can be with your current responsibilities.

Take a few moments to think about the bigger picture of what your job should look like, and then move forward from there.

6. Set measurable goals

All goals that make it onto your list should have a means for you to measure the outcome.

Make sure that you identify how you will measure success on each of the goals that you set.

Try to list quantitative data to support your goals, such as revenue increases, increased website views, and positive customer reviews.

7. Remember to course-correct

Sometimes, starting a new position or project can be overwhelming.

You might set up your plan with the best intentions, but things can change.

If a piece of your plan no longer seems relevant or helpful, it’s okay to have the flexibility to course-correct. Change up your goals if you need to.

8. Don’t be afraid to ask questions

You’ll never get to know your team members or your products unless you are willing to ask good questions.

Spend time with your interviewer or the company representative if they are eager to communicate with you.

Ask any questions you may have about your role and what is expected of you so that you can form clear goals for your plan.

If you are an executive or a manager who has direct reports, your version of a 30-60-90 day plan might look a bit different than a junior employee’s plan.

Here are a few tips to help you get started with your own plan.

1. Take time to learn about direct reports

During your first thirty days, you should be setting aside a large portion of your time to interview your direct reports.

Find out information about them as a person, such as their dreams and goals for their position.

• What are the pain points of their job?
• What barriers are there that stop them from achieving their goals?
• How would they solve those problems?

You should know what their strengths and weaknesses are so that you can see areas where they can improve.

In meeting with each person individually and attentively listening to them, you create a good impression, gain a deep, functional knowledge of your new department, and often will get insight on how to solve these problems.

All of this information can help you to see the current reality of the work environment.

As a new manager or executive, you might be able to help influence change in a way that would boost team morale and productivity.

2. Inform yourself

Consider this step as an extension of the previous one.

Not only should you gather all of the information possible from your recruits, you should spend a lot of time in your first 30 days reading reports, reviewing documentation, talking to other managers, and meeting with higher level executives.

This is the time to ask as many questions as you can, making notes on where you see issues or potential solutions.

3. Create an atmosphere of trust and alignment

During the first 30 days, work to gain the trust of those who will be working under you.

In many organizations, a new manager can represent a threat to how things work, and employees might be resistant to big changes.

You can build this atmosphere by making an effort to get to know them and listening to their thoughts, issues and solutions.

Never diminish the thoughts or opinions of your reports. If you think that they may be wrong, simply ask more questions to better understand their unique point of view. It could be that they are seeing a problem that you don’t.

By working hard at this, you can set yourself up to have a team that trusts that you will be working with their best interests in mind, as well as the organization’s.

4. Identify your strongest employees

By the end of the first 30 days, you should be able to pinpoint who your strongest employees are.

These people will form your A-team, and will be of great service to you.

These are the employees that you will want to include in important projects, as you can depend on them to drive other employees towards reaching their goals.

By having at least a few good employees who you can depend on, you can concentrate more easily on higher level issues, comfortable in the knowledge that your team will be fine without micromanagement.

Through this process, you should also be able to see where skills gaps are in your team, and begin identifying ways to close those gaps.

Plan out ways to invest in your team and grow their strengths.

5. Set SMART goals

Once you enter the second thirty days, it’s time to get some goals down on paper.

You have spent 30 days learning the lay of the land – now you should be in a position to identify issues and solutions.

Upon hiring, you will have been given a solid idea of what the organization expects of you.

After 30 days, you will be able to create actionable goals, begin implementing changes, and really stepping into your role.

6. Review processes

During the second thirty days, you should also be paying close attention to how the processes within your department work.

Often, a fresh set of eyes can see problems – and solutions – to processes that didn’t scale well, are no longer optimized, or otherwise simply don’t work as well as they could.

It is easy to get bogged down with ‘we’ve always done it this way’ and not see how change can be a positive.

As you learn how things are done, and why, you will likely be able to identify better ways of getting things done.

7. Implement changes to meet company goals

You should take everything you learned in the first 60 days, and implement changes in the final 30 days.

• Reduce bottlenecks,
• Implement new processes,
• Introduce new staff or training methods,
• Bring new ideas to achieve better performance.

From the executive level to the day-to-day management of your team or department, you should be leaning in, contributing what you can, asking questions, and generally participating to the best of your ability.

8. Identify your staffing needs

As you enter into your final 30 days, you should have a solid handle on how things are run in your department, and how capable your staff is.

Now is the time to take a close look at your staffing needs and see if they are being met.

• Are there bottlenecks in one department, holding things up for everyone else?
• Are there certain employees that need to take time for training before they can perform up to expectations?
• Could things be made smoother with new hires to help ease the workload?

Look at the short, middle, and long-term goals you have set. Create a hiring plan with those in mind.

9. Conduct regular meetings

Throughout this process, you should be checking in with your team on a regular basis.

You should have weekly meetings with your team to track progress and see how things are progressing on the goals set for the sixty- and ninety-day portions of your plan.

Depending on your work environment, these may be one-on-one meetings or a weekly team gathering.

Figure out what works best for your business, and then make these meetings a mandatory part of the company culture.

Try a 30-60-90 day plan template from Altassian in Trello.

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What is a 30-60-90 day plan?

6 benefits of a 30-60-90 day plan, when to use a 30-60-90 day plan, what to include in a 30-60-90 day plan, 30-60-90 day plan template for managers, 9 tips for creating a 30-60-90 day plan.

"The more I help out, the more successful I become. But I measure success in what it has done for the people around me. That is the real accolade." Adam Grant, organizational psychologist and BetterUp Science Board Advisor 

When it comes to setting your people up for success, a little help goes a long way. How are you setting up your workforce to reach its full potential ? 

Well, if you ask any leader, a lot of it comes down to helping your employees think strategically from the start. It’s beyond finishing a project, solving a problem, or completing the menial, day-to-day tasks.

Of course, the day-to-day duties help to get work done. But it’s also helping your employees connect their day-to-day to the larger purpose of work . Why does that purpose matter? How does their work connect to the organization’s goals, mission, or purpose? 

When I first started at BetterUp, my manager shared a fully fleshed-out spreadsheet and Google document as part of my 30-60-90 day plan. In these resources, there were targets to hit, milestones to reach, and tasks to complete. 

But more importantly than the line items was the sentiment: the strategy behind the 30-60-90 day plan helped to set me up for success. It was that extra mile to help out a new hire that allowed me to onboard successfully to my new role. And it was the help I needed to see the larger vision of how my work connected to organizational success , even if I didn’t fully know it yet. 

When we think about helping others around us be successful, having a plan is critical. In fact, 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they had a good onboarding experience.

Having a roadmap for the first three months can help your employees acclimate to the company culture. It'll also help them ramp up to the role and meaningfully connect with others — and ultimately lead to better performance.  

Sure, the plan might change. After all, we’re in a rapidly changing world where plans are often etched in pencil instead of stamped in pen. But if you’re hiring new employees or onboarding teammates, it’s important to give your workforce a sense of where you want to see them go. 

In this post, we’ll walk through what makes a good 30-60-90 day plan. We’ll also talk about the benefits of a good plan — and even give a template example to help you help your employees. 

First, let’s understand what defines a 30-60-90 day plan. The 30-60-90 plan is a key part of a robust onboarding process . And in remote and hybrid work environments, the onboarding process is more important than ever. It’s critical that in these early days of onboarding, you’re building culture and connection with your new employees. 

A 30-60-90 day plan is a document or resource that outlines the goals and strategies for a new employee within the first 90 days. It serves as a guide, a resource, and a checklist for your new hires.

When a new employee joins your organization, there’s likely a stage of information overload. In the onboarding process, the employee absorbs a lot of information. They might be networking and setting up coffee chats with other employees. They’re probably in a good chunk of training sessions and other sorts of new hire workshops. 

Depending on how your organization runs the onboarding process, your employees are likely trying to ramp up in their new roles. At the same time, they're also soaking in everything they can about the organization. All while your employees are acclimating to the new role, they’re also making connections. Or, at least, they should be.

In short: it’s a lot. It can feel overwhelming to retain all the information a new hire receives. Sometimes, it can lead to confusion or misalignment on overall goals. 

But with a 30-60-90 day plan, you’re able to clearly outline the expectations you have for your employee. As a manager, it’s a useful resource and tool to help keep the onboarding process on track. It can also serve as an accountability tool, one where you can ensure your employees are meeting your expectations. 

Let’s talk more about what benefits come with a clearly outlined 30-60-90 day plan. 

There are plenty of benefits to a 30-60-90 day plan, for both the employer and the employee. Here are six of our favorite benefits to consider. 

• It helps optimize productivity  

It sets clear expectations 

• It helps with goal setting  

It can help alleviate the new job jitters 

It empowers employees to self-manage their work , it serves as a reminder of priorities , it helps optimize productivity .

Ashley Ballard, social media manager, BetterUp, shared why a 30-60-90 day helped their productivity in the first three months of work. 

“I'm someone who benefits from an itemized list of expectations so that I’m not hindering my productivity by feeling anxious about my work product. It also keeps everyone on the same page about the meaning behind your role and how you will directly support team goals.” Ashley Ballard, social media manager  

As you’ll notice in some of these benefits of a 30-60-90 day plan, there’s a lot of overlap in what makes an employee productive. For Ashley, it’s clear expectations, alignment on the role, and clear communication about the priorities at hand. One could argue that all the benefits of a 30-60-90 day plan can contribute to overall increased productivity . 

It doesn’t get much clearer than getting a document of expectations in written form. At BetterUp, our 30-60-90 day plans come with a “checkbox” field to notch once you’ve completed the task at hand. 

Clear expectations can be hard to set, especially at the nebulous start of someone’s employment in a new role. But with a 30-60-90 day plan, you’re able to clearly outline your expectations as a manager. 

It helps with goal setting 

On my 30-60-90 day plan, I had a list of more administrative or mundane tasks. For example, I needed to upload my information into our HR management system. I needed to review the necessary policies and documents. I needed to set my email signature with the appropriate information. 

But it also outlined higher-level objectives. As a marketer and writer, I needed to learn the BetterUp voice, tone, and perspective. My manager clearly outlined blogs and resources that I could read, practice assignments that I could take on, and even some videos to watch. In fact, one of my goals was to write a blog within 30 days. 

Many of the new hire checklist items served as foundational tasks to get to me my goal. And by providing me with all the information at once, I could more easily connect the dots to the “why” behind some of the work I was receiving, too. 

Have you ever started a new job and not really know what you’re supposed to do with yourself? 

In my last job, I attended a half-day new hire orientation . I still remember going back to my desk upstairs, meeting my new manager, sitting down, and logging into my computer. I played around with my systems and got myself set up on my laptop. But after about an hour, I found myself spinning my chair around to my new boss and asking if I could help with anything. 

Frankly, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing with myself. I felt that instant anxiety of not contributing anything meaningful, even though it was just my first day. 

There’s a lot of inherent pressure, stress, and anxiety that comes with starting a new job. New job anxiety is totally normal. It happens to all of us.

No matter how great we felt through the hiring process , on top of the world with our offer letter, as the new kid you can feel at loose ends pretty quickly. You waste time in self-doubt or doing unimportant tasks to look busy and loose confidence and momentum. But one way to help alleviate the jitters your employees are feeling is by giving them a plan. 

Ashley Strahm, content marketing manager, BetterUp, shared why she finds having set milestones in place can help reduce anxiety . 

“I’ve come to experience onboarding as a time where folks are the most hungry, curious, enthusiastic, and eager to please. Having a plan with milestones from the outset means that none of the initial emotions that come with starting a new job overwhelm or cause scattered or inefficient outreach — and anxiety about performance."  Ashley Strahm, content marketing manager

Without a 30-60-90 day plan, you couldn’t possibly have made the connections or digested the right resources to help quell those productivity nerves. And without it, you risk a big loss. Those early days are when new hires have the freshest eyes. It’s the best and most optimal opportunity to ask your new hires to observe and provide feedback. 

I’ve never heard of a manager that wants to hold their employees’ hands through every project. Sure, there are micromanagers who like to stay close to their employees’ work. 

But at BetterUp, we’re big believers in giving employees autonomy to self-manage their work. We talk about this in the context of some of our high-impact behaviors: extreme ownership, bias toward action, craftspersonship, and work to learn. 

Managers also need their time to focus on high-impact work and priorities. So when it comes to onboarding a new employee, it’s not plausible to walk your new hire through everything they need to know. And if you were to do so, it certainly wouldn't set them up for success. 

A 30-60-90 day plan empowers your employees to self-manage their work. By leveraging a 30-60-90 day plan as part of your onboarding strategy, you’re giving your employees autonomy to build their own schedules. It helps give them the roadmap but how they get to the final destination is up to them. 

Hand-in-hand with self-management comes managing priorities. We all know that work is busy. As your employees become more acclimated to the role, it’s likely their workload is gradually increasing. 

But with a 30-60-90 day plan, your employees are reminded of their priorities. And it’s on your employees to manage their priorities effectively, which is a good life and work muscle to flex. 

So, you might be wondering when to use a 30-60-90 day plan. When is it most effective? What situations will it have the most impact? Let’s dig in. 

30-60-90 day plan for an interview 

Job seekers, this is for you. If you want to knock the socks off a potential employer, consider putting together a 30-60-90 day plan for your interview. Even if it’s just an informational interview , you can show how you’d approach your first 90 days on the job. 

For example, let’s say you’re interviewing for a sales position. From the job description and from your informational interview, you know what markets you’ll be focused on. You also know about some target accounts and have a good sense of the industry.

While you might not know exactly what you are going to be doing, you have a good idea. You’ve worked in software sales for a while, enough to know how to approach breaking into a new market. 

So, you decide to come up with a proposed 30-60-90 day plan. You put together a rough sketch in a Google sheet about what you would focus on in your new role . 

30-60-90 day plan for a new job

More commonly, 30-60-90 day plans are used in the onboarding process. This is useful for both hiring managers and employees. For example, at BetterUp, I received my 30-60-90 day plan on my first day of employment. It helped to set expectations about what I would be focused on for the next three months. 

But some companies also use 30-60-90 day plans for things like performance reviews or even lateral moves within the organization. You can also use 30-60-90 day plans for project-based initiatives. 

First, it’s important to understand that 30-60-90 day plans should be personalized based on the employee. For example, a new employee in an entry-level position will probably have a radically different plan than that of a new executive. 

And 30-60-90 day plans for managers are going to look different than plans for individual contributors. There are nuances to these sorts of plans because of job responsibilities, work goals , expectations, and experience. 

But generally speaking, we can outline four key components of a 30-60-90 day plan. 

Expectations and concrete goals 

Go-to resources and information .

• New hire checklist or to-do list  
• Company mission, culture, the purpose of work  

Every 30-60-90 day plan should have clear expectations and concrete goals. As a manager, it’s important to clearly communicate the expectations you have for your employees. For example, my manager has created a couple of documents that very clearly outline the expectations of her employees. 

Oftentimes, expectations serve as the foundation for your working relationships. As part of my 30-60-90 day plan, my manager also asked about my expectations. In a lot of ways, it’s a two-way street.

I filled out a document that outlined my preferred working style, my communication style, and how I  resolve conflict . It helped both parties to essentially get a good sense of how the other works. 

Along the same vein of expectations are goals. My manager expressed some clear goals that she wanted me to reach within my first 90 days. But I also had the opportunity to think about my own personal goals and what I wanted to accomplish.

Together, we iterated on the plan to come up with an action plan. Some of these goals can ladder up to other big milestones that you’d like to have your employees reach along the way. 

The world of work is a complex one. Especially in today’s day and age, there’s a lot of information that’s probably changing rapidly. 

For example, is your workforce hybrid or remote? What sort of COVID-19 guidelines are in place? How do you submit your expense reports or ask for time off? What systems does your organization use for benefits ? What employee resource groups or culture programs does your organization have? 

A 30-60-90 day plan is a good one-stop-shop for all the resources your new hire will need. It’s a great reference and resources with a wealth of information (and can help your employee become more self-sufficient, too). 

New hire checklist or to-do list 

When an employee joins a company, there are a lot of “tasks” that need to be done. For example, I needed to enroll in my benefits and 401K. I needed to upload my personal contact information into our human resources management system. I needed to upload my Slack photo and put my preferred pronouns on my email signature and Slack profile. 

A 30-60-90 day plan is a great place for all of the one-off tasks that every new hire needs to complete. It also helps keep your employees on track with all the administrative and HR tasks needed within the first couple of months of employment. 

Company mission, culture, and purpose of work 

Last but certainly not least, your employees need to understand the purpose of work. This likely won’t “click” fully in the first 30 (or even 90) days. But it’s important to start drawing connections between their work and the company’s vision early on. 

In a recent Forbes article, Great Place to Work® released new data around employee retention . One of the top drivers? Purpose. In fact, employees at top-rated workplaces in the US reported that if they feel their work has a purpose , their intent to stay at said companies triples.

Don’t dismiss the role that purpose plays in your organization. At BetterUp, we’re on a mission to help everyone everywhere live with greater purpose, clarity, and passion . This can only happen if employees understand their purpose and the role of their work in the company’s mission. 

We’ve created a free draft 30-60-90 day plan template to use for managers. Access the draft template and start using it today. 

30-60-90 day plan for interviews

As mentioned earlier, there are some situations where an employee may prepare a 30-60-90 day plan as part of an interview. Or, perhaps as part of your company’s hiring process, you ask job applicants to put together their plans. 

With these elements, you’ll be sure the candidate is ready to hit the ground running. Here are some key components you should look for in a job applicant’s 30-60-90 day plan: 

• Short-term goals (generally achievable, time-bound goals)
• Long-term goals (that are also measurable goals)   
• Establishing metrics for success 
• Outlined priorities (especially for the first week) 
• Learning new processes 
• Meeting the new team and team members 
• Any learning goals (or professional development goals ) 

Of course, your 30-60-90 day play is going to be catered to each individual. We’re all human with different responsibilities needed. Keep these nine tips in mind as you put together your 30-60-90 day plans. 

• Set SMART goals  
• Consider what you want your employee to prioritize 
• Encourage professional development  
• Encourage reflection time 
• Outline goals into months: first month, second month, third month 
• Ask for input from your employees and direct reports 
• Promote ongoing learning about the company culture and purpose 
• Adjust (and readjust) as needed 
• Follow-up on the progress 

You can always work with a coach to help outline what might be needed in your 30-60-90 day plan. A coach will have a wealth of experience in the field and an objective, third-party perspective. With guidance from BetterUp, you can ensure you’re setting up your people for success.

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Madeline Miles

Madeline is a writer, communicator, and storyteller who is passionate about using words to help drive positive change. She holds a bachelor's in English Creative Writing and Communication Studies and lives in Denver, Colorado. In her spare time, she's usually somewhere outside (preferably in the mountains) — and enjoys poetry and fiction.

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Free 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Templates and Samples

By Joe Weller | September 4, 2020

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In this article, we’ve compiled a variety of useful 30-60-90-day business plan templates. Download them in PDF, Word, and Excel formats for free.

On this page, you’ll find a one-page 30-60-90-day business plan template , a sample 30-60-90-day business plan for startups , a sample 90-day business plan template with timeline , and more that you can use to develop an actionable plan.

Simple 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Template

Use this simple 30-60-90-day business plan template to map out main goals and deliverables. You can easily break down your high-level plan into bite-sized chunks to create an effective roadmap for accomplishing business goals. Add key tasks and descriptions, assign ownership, and enter deadlines to keep plans on track.

Download Simple 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Template

Word | PDF | Smartsheet

One-Page 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Template

Document key goals and tasks with this single-page 30-60-90-day business plan template. This template can help you create a high-level view of main business objectives and track the status of your goals in an organized and scannable manner. 

Download One-Page 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Template

Word | PDF  | Smartsheet

Sample 30-60-90-Day Business Plan for Startup 

Use this sample 30-60-90-day plan as a basis to build out and develop your organization’s startup business plan. This template enables you to produce and implement a plan of action — from idea conception to business plan finalization. There is also space to detail main goals and deliverables, assign task ownership, and set due dates to ensure your plan stays on track.

‌Download Sample 30-60-90-Day Business Plan for Startup Template 

Sample 90-Day Business Plan Template with Timeline

This sample 90-day business plan template is customizable and doubles as an action plan and timeline so you can track progress in 30-day increments. Easily break your plan into phases, then add key tasks, task ownership, and dates for each activity. You can also fill in and color-code the cells according to the respective start and end dates to create a visual timeline. 

Download Sample 90-Day Business Plan Template with Timeline - Excel

30-60-90-Day Business Plan to Increase Sales (With Gantt Chart)

Use this template to develop a 90-day action plan to increase sales for your business. This customizable template is designed to help you reevaluate and improve your sales strategy and business plan. Broken up into 30-day increments, this template comes pre-filled with actionable tasks, like defining and prioritizing goals, conducting market research, evaluating current processes, finding untapped opportunities, and refining your sales plan to reach sales goals.

Download 30-60-90-Day Business Plan to Increase Sales

Excel | Smartsheet

For additional resources to create and enhance the sales plan portion of your business plan, visit “ All about Sales Plans: Definitions, Tips, and Free Templates .”

30-60-90-Day Business Plan for Marketing

This 30-60-90-day business plan for marketing features a simple and scannable design to help stakeholders track the progress of key marketing goals and activities. Use this customizable template to provide an overview of main objectives and the status of tasks you need to complete.

Download 30-60-90-Day Business Plan for Marketing

Excel | Word | PDF

For additional resources to help develop the marketing plan portion of your business plan, view “ Free Marketing Plan Templates, Examples, and a Comprehensive Guide .”

Purpose of a 30-60-90-Day Business Plan

Unlike a 30-60-90-day plan used to interview for or transition into a new role, a 30-60-90-day business plan is a useful document for developing a roadmap covering the first 90 days of your business planning process.  

Small-business owners, entrepreneurs, and established organizations use a 30-60-90-day business plan to do the following: 

• Establish high-level goals, objectives, and deliverables for the first 30, 60, and 90 days.
• Align your team’s goals with overarching business goals.
• Outline key business activities needed to accomplish the established goals.
• Determine the necessary resources to effectively complete the tasks.
• Define success metrics.
• Assign activity ownership, define milestones, and create a timeline to keep the plan on track.

Looking for additional resources to help you develop your business plan? Visit the following pages for more free templates:

Simple Business Plan Templates

One-Page Business Plan Templates

Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Templates

Business Plan Templates for Startups

Business Plan Templates for Nonprofits

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Home Blog Business Crafting an Effective 30-60-90 Day Plan for Job Interviews: Examples + Templates

Crafting an Effective 30-60-90 Day Plan for Job Interviews: Examples + Templates

Some job interviews entail making or presenting a plan to show what can the new recruit offer the organization once he/she is hired. Depending upon the job title, there are various types of plans that one might require making such as perhaps a communications plan or project plan. However, the most common plan one might require making is a 30 60 90 day plan .

What is a 30 60 90 Day Plan?

Benefits for job applicants, benefits for employers, when to use a 30-60-90 day plan, key elements of a job interview 30-60-90 day plan, 30 days – learning phase, 60 days – evaluation phase, 90 days – optimize, start with an introduction, the first 30 days – learning goals, the first 60 days – initiative goals, the first 90 days – transformation goals, timeline & scorecard, make it readable, set smart goals, identify the company’s mission, meet the key stakeholders, be flexible.

• Determine How You Will Measure Success

Mintzberg’s 5Ps

Addie model, final words, 30 60 90 day plan templates for powerpoint.

Some employers ask candidates to present a 30-60-90 day plan. This helps employers understand the candidate’s skills, ability to create and manage measurable goals, foresight and willingness to be accountable for his/her work. The plan includes a roadmap to how the candidate aims to learn, add value and play a transformational role within the organization.

Source: 30-60-90 Day Plan PowerPoint template

Organizations usually expect candidates to not only put in an effort to understand and evaluate the organization, projects and working environment; but to also add value, optimize procedures and bring positive change.

Benefits of Creating a 30 60 90 Day Plan

Whether your employer has asked for a 30 60 90 day plan or you take one along without any prior request from the potential employer, there can be a number of benefits for making such a plan. Similarly, the employer can better screen candidates if they ask for a 30 60 90 day plan.

Clarity in Job Expectations

One of the benefits of making a 30 60 90 day plan is that it provides clarity regarding what you might want from the new job. Furthermore, by dwelling into specifics of the advertised job description, you can also better understand the nature of the job and what you might have to offer to your potential employer.

If you’re someone rather new in your career or at an intermediate stage, making 30 60 90 day plans when trying to move up the career ladder can also be a way to sharpen your skills. You can see it as a tool that improves performance and productivity in the long run.

Better Preparation for a Job Interview

By making a 30 60 90 day plan, you can better prepare for a job interview. Many candidates can make the mistake of not paying attention to the job descriptions for dozens of jobs they might apply for. Once they receive an interview call, it can be tempting to skip the fine details. This is where you can fail during a job interview. Many times, it’s not the tough questions that can ruin your job prospects but a simple question that you failed to prepare for.

A Reflection of Professionalism

Some job applications create a 30 60 90 day plan even if the employer has not asked for it. This shows intent and determination, where a potential candidate has taken the time to better understand the job role and provide practical suggestions. Such an approach can make your potential employer see that you aren’t coming in with a casual approach. It also reflects on your professionalism in a positive way and can help you score some extra points.

Helps Thoroughly Screen Candidates

Many candidates can be good at expressing their views but not all that good at implementing action plans. A 30 60 90 day plan template can help employers screen candidates more closely by analyzing the candidate’s capabilities and asking tough questions.

Enables Gauging the Experience of Candidates

When a potential candidate presents a 30 60 90 day plan , it’s not just a reflection of his/her ideas but also a reflection of the experience and expertise they bring along. Some candidates might be suitable based on their expertise and experience for the job compared to others. For example, when choosing between two candidates for social mobilization of rural communities, one might have experience working with large organizations, but the other candidate might be more suitable based on his/her expertise at the grassroots level. Such a distinction might mean the difference between someone who is more in touch with the environment he/she needs to work in compared to the other.

Can Help Attract Better Candidates

Arguably, asking for a 30 60 90 day plan can help weed out candidates with a casual approach who might not even want to put in the time to make such a plan. Such candidates might not even apply for the position, leaving room for better candidates.

30/60/90 plans are often required at the time of job interviews and after an employee joins an organization. Such a plan is a reflection of how the employee intends to move forward during the first 90 days at the job, including how he/she shall learn, adapt, and perform at the workplace.

To put it in a nutshell, you should create a 30 60 90 day plan when applying for a job and it is quite likely you will need one when starting your new job. However, as mentioned earlier, even if the employer hasn’t asked for one, you can always create and bring along such a plan, be it a simple document or PowerPoint presentation. This is because such a move will give you clarity in your job role, will help you plan better for the job interview, and might even help you win a few extra points.

We also recommend you to read: The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels by Michael D. Watkins to get some insight into how a 90 days plan can lead to success at the workplace. The book reflects upon leadership and career transitions. Joining a new job with a better salary and a few extra perks should not ideally be a goal. Negotiating with your new employer, moving up the career ladder, and ensuring success at the workplace requires leadership skills, your ability to bargain with your employer, team, and external stakeholders, is equally important.

How to Create a 30 60 90 Day Plan for a Job Interview?

If you have a job interview where you might require using a PowerPoint presentation to reveal your 30-60-90 day plan, you should focus on the key elements of the plan.

The key elements of a 30-60-90 day plan for a job interview entail understanding processes, people, procedures, products and competition, evaluating processes and provide an action plan for optimization and transformation within the organization.

The first 30 days entail the learning phase, where you must understand the processes, procedures, your team, product and the competition.

Process, People and Procedure

The first 30 days are to get acquainted with your new job. The objective is to understand the team, processes and procedures. Understanding how things work within the organization would be key to moving things forward. Many project managers can become disconnected from company processes and their own team, leading to bad decisions and subordinate resentment. During your job interview don’t try to show that you know everything, since everyone needs to learn about the new company before they can take meaningful steps.

Product and Competition

During the first 30 days you will also be required to understand the product or service, its key features, the clientele and how competitors might be a threat to it.

As evident from the aforementioned, the first 30 days, therefore, are all about learning the basics, followed by the next 30 days where you would move forward to the evaluation phase.

Evaluate Current Processes

The next 30 days (60 days) will include assessing current processes to understand how things work and to identify room for improvement. You might want to create a SWOT analysis to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This will also help you allocate resources in the best possible manner to optimize your impact.

Evaluate Changes

Once you have evaluated processes, you now must try to evaluate grounds for bringing meaningful change. For example, you can identify cost-saving initiatives, methods for reducing waste, improving processes, lower per unit cost, etc. During this time, you would also be acquainted with the team (during the first 30 days) to determine what kind of change might be rational and what changes might lead to employee resentment and a possible backlash.

The next 30 days (90 days) would conclude 3 months, which is also usually the probation period for employees. This is the time when you need to deliver, or you might find yourself looking for a new job. If you set out with SMART goals, you should be fine during this time.

Initiate Action Plan

Based on your specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound (SMART) goals, you will require initiating your action plan. This will be a detailed plan with timelines and a scorecard to measure the success of your strategies.

Implement New Strategies and Procedures

During the last 30 days of the 30-60-90 day plan, you should start rolling out your new strategies and procedures. For example, a new process might be rolled out during this time or initiatives to cut costs and improve efficiency might be initiated.

Practical Example: How to Create a 30-60-90 Day Presentation for a Job Interview?

Now that we have discussed the basics of a 30-60-90 day plan, let’s take a look at how to create a 30-60-90 day plan example presentation to show your potential employer how you intend to add value and improve the processes, procedures, and project delivery.

There is no point jumping right into the topic. You should start with a brief introduction of the topic at hand and explain what the plan is about. This is the section of the presentation that starts with a brief explanation of the topic.

You should incorporate your goals within your presentation, starting with the learning phase or the first 30 days. You should briefly explain how you intend to learn about the processes, procedures, people and corporate culture, product or service and the competition to evaluate room for improvement. If you don’t have a lot of information regarding the organization, you can create sample goals based on hypothetical examples.

Many people can end up joining a job and thinking they have made a mistake. You need to have absolute clarity that the new job is something you are interested in, are looking to take the initiative to move forward with and can add value to the organization. Speak with clarity regarding your goals and if necessary, use hypothetical examples to give an example of what you might bring to the table.

You can also discuss strategies used by competitor organizations and even present a SWOT analysis in your presentation. Your information during this time might be limited regarding the organization, since you are unlikely to know specifics. But that’s alright, since employers expect the candidate to put in an effort in their plan and not know everything regarding the organization at the time of the job interview.

Based on the learning phase (first 30 days), you must set goals for taking initiative. As mentioned earlier, this is the evaluation phase where you would look for bringing changes to processes, procedures and perhaps team orientation to set out an outline for what might be rationally achievable. You can set SMART goals with indicators in the form of a scorecard for this purpose.

This part of your First 90 Days in a New Job presentation will focus on the change you intend to bring and the way you ensure it. You can explain how you intend to integrate your team with your organizational mission, vision, core values and bring improvement to existing processes, procedures and methods. You can also refer to a SWOT analysis to explain how your methods might be the right way forward for the organization. For example, in case the company is facing declining sales, you can incorporate a plan for improving market share, competing more effectively against competitors who pose a threat to the business and how you intend to capitalize on available opportunities (e.g. brand goodwill or making better use of existing marketing resources).

Make sure that you incorporate a timeline and scorecard in your 30-60-90-day presentation. This will allow your potential employer to assess your capability of organizing your goals and get an overview of what your plan might look like at a glance. The scorecard will enable you to show how you intend to measure success and achieve your goals. This will help give a positive impression regarding your capabilities and clear out any possible confusion that your audience might have regarding your plan.

Tips for Making Your First 90 Days in a New Job Presentation

Making a plan for your first 90 days in a new job presentation is too complicated might confuse your potential employer. One of the key aspects of making a robust 90 days plan is that it should be easy to understand. Try to keep the layout of the plan easy enough for your audience to understand and pay special emphasis on legibility. If it’s a document, use standard fonts. If you need to present your plan, do away with flashy templates and over-the-top animations and try to keep the layout easy to read and simple enough to present. And of course, avoid death by PowerPoint.

It goes without saying that the goals you set out should be SMART, i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. You can analyze your goals once your plan is complete to ensure that they comply with SMART goals . Since this is a 90 days plan, you should try to focus on goals that are based primarily on the first 90 days, even if you plan to discuss a few long-term goals. You can also use a template that can help you easily layout your plan in the form of PowerPoint slides. For more information, we also recommend our section of SMART goals templates .

To create a 30/60/90 plan that is well received, you should ensure that your plan is in line with the company’s vision and mission. You can do a bit of research regarding that prior to your job interview. If you are making a plan after being hired, it is even more critical to ensure you don’t make a plan that can end up colliding with the corporate culture of the organization. To ensure this, you need to better understand the vision and mission statements of the company and any other frameworks they might have in place related to them.  

While it’s unlikely that you will be able to meet the key stakeholders at the time of the job interview, when making a 90 days plan after joining a job, you can meet the key stakeholders to help refine your plan. This would include both internal and external stakeholders such as peers, senior management, line managers, vendors, partner organizations, etc.

While you might think you have a robust 30 60 90 day plan. It isn’t necessarily going to be perfect for your potential employer. You need to leave room for flexibility and adapt to potential challenges and suggested changes. Be it at a job interview or when making a plan after being hired, you need to ensure your plan isn’t rigid and can be adapted to unforeseen circumstances.

Determine How You Will Measure Success Example

To measure success, you will require adding a few KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). For example, if you are hired as a communications expert in the development sector, you will be required to elaborate upon how you can use digital technology to benefit the organization. Are you looking to overhaul the company’s social media presence? Are you looking to change the website design of the company website with a responsive UI? Do you plan to reach a specific number of targeted beneficiaries under a human development program using digital technology? Your KPIs should be in line with your SMART goals and should be realistically achievable during the laid-out timeline.

Alternatives to 30-60-90 Day Plans

There are a few alternatives to the 30-60-90 day plan. Let’s briefly take a look at a few 30-60-90 day alternatives.

Mintzberg 5Ps have been around since 1987. These 5Ps were the brainchild of Henry Mintzberg and include; Plan, Ploy, Pattern, Position and Perspective. These 5Ps serve as a roadmap for making a business strategy to make the most out of an organization’s strengths.

ADDIE stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Being an Instructional Systems Design framework, the ADDIE model is used by instructional designers and training developers for developing courses.

Source: ADDIE Model PowerPoint template by SlideModel

The GROW Model is used by executive coaches. The model is meant for setting goals and problem-solving . The model can be understood simply by its name, which stands for Goal, Reality, Obstacles, Options and Way Forward.

Even if you are not asked to bring a 30-60-90 day plan, it might not be a bad idea to bring along one to improve your chances of scoring a job. A 30-60-90 day plan is essentially meant to assess the capabilities of a potential employee and what change he/she might bring to an organization. When making such a plan for a job interview, you should gather as much information regarding the organization as possible. You should also look into competitors, weaknesses in procedures, financial outlook of the organization, etc. This information is usually available on the organization’s website, via news articles and from companies dealing with trends related to the industry.

Your 30-60-90 day plan needs to be rational, with SMART goals and measurable success. You should not jump to conclusions but rather focus on rational approaches which might be implemented should you get the job. You should also account for aspects like a rigid corporate culture, possible non-cooperation of coworkers and procedures which might make it hard to implement your goals. In such a case you can mention pre-conditions for your 30-60-90 day plan to be successful. This is because many such plans can fail due to the bad working environment prevalent in particularly large organizations, where petty politics and slow procedures can be the bane of newly hired employees looking to implement strategies which might otherwise look rational.

If you are looking to create a professional plan for your new job interview, check out our 30 60 90 Day Plan Templates .

1. Free 30 60 90 Day Plan PowerPoint Template

Free 30 60 90 Day Plan PowerPoint Template is a 3-slide presentation for planning presentations. You can utilize slides of 30, 60, and 90 days planning to visualize goals and set realistic deadlines. Together, you can present a strategy for success in the first 90 days on job or a new project.

Use This Template

2. 30-60-90 Days Plan PowerPoint Template

This is our most popular 30 60 90 Day Plan Template for PowerPoint, the most recognized by jobseekers and expected by employers. This is a powerful tool in the final stages of a job interview process.

3. Simple 30 60 90 Day PowerPoint Template

The Simple 30-60-90 Day Plan Template for PowerPoint is an infographic layout of business and management concepts. This tool helps recruitment officers to analyze candidate’s interpersonal skills, clear understanding of job descriptions, and passion for work.

4. 100-Day Plan PowerPoint Template

The 100-Day Plan Template is a timeline and planning presentation. This template includes 5 slides of colorful diagram design. This template also includes a Gantt chart format of time scheduling for management plans.

5. 30-60-90 Day Planning Template for PowerPoint

The 30-60-90 Day Planning Template for PowerPoint is a strategy and planning concept presentation. The timeline of days is represented by a blue ruler shape containing entries of days instead of centimeters. The circular shapes give an effect of a magnifying glass on 30 – 60 – 90 day milestones.

6. 30-60-90-120 Day Plan Slides for PowerPoint

The 30-60-90-120 Day Plan Slides for PowerPoint is a tabular layout to present an action plan in any managerial capacity. It is a one-step further to 30-60-90 day plan to map project goals and deliverables within four milestones, including the 120 day plan option.

7. 30-60-90 Day Plan Slides for PowerPoint

The 30-60-90 Day Plan Slides for PowerPoint is a business planning template to map out main goals. In terms of 30, 60, and 90 days, you can highlight the deliverable of a project, operation, or job. Business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs use a 30-60-90 day roadmap template to highlight the company’s course of action.

8. 90 Day Plan Template Slides for PowerPoint

The 90 Day Plan Template Slides for PowerPoint illustrate a line gauge of tens. It is a timeline & planning PowerPoint template for all types of industry strategies. The concept can be applied to projects for organizing and prioritizing processes.

9. 90-Day Plan PowerPoint Template

The 90-Day Plan PowerPoint Template is a planning presentation tool used by business professionals. This template lets users personalize their 30-60-90 days plan of success for executive meetings. New managers and leaders use the 90-day plan template to showcase their first 30, 60, 90 days plan on a new job.

10. 30-60-90 Day Planning PowerPoint Template

This 30 60 90 day plan template is a clear example of how to generate a planning in three simple steps. This template is 100% editable, allowing the user to customize the content and visual appearance.

11. 30 60 90 Days Plan Timeline Template

The 30 60 90 Days Plan Timeline Template is a very useful template for project management. It will allow you to present your 30 60 90 day plan with a weekly planning of each task and a specific Gantt chart generating a clear roadmap.

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30-60-90, Interview, Planning, Strategy Filed under Business

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30-60-90 Day Plan: A Guide (With Templates)

Here’s how to make a 30-60-90 day plan that will set employees up for success in their new roles.

A 30-60-90 day plan is essential for onboarding effectively at any company, as it help outlines expectations for an employee to meet when entering a new job.

30-60-90 Day Plan Definition

A 30-60-90 day plan is a document that guides an employee on the expectations and goals they should be striving for during the first 30, 60 and 90 days on the job.

Whether you’re starting a new job, or you’re a manager bringing a new employee onboard, we’ve compiled a comprehensive set of tips to create 30-60-90 day plans that will support successful onboarding .

What Is a 30-60-90 Day Plan?

A 30-60-90 day plan is a document that guides an employee on the expectations and goals they should meet during the first 30, 60 and 90 days on the job. Typically provided for new employees on or before their first day of work, they are a common component of companies’ onboarding processes, as they’re used to set up a new employee for success right away. 

The plan “needs to be some kind of structure that you mutually agree on, a structure that is outcome-focused and that helps people go towards maximizing their contribution to your company as fast as possible,” Rik Haandrikman, vice president of growth at Bitrise , told Built In. “Without a plan, it’s a mess, and 30-60-90 days works.” 

At Bitrise, 30-60-90 day plans tend to be pretty high level, with a few bullet points for each milestone. The first 30 days are all about understanding the context of the business. At the 60 days, employees should be proposing concrete steps to reach an outcome, and by day 90, the company wants to start seeing deliverables.

30-60-90 day plans can also be shaped by both a manager and the employee to fit mutual needs. This is where a manager provides overall support and makes sure company-wide tasks and department-specific KPIs are covered, but leaves enough room for the employee to set their own goals too.

These plans can be so flexible that some companies, like  Instawork , even use a 14-30-60 day plan. “It’s really important to get things going quickly,” said Sumir Meghani, co-founder and CEO of Instawork. 

Adriana Roche, chief people officer at Mural , suggests managers have a 30-60-90 day plan ready for a new employee but to sit down with them to discuss and modify the plan as needed.

“The important thing is that you fill this out before the person starts. So on day one, you sit down with them, and you walk them through this journey,” Roche said. “The person feels like they’ve co-created their onboarding versus just having something handed to them.”

Benefits of a 30-60-90 Day Plan

Makes employee onboarding structured and approachable.

30-60-90 day plans are a digestible way to help an employee transition into their role smoothly, have a vision for their position and not feel too overwhelmed. 

“We’re just trying to distill [work] down to something that’s achievable in the foreseeable future. Most people can get their heads around three months,’” David Ciccarelli, CEO of Voices , told Built In.

Boosts Employee Confidence and Sense of Belonging

These plans can give employees a consistent introduction to the company and help them feel confident about joining.

“If you do it well, you create a sense of cohesion with the people, so creating a sense of belonging, and then getting people ramped up as quickly as possible.” Roche said. “They’re going to feel much more engaged because they’re feeling like they’re having an impact from the get-go.”

Useful for Transitions Into New Roles or After Leaves

30-60-90 plans don’t have to be just for new employees, Ciccarelli said. You can use them to help someone transition into a new role or acclimate again after a leave .

“Any kind of re-entry, the 30-60-90 day plan is a great level set,” Ciccarelli noted. “In consideration of a promotion, that actually is much more meaningful because somebody has the context of what are the big objectives of the year.”

More on Onboarding How 15 Companies Nail The Employee Onboarding Process

To make a 30-60-90 day plan, it’s helpful to know common goals associated with each major milestone. Here’s what you can expect to accomplish or see from employees 30, 60 and 90 days into a new job.

30 Days Into a 30-60-90 Day Plan

Complete common onboarding tasks.

The first 30 days in a new job should be all about creating a foundation of knowledge before diving in head first. These types of tasks can include:

• Reading company handbooks and guides.
• Learning company culture and history.
• Learning company processes around benefits, requesting time off, etc.
• Gaining access to and learning how to use tools and systems (email, chat, software tools).
• Attending coffee chats or onboarding sessions offered by your company.

Meet Managers, Team Members and Collaborators

At many companies, part of onboarding can look like having 15- to 30-minute one-on-one meetings with team members or collaborators. It’s especially important to meet with your manager on the first or second day of a new job to discuss what their expectations are. 

“The list of people your manager is getting you to talk to, those are your performance review people,” said Alexandria “Lexi B.” Butler, who has worked in tech for several years and is the founder of Sista Circle: Black Women in Tech . “Literally your manager is telling you, these are the people that I will talk to to see if you get a raise.”

New hires will want to ask their coworkers about what they do, how their jobs impact one another and their overall thoughts on company culture and processes.  

Some companies have a buddy system for new employees, where they can get to know someone else at the company who they can go to for guidance that isn’t their direct manager.

“We make sure that we also have a peer onboarding partner, so really having a buddy with somebody, a safe space where you can ask those questions that you perhaps wouldn’t want to ask of your manager,” Rebecca Port, chief people officer at 10x Genomics , told Built In. “Someone who can help you understand the context of the why behind things.”

Go Over Responsibilities and Company Dynamics

During these first 30 days, take time to go over the responsibilities in the job description and start to think of a plan to tackle them, plus focusing on learning the company dynamics, according to Annabel Maw, director of communications at Jotform .

“It’s mostly just getting a really good framework and foundation for how the company operates and how the product works, and then just understanding the competitive landscape too in the industry,” Maw said.

60 Days Into a 30-60-90 Day Plan

Have steps to reach a goal and start to contribute.

Before the first 60 days, many companies expect that there will be outlined steps for meeting an employee’s initial goals or completing first projects.

By day 60, Ciccarelli said Voices employees are expected to have an understanding of the product and be able to give a product demonstration, which is a rite of passage for new employees. At Bitise, Haandrikman said employees should strive to start making an impact on the business after the first 30 days by outlining specific steps to reach a goal.

Deepen Colleague Relationships and Discuss Projects

Conversations with colleagues should continue after the first 30 days, Butler said, and these conversations should go even deeper to help employees learn about how they are performing against expectations so far.

90 Days Into a 30-60-90 Day Plan

Have an outcome to share and make suggestions.

By the end of an employee’s first 90 days, they are often expected to have an outcome to share with the company, such as completing a key first assignment or goal. It’s also not too early to start making enhancements at the company by day 90, Haandrikman said.

Reflect and Review With Your Manager

At an employee’s 90-day review with their manager, Butler suggests asking these questions:

• What have I done well? 
• What can I work on? 
• How do you see me in this role evolving in the next year?

These questions will help you to understand your strengths and where you stand out — your special skills and abilities that will help shape your career. 

“Now people have gotten to know you. They’ve gotten to see your strengths and your weaknesses because everybody has them,” Butler said. “You start creating your career … people just start seeing it, and in those 90 days, people will start giving you those tidbits.”

30-60-90 Day Plan Templates

While 30-60-90 day plans can be highly personalized to the employee, a template is a proven way to help a manager get started and make sure they don’t forget all of the essential tasks needed for onboarding.

These 30-60-90 day template ideas — whether provided by a company or used for personal progress tracking — can be used to outline and track expectations for new employees.

Simple 30-60-90 Day Plan Template 

Voices’ 30-60-90 day plan template, as shared by Ciccarelli, fits on one page and is in bullet form. This type of template is effective for making plan notes in a simple format that can be fleshed out later. It also implements a SMART goal template, which gives employees direction for writing clear goals. 

Visual 30-60-90 Day Plan Template 

As for Mural’s 30-60-90 day plan template, this example is highly visual and maps out a path for an employee to follow over the course of the first three months. Templates like this can keep the 30-60-90 day plan fun and light-hearted, and provide images alongside goals to help employees better visualize what they should accomplish.

Create Your Own 30-60-90 Day Plan Template

It also doesn’t have to be all up to the company to provide a plan to follow.

For Butler when she enters a new job, she creates an Excel document with tabs for 30, 60 and 90 days. She has columns for the tasks she’s working on and the feedback she receives. For items she’s told to keep working on after the first 30 days, she copies them to the 60 day tab, and so on. 

She also said working with software tools like Workday has been a helpful way to keep both the employee and manager accountable with documenting progress.

In many cases, how well an employee follows a 30-60-90 plan can be a strong predictor of their future success at the company.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a 30-60-90 day plan.

A 30-60-90 day plan is a document that outlines expectations or goals new employees should meet within their first 30, 60 and 90 days at a company.

What should be included in a 30-60-90 day plan?

A 30-60-90 plan should include:

• Defined goals or expectations a new employee should meet by day 30, 60 and 90
• Information about onboarding, training and key employee documents or systems to access
• Information about who to contact or what other resources to reference to help reach the defined goals

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30 Day Business Plan for Job Interviews

30-60-90-Day Plan , 30/60/90-Day Action Plans for Non-Sales , 30/60/90-Day Sales Plans , Finding a Job , Getting Hired , Interviewing Skills and Tips , Job Interview Advice , Job Interview Preparation , Job Interview Skills , Job Search , Job Search Success , Job Search Tips , Jobseekers

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• Can you do the job?
• Will you do the job?
• Will you cause me problems?
• Will I like working with you?
• Will you fit into this company?
• Can you get up to speed quickly?

The very best way to answer all these questions in a positive way and show that you are the best person for the job is to bring a 30-Day Business Plan for your job interview.

Showing your future boss how you will attack the job from Day 1 in a productive, powerful way will make you stand head and shoulders above your competition for this job.  Why?  It helps them visualize you on the job, getting started, and it demonstrates for them that you are someone who works hard and knows how to set goals and achieve them.

How do you create a 30-Day Business Plan?

Think about every step of your first days on the job, and list that out on paper:  what training you’ll need to get up to speed, how you’ll get organized, how you’ll get to know everyone you work with, and so on.

Just the fact that you’ve thought about the job and your success in such detail will make you perform better in the interview.  You’ll give b etter answers to interview questions and have a higher-level conversation with the hiring manager than your competition who did not put this kind of effort into their interview prep.

If you are not sure how to create your own 30 Day Business Plan, use my 30-60-90-Day Plan Template , with examples and coaching.

This is a must-have for your next job interview.

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The Best 30-60-90 Day Plan for Your New Job [Template + Example]

Published: December 06, 2023

I remember my first day at HubSpot. I was so nervous and had a million concerns swimming around in my head.

Will I adapt to my new job? How long will it take for me to get the hang of things? Can I manage the workload and maintain a good rapport with my coworkers?

Fortunately, my outstanding manager at the time prepared a comprehensive checklist to be completed over a few months, and it helped me slowly but steadily adapt to HubSpot. Fast forward a few years, and I'm a rockstar at my job.

The checklist was called a 100-day checklist, but it followed the rhythm of a typical 30-60-90 Day Plan.

A 30-60-90 Day Plan, or something similar, is imperative to the success of a new employee as it helps them set and reach attainable goals and acclimate to their new position.

To help set your new employee, or yourself, up for success, here's what you need to know about crafting the best 30-60-90 Day Plan.

30-60-90 Day Plan

A 30-60-90 day plan lays out a clear course of action for a new employee during the first 30, 60, and 90 days of their new job. By setting concrete goals and a vision for one's abilities at each stage of the plan, you can make the transition into a new organization smooth and empowering.

Learning the nuances of your new role in less than three months won't be easy. But crafting a strong 30-60-90 day plan is your best bet for accelerating your development and adapting to your new work environment as quickly as possible.

You‘d write a 30-60-90 day plan in two situations: during the final stages of an interview and the first week of the job. Here’s how each type can be executed:

Free Sales Training Template

Use this template to set up a 30/60/90 day sales training and onboarding plan.

• 30/60/90 Day Goals
• People to Meet
• Feedback/Review Process

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

30-60-90 Day Plan for Interview

Some hiring managers ask candidates to think about and explain their potential 30-60-90 day plan as a new hire.

As a candidate, this would sometimes confuse me in the past, but I now understand they just want to see if a potential hire can organize their time, prioritize the tasks they likely take, and strategize an approach to the job description.

For a new hire, a well-thought-out 30-60-90 day plan is a great way to help the hiring manager visualize you in the role and differentiate yourself from all other candidates.

But how can you outline your goals before accepting a new job? How are you supposed to know what those goals are? I've found that starting with the job description is an excellent stepping stone.

Typically, open job listings have separate sections for a job‘s responsibilities and a job’s qualifications. Work to find commonalities in these two sections and how you might turn them into goals for yourself.

Then, stagger those goals over three months.

For example, let‘s say a job requires three years of experience in Google Analytics, and the responsibilities include tracking the company’s website performance every month.

I would use these points to develop an action plan explaining how:

• I‘ll learn the company’s key performance metrics (first 30 days)
• Strengthen the company's performance in these metrics (next 30 days)
• Lead the team toward a better Google Analytics strategy (last 30 days)

30-60-90 Day Plan for New Job

The second situation where you‘d write a 30-60-90 day plan is during the first week of a new job, which I highly recommend whether you’re a new employee or a manager working with a new hire.

If you're the hiring manager, this plan will allow you to learn how the new employee operates, address their concerns or preconceived notions about the role, and ultimately help them succeed.

If you‘re starting a new job and are not asked to craft a 30-60-90 day plan during the first week of that job, it’s still a good idea to write one for yourself.

A new position can feel like a completely foreign environment during the first few months, and having a plan in place can make it feel more like home.

Even though 90 days is the standard grace period for new employees to learn the ropes, it's also the best time to make a great first impression.

How long should a 30-60-90 day plan be?

While there's no set length for a 30-60-90 day plan, it should include information about onboarding and training, set goals that you're expected to hit by the end of each phase, and all the people to meet and resources to review in support of those goals. This can result in a document that's 3-8 pages long, depending on formatting.

The purpose of your plan is to help you transition into your new role, but it should also be a catalyst for your career development.

Instead of just guiding you over your job's learning curve, the goals outlined in your plan should push you to perform up to your potential and raise the bar for success at every stage.

HubSpot's Senior Manager of Content (and my former manager) Meg Prater suggests having a solid template for your plan that allows it to evolve.

“Anytime I onboard someone, I review all training docs and ensure they're up to date,” she says. “I also ask for feedback from the folks on the team who have most recently been onboarded. What did they like? What didn't work for them?”

She also says moving the plan to a more interactive platform proved to be helpful to new employees.

“One of the most helpful shifts we've made recently is moving our 30-60-90 plan (or 100-Days Plan) from a static Google Doc to Asana,” she says. “The plan is organized by week, and each task contains relevant readings and links. It's much easier for folks to move through, and it gives me better insight into where folks are in the plan.”

Meg onboarded me when I started at HubSpot, and I can confirm that my checklist in Asana was a game-changer because it helped me stay on task and visually track my progress.

The checklist below isn‘t mine, but it’s one she set up and follows the same format as the one she created for me.

Free 30/60/90 Day Onboarding Template

Fill out the form to get the template., parts of a 30-60-90 day plan.

An effective 30-60-90 day plan consists of three extensive phases — one for days 1-30, one for days 31-60, and one for days 61-90.

Each phase has its own goal. For example, the goal in the first 30 days is to learn as much as possible about your new job.

The following 30 focus on using learned skills to contribute, and the last 30 are about demonstrating skill mastery with metrics and taking the lead on new challenges.

Each phase also contains components that help define goals and describe desired outcomes. These parts include:

The primer is a general overview of what you hope to achieve during the current 30-day period.

I prefer sitting down with my manager to pinpoint a primer that aligns with my goals and desired company outcomes, and I encourage you to do the same.

This ensures you and your manager are on the same page about expectations early on in your journey with the company.

The theme is a quick-hitter sentence or statement summarizing your goals for the period. For example, your theme might be “find new opportunities”, “take initiative,” or “be a sponge.”

Learning Goals

Learning goals focus on skills you want to learn or improve to drive better outcomes at your job. For example, if you're responsible for creating website content at your company, you should learn new HTML or CSS skills .

At the start of my career with HubSpot, some marketing trends and jargon were unfamiliar, and I wasn‘t used to the company’s writing style.

As a result, my learning goals as a new blogger were to become more well-versed in marketing and to adapt to HubSpot's writing style.

Performance Goals

Performance goals speak to specific metrics that demonstrate improvement. These include making one more weekly content post or reducing the revisions management requires.

For example, I was only writing one article per week when I started HubSpot, but it was my performance goal to be able to write multiple articles by the end of 30 days.

Initiative Goals

Initiative goals are about thinking outside the box to discover other ways you can contribute. This might mean asking your manager about taking ownership of new website changes or upgrades with a specific deadline in mind.

Personal Goals

Personal goals focus on company culture — are there ways you can improve relationships with your team members or demonstrate your willingness to contribute?

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How to Create a 30-60-90 Day Plan for an Interview

If you are a manager or executive-level candidate, be sure to stand out as an efficient and organized job candidate. Create a 30-60-90 Day Plan!

Are you a manager or executive candidate who is looking to set yourself apart?

Have you gone through the early stages of the interview process?

If so, there is a way that you can be sure to stand out as an efficient and organized candidate.

By creating a 30-60-90 day plan.

If you’re not sure where to start, this article will provide tips to help you create this work plan for your next (hopefully final) interview!

What is a 30-60-90 Day Plan?

A 30-60-90 day plan is a tool proven to improve your chance of being hired as you enter those later stages of interviewing.

Most people have the tools available to create this plan.

But the truth is, most candidates fail to prepare properly for an interview.

Especially if you are seeking a job in the managerial or executive sector, you will want to create a sample work plan for your prospective position.

In short, a 30-60-90 day plan is an outline of your strategy and the propositions you have for your first few months of work.

You can outline this 30-60-90 day work plan on a Word document. You can also create it using a PowerPoint presentation.

Below, we’ll discuss ways you can format your work plan, but first, let’s cover a few suggestions on how to approach it.

Focus On The Company

It is extremely important not to create a “one plan fits all” strategy.

You are not going to offer the same 30-60-90 day plan to every position you apply to.

If you have reached this point, you have likely had previous interviews with a certain company.

As such, you understand certain aspects of their culture, goals, and vision.

• Focus on the company’s specific requirements.
• Use any information you can gather. Look at the job description from the original posting. Look at the company’s website for goals and vision.
• Employ details you have gathered on the culture of the company.

Make a Plan Relevant to the Company’s Needs

Remember, you are interviewing to fill a gap somewhere.

Imagine that you have already received an offer and now it is time to deliver!

Your plan should be used to set you apart from the other candidates.

It needs to be unique to the specific job description because if you show a lack of effort, you will not leave a lasting impression.

(For more tips, check out the 50 Top Job Interview Questions And Answers .)

I know we already stated this, but it could bear repeating:

Your approach needs to be highly specific to be effective.

Statements such as these should be left out of your 30-60-90 day plan:

• Familiarizing myself with the office layout
• Making friends with neighboring pods

The hiring manager wants to know what you can do for the company.

Your own needs should be left out of the plan.

Only include those things you need to be an effective employee.

Also, try to quantify goals in your 30-60-90 day plan.

Nothing impresses an interviewer more than a candidate who can present quantifiable numbers, both in previous accomplishments and future goals.

Referencing prior accomplishments while presenting your plan can speak volumes to your organizational skills.

Formatting Your 30-60-90 Day Plan

Some sources suggest a flat 90-day plan.

Although this would suffice, we suggest an alternative approach.

Format your strategy as a 30-60-90 day plan instead.

Breaking your plan up into 30-day increments shows a step-based plan with each tier building upon the other.

For each set of 30 days, you can create specific goals in these four areas:

• Learning goals
• Performance goals
• Initiative goals
• Personal goals

Try following the template below to help you outline your plan.

First 30 Days

Focus on training, finding mentors, and embracing the company culture.

Make sure these focal points relate to both your job description and the people around you.

Considering the above four areas, your plan might look something like this:

1. Learning Goals

Read company’s corporate charter and focus primarily on sections that apply to my department

Speak with supervisor about any questions or comments regarding company charter

Take time to learn all relevant terminology for the company

2. Performance Goals

Complete company training courses

Earn an “A” on training course examination

Make a minimum of five calls per day

Convert at least two calls into clients each week

3. Initiative Goals

Volunteer to lead a project in next department meeting

Offer to oversee social media strategies

4. Personal Goals

Meet and grow acquainted with coworkers within my department

Focus on implementing your training and putting your experience into action.

Also, work with your supervisor to optimize your performance.

Learn about the line of products produced by the company

Research similar products created by competition

Chart strengths and weaknesses of competitors’ products

Increase number of daily calls to 10 per day

Convert at least one call per day to a client

Request a casual performance report from immediate supervisor

Put into practice any input received

Research methods for gaining new clients using social media platforms

Employ at least one new method each week 

Monitor effectiveness of each method

Invite colleagues to lunch or coffee 

• Discuss strategies for effectiveness
• Gain a deeper understanding of department operations

In this last stage of your 30-60-90 day plan, you can try to add your personal touch to the position.

Remember, your goal is to be an effective leader/coworker.

You want to build relationships and develop connections that benefit your position and the company as a whole.

Research cutting-edge sales methods 

Take an online learning course in relevant area 

Chart strengths and weaknesses of company products

Make at least one dozen daily calls 

Increase percentage of conversion

Gain referrals from current clients

Request colleagues or supervisor to monitor several calls and provide input

Offer to partner with R&D department to boost sales by considering more effective methods 

Choose and adopt one relevant method

Monitor effectiveness of method for continued use

Adopt one of the following practices to increase personal effectiveness and motivation

• Regular gym attendance

Summary of Creating a 30-60-90 Day Plan

Some employers will ask you to create a plan once you get the job.

But even if they don’t, you can be one step ahead (or several steps)!

If you complete a 30-60-90 day plan for your next interview, you will portray yourself as a high-quality candidate.

It might take some time, but don’t be afraid to put in the work.

This will guarantee that you have done all you can to display your abilities and work ethic.

The rest will be out of your control, but using this strategy effectively will eventually lead to results.

Happy job hunting!

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Will Trump back abortion bans? What happens if he loses in 2024? 5 TIME interview takeaways

WASHINGTON — With Election Day less than 200 days away, former President Donald Trump revealed what his possible second term could look like, doubling down on his signature immigration, tax and foreign policy proposals and making clear what he would do differently if elected again.

In an exclusive interview with TIME magazine published Tuesday, the former president said he wants to pursue a gristly conservative agenda that includes using the U.S. military to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants; deploying the National Guard to quash protests ; gutting the U.S. civil service; enforcing conditions for U.S. support and more, according to the outlet.

The presumptive Republican nominee also argued that he made a critical mistake when he first arrived in the White House in 2017: He was too generous.

"The advantage I have now is I know everybody. I know people," Trump said. "I know the good, the bad, the stupid, the smart. I know everybody."

Though Trump has previously spoken about his plans for a second term and has sprinkled these ideas at his rallies, the TIME Magazine sit down is arguably his most exhaustive interview on the subject should he defeat President Joe Biden. 

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Here are five takeaways from the conversation.

Trump claims U.S. has 'no choice' but mass deportation

Much like the 2016 campaign that ushered Trump into office with promises to build a southern border wall, his 2024 bid is largely fueled by fears about immigration and the migrants traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border seeking refuge.

Trump has blitzed Biden over the issue, charging that the Democratic incumbent is not just responsible for the crisis, but unable to get it under control. Last fiscal year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 2.5 million encounters at the border – the highest 12-month total ever.

A second Trump administration would pursue a policy of kicking out 11 million people who came to the country illegally. The former president said he would pursue building migrant detention camps and use the U.S. military at the border and inland.

"Because we have no choice. I don't believe this is sustainable for a country, what's happening to us," Trump said.

However, the former president earlier this year rejected a bipartisan border deal that a group of senators, including GOP Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., negotiated for months. Republican lawmakers quickly abandoned the deal following Trump's criticism.

Abortion: No federal ban but OK with strict state rules

On the campaign trail, Trump often takes credit for nominating three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

But given the victories Democrats have notched at the ballot box in recent years as they've campaigned on protecting abortion rights, Trump has recently pumped the brakes on supporting a national prohibition.

"You don’t need a federal ban," he told TIME.

But what if Congress passed one? Trump was skeptical the Senate could ever reach the needed 60-vote threshold. Yet he didn't promise to veto such legislation either, as conservative allies continue to pursue larger anti-abortion goals.

"We have a long way to go," he said.

Trump was largely agnostic when asked about his personal views on state rules, such as monitoring pregnancies or prosecuting a person for having an abortion, but he said he feels Florida's 6-week ban was "too severe."

"It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not," Trump said. "It's totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions."

What if Trump loses in 2024?

Looming over the 2024 contest is the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, when a mob of the former president's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers tried to certify Biden as the winner of the last White House election.

Trump still doesn't accept losing the 2020 race to Biden, and he repeats that lie often in interviews and at rallies. Although he remains confident in prevailing this fall without any violence, what would happen if Trump fails to recapture the White House?

"And if we don't win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election," Trump told Time, not dismissing the possibility of further violence around the 2024 election.

That answer is bound to add more anxiety to the country's political atmosphere.

A  CBS/YouGov  poll released in January, for instance, found where more than two-thirds of voters believe U.S. democracy is under threat. Almost a majority think there will be violence from the losing side, the survey found.

Using the National Guard to quell crime and protests

Crime remains a poignant selling point for the Trump campaign , which leverages it both in terms of talking about migrants coming into the country and the recent uptick of college campus protests against the war in Gaza.

"I would use certainly the National Guard, if the police were unable to stop. I would absolutely use the National Guard," he said of those demonstrations.

Trump dismissed statistics showing violent crime is down throughout the country. Homicides specifically dropped by 13% in 2023, according to the FBI.

But the former president rebuffed those figures, saying without evidence the agency's numbers are "fudged" and "faked."

Trump specifically called attention to images of shoplifting that have infuriated many voters , saying the country must work to give "police back the power and respect" they deserve.

Helping NATO allies, criticizing Netanyahu

Given the multiple international clashes that have entangled the U.S. as of late, Trump's worldview on America's role has come further into focus.

Much like on the campaign trail , Trump emphasized in the TIME interview how the U.S. will come to the aid of its allies should they be attacked.

America, he said, will "try and help Ukraine" if he is reelected. But it will have stipulations based on other countries paying their fair share to international alliances.

"Europe has to pay," he said. "We are in for so much more than the European nations. It's very unfair to us."

NATO members are asked to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Not all members have reached this goal, fueling Trump's criticism of the alliance.

What may surprise some onlookers is Trump's criticism of Israel and its handling of the war with Hamas. He claimed the major U.S. ally has a bad public relations campaign by sending out too many images of the death and destruction in Gaza.

Trump also had sharp words for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he blamed for not preventing the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and for pulling out of a U.S.-led operation to assassinate a top Iranian general in 2020.

"I had a bad experience with Bibi," he said.

Contributing: David Jackson and Lauren Villagran, USA TODAY

Bonza budget airline in administration as flights across the country cancelled

Embattled regional airline Bonza has gone into administration after cancelling flights across the country on Tuesday and stranding potentially thousands of passengers.

Documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reveal Bonza Aviation Pty Ltd was at 3.25pm declared "externally administered", with accounting and advisory firm Hall Chadwick appointed to the role.

In a media release on Tuesday afternoon, Hall Chadwick confirmed Bonza's fleet would be grounded until Thursday, May 2.

Virgin Australia, Qantas and Jetstar have offered complimentary seats, where available, on their flights to passengers stranded mid-journey on Tuesday.

Bonza chief executive Tim Jordan released a statement on Tuesday morning saying all services would be "temporarily suspended" while discussions were held about the ongoing viability of the business.

The airline has not responded to requests for comment, but has published a statement on its website and app apologising to affected customers.

"We’re working as quickly as possible to determine a way forward that ensures there is ongoing competition in the Australian domestic aviation market," the statement reads.

Early Bonza flights in and out of its base on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, along with Melbourne legs to Rockhampton, Gladstone and Tamworth, were all cancelled on Tuesday morning.

Three Bonza planes were parked on the tarmac at Sunshine Coast Airport on Tuesday, including a Boeing 737-MAX aircraft named Bruce, which had been leased from Canadian low-cost airline Flair to fly in Australia.

Bonza's financial position has been the subject of intense speculation since its first flight early last year.

"The discussions regarding ongoing trading are occurring over the forthcoming days and the administrators will be in a position to update all stakeholders as the matter progresses," Hall Chadwick said.

Passengers stranded

Rona Wall caught a shuttle bus to the Sunshine Coast airport early on Tuesday morning hoping to catch a flight to Rockhampton, after her scheduled Bonza flight from the Gold Coast was cancelled on Monday.

She said she received multiple correspondences from Bonza about a rescheduled flight, which created a lot of confusion.

"I've got a text message that was in my younger daughter's name, and an email, and also [a message] on the app," Ms Wall said.

"All three notifications were for three different flights."

Nicole Morris was due to fly from Melbourne to Rockhampton on Tuesday with Bonza but was told her flight had been cancelled when she arrived at the airport.

"It's crap, I don't know what I'm meant to do," Ms Morris said.

"I've come in and I can't find anyone to talk to — there's nobody here."

Bonza said affected passengers had been told they would receive a full refund.

The federal Transport Department has set up a hotline for stranded passengers on the number 1800 069 244, which will operate until 10pm.

'They were told Bonza has finished'

A Sunshine Coast man whose wife works for the airline told the ABC about 20 cabin crew were called into a meeting early on Tuesday morning.

"There were two crews there — they were just basically told that Bonza has finished," he said.

"They've been told that they're not flying until further notice.

"They've all been told that the bottom line is that Bonza will no longer be flying."

He said the news was a blow for staff and the region.

"They're pretty devastated. It's their job. She's been in it from day one. It's a bit of a blow for Maroochydore and the Sunshine Coast," he said.

History of cancellations

After months of delay, Bonza was given the go-ahead to start flying regional routes from the Sunshine Coast in January last year.

It was the first new local airline since Tiger Airways launched 15 years earlier, and its business model aimed to link regional centres often ignored by the larger carriers.

The company launched a base in Melbourne two months later.

Since launching, Bonza has faced criticism for cancelling flights, including mass cancellations over Christmas , and suspending routes .

A spokeswoman for Bonza last week, when the company cut services from the Gold Coast,  said it was working on improving customer service due to passenger complaints.

'Devastating' for regional tourism

Bundaberg Tourism chief executive Katherine Reid said the news was devastating.

"We believe that the Melbourne to Bundaberg route has been one of the strongest performing in the state for Bonza, sitting at an average of 90 per cent capacity," she said.

Ms Reid said that equated to as many as 400 people a week coming from Victoria into the Wide Bay region.

"We know a lot of people have had holidays booked," she said.

"We need to continue working with all levels of government to really attract airline partners into regional areas."

Call for bailout

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said he hoped the airline could "see their way out of" the situation but said the federal government could be doing more to help.

He wanted the government to consider a bailout package.

"Certainly consider it ... on the premise of a better market outcome for all passengers not just helping out one company," he said.

North West Queensland MP Robbie Katter said Bonza's struggles were a symptom of a bigger issue in the industry.

"It's disappointing because we need this competition," the Traegar MP said. 

"The bigger guys will always make it as difficult as possible for airlines to enter the market and destroy the dominance they've got.

"I'll plan to push the government to underwrite these funds so that bush residents aren't left worse off."

'Burning money'

Aviation analyst Geoffrey Thomas, the editor-in-chief of the website Airline Ratings, said he understood the airline's backers, 777 partners, had made changes to the leasing and financing of its aircraft.

He said the budget carrier may have been caught off guard.

777 Partners has been contacted for comment.

"It's shattering news, particularly for those affected who hold tickets and were going to fly today or tomorrow," Mr Thomas said.

"I think that the problem of Bonza is overseas, with leasing companies, and not the local management, not the business model."

But he said the low profit margin model could be tough in regional Australia, given long distances and relatively low passenger numbers.

"If you need 85 per cent capacity and you only get 70 per cent … then you're burning money," he said.

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Trump threatens to prosecute Bidens if he’s re-elected unless he gets immunity

Time magazine called the ex-president’s plans ‘an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world’

Donald Trump has warned that Joe Biden and his family could face multiple criminal prosecutions once he leaves office unless the US supreme court awards Trump immunity in his own legal battles with the criminal justice system.

In a sweeping interview with Time magazine , Trump painted a startling picture of his second term, from how he would wield the justice department to hinting he may let states monitor pregnant women to enforce abortion laws.

Trump made the threat against the Biden family in an interview with Eric Cortellessa of Time, in which he shared the outlines of what the magazine called “an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world”.

Trump made a direct connection between his threat to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Bidens should he win re-election in November with the case currently before the supreme court over his own presidential immunity.

Asked whether he intends to “go after” the Bidens should he gain a second term in the White House, Trump replied: “It depends what happens with the supreme court.”

If the nine justices on the top court – three of whom were appointed by Trump – fail to award him immunity from prosecution, Trump said, “then Biden I am sure will be prosecuted for all of his crimes, because he’s committed many crimes”.

Trump and his Republican backers have long attempted to link Biden to criminal wrongdoing relating to the business affairs of his son Hunter Biden, without unearthing any substantial evidence. Last June, in remarks made at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump threatened to appoint a special prosecutor were he re-elected “to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family”.

Trump is currently in the thick of four active prosecutions himself, one of which is currently at trial in New York . He is accused of election interference in 2016 tied to hush-money payments to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels.

Last week, the supreme court heard oral arguments in Trump v US in which the former president made a case for broad immunity from prosecution for former presidents including himself. The justices appeared unlikely to grant his request in full, though they sounded willing to consider some degree of immunity for acts carried out as part of official presidential duties.

Several of Trump’s comments in the Time interview will ring alarm bells among those concerned with the former president’s increasingly totalitarian bent.

Trump’s remarks raise the specter that, were he granted a second presidential term, he would weaponize the justice department to seek revenge against the Democratic rival who defeated him in 2020.

Despite the violence that erupted on 6 January 2021 at the US Capitol after he refused to accept defeat in the 2020 election, which is the subject of one of two federal prosecutions he is fighting, Trump also declined to promise a peaceful transfer of power should he lose again in November.

Asked by Cortellessa whether there would be political violence should Trump fail to win, he replied: “If we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.”

Pouring yet more gasoline on to the fire, Trump not only repeated his falsehood that the 2020 election had been stolen from him, but said he would be unlikely to appoint anyone to a second Trump administration who believed Biden had legitimately prevailed four years ago. “I wouldn’t feel good about it, because I think anybody that doesn’t see that that election was stolen – you look at the proof,” he said.

Overall, the interview conveys a picture of a second Trump presidency in which the occupant of the Oval Office would be determined to wield executive power unconstrained by any historical norms or respect for long-accepted boundaries.

His plans to dominate the Department of Justice would see him pardon most of the more than 800 people who have been convicted of rioting on January 6 and summarily fire any US attorney who disobeyed his instructions.

On abortion, he said that all decision-making power over reproductive rights had been handed to the states following the supreme court’s overturning of the right to a termination in Roe v Wade. He said he might contemplate Republican states putting pregnant women under surveillance to monitor whether they had abortions beyond the state’s designated ban.

“I think they might do that,” Trump said.

Some of his most fearsome policies for a possible Trump 47 presidency concern immigration. He told Time that one of his first priorities would be to initiate a mass deportation of millions of undocumented people.

To achieve that historically unprecedented goal, he would be prepared to deploy the US military and national guard to secure the border and to carry out massive sweeps of potential deportees. He said he would not rule out building new migrant detention camps to house those earmarked for removal, though most of the deportations would happen instantly.

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A Plan to Remake the Middle East

While talks for a cease-fire between israel and hamas continue, another set of negotiations is happening behind the scenes..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

From New York Times, I’m Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

Today, if and when Israel and Hamas reach a deal for a ceasefire fire, the United States will immediately turn to a different set of negotiations over a grand diplomatic bargain that it believes could rebuild Gaza and remake the Middle East. My colleague Michael Crowley has been reporting on that plan and explains why those involved in it believe they have so little time left to get it done.

It’s Wednesday, May 8.

Michael, I want to start with what feels like a pretty dizzying set of developments in this conflict over the past few days. Just walk us through them?

Well, over the weekend, there was an intense round of negotiations in an effort, backed by the United States, to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

The latest ceasefire proposal would reportedly see as many as 33 Israeli hostages released in exchange for potentially hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

US officials were very eager to get this deal.

Pressure for a ceasefire has been building ahead of a threatened Israeli assault on Rafah.

Because Israel has been threatening a military offensive in the Southern Palestinian city of Rafah, where a huge number of people are crowded.

Fleeing the violence to the North. And now they’re packed into Rafah. Exposed and vulnerable, they need to be protected.

And the US says it would be a humanitarian catastrophe on top of the emergency that’s already underway.

Breaking news this hour — very important breaking news. An official Hamas source has told The BBC that it does accept a proposal for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

And for a few hours on Monday, it looked like there might have been a major breakthrough when Hamas put out a statement saying that it had accepted a negotiating proposal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the ceasefire proposal does not meet his country’s requirements. But Netanyahu says he will send a delegation of mediators to continue those talks. Now, the terms —

But those hopes were dashed pretty quickly when the Israelis took a look at what Hamas was saying and said that it was not a proposal that they had agreed to. It had been modified.

And overnight —

Israeli troops stormed into Rafah. Video showing tanks crashing over a sign at the entrance of the city.

— the Israelis launched a partial invasion of Rafah.

It says Hamas used the area to launch a deadly attack on Israeli troops over the weekend.

And they have now secured a border crossing at the Southern end of Gaza and are conducting targeted strikes. This is not yet the full scale invasion that President Biden has adamantly warned Israel against undertaking, but it is an escalation by Israel.

So while all that drama might suggest that these talks are in big trouble, these talks are very much still alive and ongoing and there is still a possibility of a ceasefire deal.

And the reason that’s so important is not just to stop the fighting in Gaza and relieve the suffering there, but a ceasefire also opens the door to a grand diplomatic bargain, one that involves Israel and its Arab neighbors and the Palestinians, and would have very far-reaching implications.

And what is that grand bargain. Describe what you’re talking about?

Well, it’s incredibly ambitious. It would reshape Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbors, principally Saudi Arabia. But it’s important to understand that this is a vision that has actually been around since well before October 7. This was a diplomatic project that President Biden had been investing in and negotiating actually in a very real and tangible way long before the Hamas attacks and the Gaza war.

And President Biden was looking to build on something that President Trump had done, which was a series of agreements that the Trump administration struck in which Israel and some of its Arab neighbors agreed to have normal diplomatic relations for the first time.

Right, they’re called the Abraham Accords.

That’s right. And, you know, Biden doesn’t like a lot of things, most things that Trump did. But he actually likes this, because the idea is that they contribute to stability and economic integration in the Middle East, the US likes Israel having friends and likes having a tight-knit alliance against Iran.

President Biden agrees with the Saudis and with the Israelis, that Iran is really the top threat to everybody here. So, how can you build on this? How can you expand it? Well, the next and biggest step would be normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

And the Saudis have made clear that they want to do this and that they’re ready to do this. They weren’t ready to do it in the Trump years. But Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has made clear he wants to do it now.

So this kind of triangular deal began to take shape before October 7, in which the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia would enter this three way agreement in which everyone would get something that they wanted.

And just walk through what each side gets in this pre-October 7th version of these negotiations?

So for Israel, you get normalized ties with its most important Arab neighbor and really the country that sets the tone for the whole Muslim world, which is Saudi Arabia of course. It makes Israel feel safer and more secure. Again, it helps to build this alliance against Iran, which Israel considers its greatest threat, and it comes with benefits like economic ties and travel and tourism. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been very open, at least before October 7th, that this was his highest diplomatic and foreign policy priority.

For the Saudis, the rationale is similar when it comes to Israel. They think that it will bring stability. They like having a more explicitly close ally against Iran. There are economic and cultural benefits. Saudi Arabia is opening itself up in general, encouraging more tourism.

But I think that what’s most important to the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is what he can get from the United States. And what he has been asking for are a couple of essential things. One is a security agreement whose details have always been a little bit vague, but I think essentially come down to reliable arms supplies from the United States that are not going to be cut off or paused on a whim, as he felt happened when President Biden stopped arms deliveries in 2021 because of how Saudi was conducting its war in Yemen. The Saudis were furious about that.

Saudi Arabia also wants to start a domestic nuclear power program. They are planning for a very long-term future, possibly a post-oil future. And they need help getting a nuclear program off the ground.

And they want that from the US?

And they want that from the US.

Now, those are big asks from the us. But from the perspective of President Biden, there are some really enticing things about this possible agreement. One is that it will hopefully produce more stability in the region. Again, the US likes having a tight-knit alliance against Iran.

The US also wants to have a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia. You know, despite the anger at Mohammed bin Salman over the murder of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, the Biden administration recognizes that given the Saudis control over global oil production and their strategic importance in the Middle East, they need to have a good relationship with them. And the administration has been worried about the influence of China in the region and with the Saudis in particular.

So this is an opportunity for the US to draw the Saudis closer. Whatever our moral qualms might be about bin Salman and the Saudi government, this is an opportunity to bring the Saudis closer, which is something the Biden administration sees as a strategic benefit.

All three of these countries — big, disparate countries that normally don’t see eye-to-eye, this was a win-win-win on a military, economic, and strategic front.

That’s right. But there was one important actor in the region that did not see itself as winning, and that was the Palestinians.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

First, it’s important to understand that the Palestinians have always expected that the Arab countries in the Middle East would insist that Israel recognize a Palestinian state before those countries were willing to essentially make total peace and have normal relations with Israel.

So when the Abraham Accords happened in the Trump administration, the Palestinians felt like they’d been thrown under the bus because the Abraham Accords gave them virtually nothing. But the Palestinians did still hold out hope that Saudi Arabia would be their savior. And for years, Saudi Arabia has said that Israel must give the Palestinians a state if there’s going to be a normal relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Now the Palestinians see the Saudis in discussions with the US and Israel about a normalization agreement, and there appears to be very little on offer for the Palestinians. And they are feeling like they’re going to be left out in the cold here.

Right. And in the minds of the Palestinians, having already been essentially sold out by all their other Arab neighbors, the prospect that Saudi Arabia, of all countries, the most important Muslim Arab country in the region, would sell them out, had to be extremely painful.

It was a nightmare scenario for them. And in the minds of many analysts and US officials, this was a factor, one of many, in Hamas’s decision to stage the October 7th attacks.

Hamas, like other Palestinian leaders, was seeing the prospect that the Middle East was moving on and essentially, in their view, giving up on the Palestinian cause, and that Israel would be able to have friendly, normal relations with Arab countries around the region, and that it could continue with hardline policies toward the Palestinians and a refusal, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said publicly, to accept a Palestinian state.

Right. So Michael, once Hamas carries out the October 7th attacks in an effort to destroy a status quo that it thinks is leaving them less and less relevant, more and more hopeless, including potentially this prospect that Saudi Arabia is going to normalize relations with Israel, what happens to these pre-October 7th negotiations between the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel?

Well, I think there was a snap assumption that these talks were dead and buried. That they couldn’t possibly survive a cataclysm like this.

But then something surprising happened. It became clear that all the parties were still determined to pull-off the normalization.

And most surprisingly of all, perhaps, was the continued eagerness of Saudi Arabia, which publicly was professing outrage over the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks, but privately was still very much engaged in these conversations and trying to move them forward.

And in fact, what has happened is that the scope of this effort has grown substantially. October 7th didn’t kill these talks. It actually made them bigger, more complicated, and some people would argue, more important than ever.

We’ll be right back.

Michael, walk us through what exactly happens to these three-way negotiations after October 7th that ends up making them, as you just said, more complicated and more important than ever?

Well, it’s more important than ever because of the incredible need in Gaza. And it’s going to take a deal like this and the approval of Saudi Arabia to unlock the kind of massive reconstruction project required to essentially rebuild Gaza from the rubble. Saudi Arabia and its Arab friends are also going to be instrumental in figuring out how Gaza is governed, and they might even provide troops to help secure it. None of those things are going to happen without a deal like this.

Fascinating.

But this is all much more complicated now because the price for a deal like this has gone up.

And by price, you mean?

What Israel would have to give up. [MUSIC PLAYING]

From Saudi Arabia’s perspective, you have an Arab population that is furious at Israel. It now feels like a really hard time to do a normalization deal with the Israelis. It was never going to be easy, but this is about as bad a time to do it as there has been in a generation at least. And I think that President Biden and the people around him understand that the status quo between Israel and the Palestinians is intolerable and it is going to lead to chaos and violence indefinitely.

So now you have two of the three parties to this agreement, the Saudis and the Americans, basically asking a new price after October 7th, and saying to the Israelis, if we’re going to do this deal, it has to not only do something for the Palestinians, it has to do something really big. You have to commit to the creation of a Palestinian state. Now, I’ll be specific and say that what you hear the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, say is that the agreement has to include an irreversible time-bound path to a Palestinian state.

We don’t know exactly what that looks like, but it’s some kind of a firm commitment, the likes of which the world and certainly the Israelis have not made before.

Something that was very much not present in the pre-October 7th vision of this negotiation. So much so that, as we just talked about, the Palestinians were left feeling completely out in the cold and furious at it.

That’s right. There was no sign that people were thinking that ambitiously about the Palestinians in this deal before October 7th. And the Palestinians certainly felt like they weren’t going to get much out of it. And that has completely changed now.

So, Michael, once this big new dimension after October 7th, which is the insistence by Saudi Arabia and the US that there be a Palestinian state or a path to a Palestinian state, what is the reaction specifically from Israel, which is, of course, the third major party to this entire conversation?

Well, Israel, or at least its political leadership, hates it. You know, this is just an extremely tough sell in Israel. It would have been a tough sell before October 7th. It’s even harder now.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is completely unrepentantly open in saying that there’s not going to be a Palestinian state on his watch. He won’t accept it. He says that it’s a strategic risk to his country. He says that it would, in effect, reward Hamas.

His argument is that terrorism has forced a conversation about statehood onto the table that wasn’t there before October 7th. Sure, it’s always in the background. It’s a perennial issue in global affairs, but it was not something certainly that the US and Israel’s Arab neighbors were actively pushing. Netanyahu also has — you know, he governs with the support of very right-wing members of a political coalition that he has cobbled together. And that coalition is quite likely to fall apart if he does embrace a Palestinian state or a path to a Palestinian state.

Now, he might be able to cobble together some sort of alternative, but it creates a political crisis for him.

And finally, you know, I think in any conversation about Israel, it’s worth bearing in mind something you hear from senior US officials these days, which is that although there is often finger pointing at Netanyahu and a desire to blame Netanyahu as this obstructionist who won’t agree to deals, what they say is Netanyahu is largely reflecting his population and the political establishment of his country, not just the right-wingers in his coalition who are clearly extremist.

But actually the prevailing views of the Israeli public. And the Israeli public and their political leaders across the spectrum right now with few exceptions, are not interested in talking about a Palestinian state when there are still dozens and dozens of Israeli hostages in tunnels beneath Gaza.

So it very much looks like this giant agreement that once seemed doable before October 7th might be more important to everyone involved than ever, given that it’s a plan for rebuilding Gaza and potentially preventing future October 7th’s from happening, but because of this higher price that Israel would have to pay, which is the acceptance of a Palestinian state, it seems from everything you’re saying, that this is more and more out of reach than ever before and hard to imagine happening in the immediate future. So if the people negotiating it are being honest, Michael, are they ready to acknowledge that it doesn’t look like this is going to happen?

Well, not quite yet. As time goes by, they certainly say it’s getting harder and harder, but they’re still trying, and they still think there’s a chance. But both the Saudis and the Biden administration understand that there’s very little time left to do this.

Well, what do you mean there’s very little time left? It would seem like time might benefit this negotiation in that it might give Israel distance from October 7th to think potentially differently about a Palestinian state?

Potentially. But Saudi Arabia wants to get this deal done in the Biden administration because Mohammed bin Salman has concluded this has to be done under a Democratic president.

Because Democrats in Congress are going to be very reluctant to approve a security agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

It’s important to understand that if there is a security agreement, that’s something Congress is going to have to approve. And you’re just not going to get enough Democrats in Congress to support a deal with Saudi Arabia, who a lot of Democrats don’t like to begin with, because they see them as human rights abusers.

But if a Democratic president is asking them to do it, they’re much more likely to go along.

Right. So Saudi Arabia fears that if Biden loses and Trump is president, that those same Democrats would balk at this deal in a way that they wouldn’t if it were being negotiated under President Biden?

Exactly. Now, from President Biden’s perspective, politically, think about a president who’s running for re-election, who is presiding right now over chaos in the Middle East, who doesn’t seem to have good answers for the Israeli-Palestinian question, this is an opportunity for President Biden to deliver what could be at least what he would present as a diplomatic masterstroke that does multiple things at once, including creating a new pathway for Israel and the Palestinians to coexist, to break through the logjam, even as he is also improving Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia.

So Biden and the Crown Prince hope that they can somehow persuade Bibi Netanyahu that in spite of all the reasons that he thinks this is a terrible idea, that this is a bet worth taking on Israel’s and the region’s long-term security and future?

That’s right. Now, no one has explained very clearly exactly how this is going to work, and it’s probably going to require artful diplomacy, possibly even a scenario where the Israelis would agree to something that maybe means one thing to them and means something else to other people. But Biden officials refuse to say that it’s hopeless and they refuse to essentially take Netanyahu’s preliminary no’s for an answer. And they still see some way that they can thread this incredibly narrow needle.

Michael, I’m curious about a constituency that we haven’t been talking about because they’re not at the table in these discussions that we are talking about here. And that would be Hamas. How does Hamas feel about the prospect of such a deal like this ever taking shape. Do they see it as any kind of a victory and vindication for what they did on October 7th?

So it’s hard to know exactly what Hamas’s leadership is thinking. I think they can feel two things. I think they can feel on the one hand, that they have established themselves as the champions of the Palestinian people who struck a blow against Israel and against a diplomatic process that was potentially going to leave the Palestinians out in the cold.

At the same time, Hamas has no interest in the kind of two-state solution that the US is trying to promote. They think Israel should be destroyed. They think the Palestinian state should cover the entire geography of what is now Israel, and they want to lead a state like that. And that’s not something that the US, Saudi Arabia, or anyone else is going to tolerate.

So what Hamas wants is to fight, to be the leader of the Palestinian people, and to destroy Israel. And they’re not interested in any sort of a peace process or statehood process.

It seems very clear from everything you’ve said here that neither Israel nor Hamas is ready to have the conversation about a grand bargain diplomatic program. And I wonder if that inevitably has any bearing on the ceasefire negotiations that are going on right now between the two of them that are supposed to bring this conflict to some sort of an end, even if it’s just temporary?

Because if, as you said, Michael, a ceasefire opens the door to this larger diplomatic solution, and these two players don’t necessarily want that larger diplomatic solution, doesn’t that inevitably impact their enthusiasm for even reaching a ceasefire?

Well, it certainly doesn’t help. You know, this is such a hellish problem. And of course, you first have the question of whether Israel and Hamas can make a deal on these immediate issues, including the hostages, Palestinian prisoners, and what the Israeli military is going to do, how long a ceasefire might last.

But on top of that, you have these much bigger diplomatic questions that are looming over them. And it’s not clear that either side is ready to turn and face those bigger questions.

So while for the Biden administration and for Saudi Arabia, this is a way out of this crisis, these larger diplomatic solutions, it’s not clear that it’s a conversation that the two parties that are actually at war here are prepared to start having.

Well, Michael, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

On Tuesday afternoon, under intense pressure from the US, delegations from Israel and Hamas arrived in Cairo to resume negotiations over a potential ceasefire. But in a statement, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear that even with the talks underway, his government would, quote, “continue to wage war against Hamas.”

Here’s what else you need to know today. In a dramatic day of testimony, Stormy Daniels offered explicit details about an alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump that ultimately led to the hush money payment at the center of his trial. Daniels testified that Trump answered the door in pajamas, that he told her not to worry that he was married, and that he did not use a condom when they had sex.

That prompted lawyers for Trump to seek a mistrial based on what they called prejudicial testimony. But the judge in the case rejected that request. And,

We’ve seen a ferocious surge of anti-Semitism in America and around the world.

In a speech on Tuesday honoring victims of the Holocaust, President Biden condemned what he said was the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in the United States after the October 7th attacks on Israel. And he expressed worry that too many Americans were already forgetting the horrors of that attack.

The Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt, and your pain. Let me reassure you, as your president, you’re not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will.

Today’s episode was produced by Nina Feldman, Clare Toeniskoetter, and Rikki Novetsky. It was edited by Liz O. Baylen, contains original music by Marion Lozano, Elisheba Ittoop, and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for The Daily. I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

• May 9, 2024   •   34:42 One Strongman, One Billion Voters, and the Future of India
• May 8, 2024   •   28:28 A Plan to Remake the Middle East
• May 7, 2024   •   27:43 How Changing Ocean Temperatures Could Upend Life on Earth
• May 6, 2024   •   29:23 R.F.K. Jr.’s Battle to Get on the Ballot
• May 3, 2024   •   25:33 The Protesters and the President
• May 2, 2024   •   29:13 Biden Loosens Up on Weed
• May 1, 2024   •   35:16 The New Abortion Fight Before the Supreme Court
• April 30, 2024   •   27:40 The Secret Push That Could Ban TikTok
• April 29, 2024   •   47:53 Trump 2.0: What a Second Trump Presidency Would Bring
• April 26, 2024   •   21:50 Harvey Weinstein Conviction Thrown Out
• April 25, 2024   •   40:33 The Crackdown on Student Protesters
• April 24, 2024   •   32:18 Is $60 Billion Enough to Save Ukraine?

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Michael Crowley

Produced by Nina Feldman ,  Clare Toeniskoetter and Rikki Novetsky

Edited by Liz O. Baylen

Original music by Marion Lozano ,  Elisheba Ittoop and Dan Powell

Engineered by Alyssa Moxley

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube

If and when Israel and Hamas reach a deal for a cease-fire, the United States will immediately turn to a different set of negotiations over a grand diplomatic bargain that it believes could rebuild Gaza and remake the Middle East.

Michael Crowley, who covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times, explains why those involved in this plan believe they have so little time left to get it done.

On today’s episode

Michael Crowley , a reporter covering the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The New York Times.

Background reading :

Talks on a cease-fire in the Gaza war are once again at an uncertain stage .

Here’s how the push for a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia looked before Oct. 7 .

From early in the war, President Biden has said that a lasting resolution requires a “real” Palestinian state .

Here’s what Israeli officials are discussing about postwar Gaza.

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state. More about Michael Crowley

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Biden's new student-loan forgiveness plan has already received over 24,000 comments. There are 2 weeks left to give the administration input.

• There are two weeks left for the public to comment on Biden's new student-debt relief plan.
• Once the public comment period ends, the administration will move toward final implementation.
• Still, legal challenges and the election pose threats to the debt cancellation.

The American people have just two weeks left to give President Joe Biden's administration input on its new student-loan forgiveness plan .

On April 17, the Education Department published its draft rules for a broader version of debt relief to the Federal Register. First unveiled in early April, the new plan is expected to benefit over 30 million borrowers through a range of provisions, including canceling unpaid interest for borrowers and providing debt relief to those who have made at least 20 years of payments.

This new plan is intended to replace Biden's first attempt at relief that the Supreme Court struck down last summer. In contrast to the first plan, this one requires the administration to undergo a process known as negotiated rulemaking, which entails a series of negotiations with stakeholders and an opportunity for the public to comment on the plans before final implementation.

Related stories

The plan is now in the public comment period, and there are two weeks left for anyone who wishes to provide input on the administration's proposals. So far, according to the Federal Register , the plan has received 24,532 comments as of Friday morning.

The comments are available to be viewed publicly, and some of them were supportive of Biden's plan. One stated:

"The more student loan debt that can be forgiven the better. My mom's loans were forgiven last month, and it has changed her life. The period of time when my loans were paused allowed me to buy a home. My loans are currently in repayment, and if that burden could be lifted it would be life-changing for me."

Meanwhile, others were more critical:

"No if you borrow money you need to pay it back. why should people who are hard working pay for a lazy person school. student loans needs to be payed back by the borrower not by people who are working for a living."

Once the public comment period ends on May 17, the Education Department can choose to adjust its proposals based on the feedback it received or move ahead toward final implementation. In the coming months, the department also plans to unveil a separate proposal to get relief to borrowers experiencing financial hardship, which will also have a public comment period.

The department has said it plans to move as quickly as possible with the relief this fall, but not only does the presidential election bring uncertainty to the fate of the relief — it's highly likely legal challenges will once again attempt to block it from carrying out.

For example, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote on X that he would see Biden in court after the release of new details for the debt relief, and he already filed a lawsuit to block the SAVE income-driven repayment plan , arguing it was an overreach of the administration's authority.

Watch: Why student loans aren't canceled, and what Biden's going to do about it

• Main content

Politics latest: MP defection 'cheap party political point-scoring'; UK and allies 'at a crossroads', Cameron argues

The fallout is continuing from the shock defection of MP Natalie Elphicke from the Conservatives over to Labour. She has now released a statement apologising for supporting her ex-husband, who was her predecessor as MP for Dover, after his sexual assault conviction.

Thursday 9 May 2024 23:03, UK

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• New Labour MP issues apology
• Cameron says defection 'says more about Starmer'
• Analysis: Public will see through 'cheap party political point-scoring' party switch
• Rob Powell: Elphicke apology unlikely to change minds
• Minister insists party 'not trying to chase Reform'
• Ex-chancellor to stand down at election  | Every MP who's quitting
• Live reporting by Ben Bloch and (earlier)  Faith Ridler

Thank you for joining us for another busy day in politics.

Here's what happened:

• Lord Cameron delivered two speeches today in which he called for NATO to make 2.5% of GDP the default defence spending target;
• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak summoned university bosses to Downing Street where he urged them to tackle antisemitism on campuses that has risen by over 200%;
• Labour's new MP Natalie Elphicke apologised for supporting her ex-husband after his sex assault conviction, which has created huge controversy in the Labour Party;
• Former chancellor and vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, announced he will stand down at the next election;
• Newly re-election Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen hit out at the "chaos" in the Tory party and said responsibility "ultimately lies with Rishi (Sunak)";
• The government triggered emergency plans to be able to hold prisoners in police cells due to a shortage of places in the system - and is blaming it on barristers taking industrial action;
• Interest rates were held at 5.25% in a blow to the PM who wants them to come down ahead of the general election.

Join us again from 6am for the very latest political news.

By  Faye Brown , political reporter

Labour will create a new Border Security Command to tackle people-smuggling gangs bringing migrants across the Channel, Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce.

The "elite" unit, to be part-funded by scrapping the Tories' Rwanda deportation scheme, will be led by a former police, military or intelligence chief and be granted new powers under the Counter Terrorism Act.

These powers will allow officers to conduct stop and searches at the border, carry out financial investigations and issue search and seizure warrants targeting organised immigration crime.

Sir Keir will outline the measures in a speech on the Kent coast on Friday, when he will vow to "replace gimmicks with graft" and draw on his experience as the former head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Read extracts from Sir Keir's speech below:

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

With the local elections complete, Labour is still sitting comfortably ahead, with the Tories trailing behind.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the tracker  here .

Lord Cameron has just delivered his second speech of the day - this time at the Lord Mayor's banquet in central London.

Here are the key points of what he said (this post was updated live):

• The foreign secretary opens by saying: "I thought my days of dressing up in white tie and speaking in halls like this were well and truly over, so I want to thank PM Rishi Sunak for bringing me out of retirement";
• He says his six month as the UK's top diplomat "have been every bit a whirlwind as much as being prime minister" - but "not quite as exciting";
• Lord Cameron argues that foreign policy cannot be divorced from economic performance;
• He says movements to "pull up the drawbridge" and retreat into isolationism are "profoundly wrong" - but they cannot be ignored;
• The current dangerous world is "in stark contrast to my first years in politics", he says, and argues we must "face up to that situation";
• "My conviction is that we, with our partners, can choose to make a difference - we have agency. The question is whether we have the courage to use it, the courage to act";
• He says the government is "hardening" defences against attacks on our infrastructure - both physical and cyber following recent attacks;
• The foreign secretary reiterates his call for spending 2.5% of GDP on defence to be the standard NATO benchmark;
• He calls on the allies to join the UK in committing funding to Ukraine until 2030;
• On the Israel-Hamas war, Lord Cameron says he wants the fighting to end now and for the hostages released, but says: "Simply calling for an immediate ceasefire does not make it more likely", arguing that practical steps need to be taken;
• He concludes by saying: "We are at a crossroads: if we make the right choices, if we act now, a bright future awaits, but if we hesitate, our adversaries will write our futures for us";

The foreign secretary is giving his second speech of the day.

Lord Cameron will be donning his white tie at Mansion House for a slightly shorter version of the speech he gave this morning on the UK's foreign policy and national security.

Follow live coverage here in the Politics Hub.

The government has triggered emergency plans to be able to hold prisoners in police cells due to a shortage of places in the system - and is blaming it on barristers taking industrial action.

Operation Safeguard triggers the availability of cells in police stations for prisoners sentenced by the courts when there is a critical shortage of normal spaces.

Sky News understands the Ministry of Justice has formally requested that a limited number of cells be made available.

The government insists that this is "not an unprecedented measure" and has been deployed over four periods since 2006 - and most recently in February and April this year.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the emergency measure "is helping us respond to acute capacity pressures caused in part by barristers' industrial action and the aftermath of the pandemic, while we press ahead with delivering the biggest expansion of prison places in a century including six new jails".

On this episode, Niall Paterson speaks to one of the doctors who worked to restore the hearing of an 18-month-old girl – who was born deaf.

Medics at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge have used gene therapy to help a rare condition, auditory neuropathy. It's caused by the disruption of nerve impulses travelling from the inner ear to the brain.

Opal Sandy can now respond to her parents' voices and can communicate words such as "Dada" and "bye-bye".

Plus, Natalie Elphicke, the MP who defected from the Conservatives to Labour yesterday, apologises for comments she made after her ex-husband, and predecessor as MP for Dover, was convicted of sexual assault in 2020.

She said at the time that being "attractive" and "attracted to women" had made him an "easy target".

Niall talks to deputy political editor Sam Coates about the disquiet within Labour over Mrs Elphicke’s arrival.

👉  Listen above then tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts  👈

In a short while, the foreign secretary is due to give his second speech of the day.

We will have live coverage here on the Politics Hub, so do follow along.

Above: The last time David Cameron addressed a Mansion House audience, just weeks before the Brexit vote and his resignation.

By Jennifer Scott , political reporter

In a dramatic move just moments before Prime Minister's Questions got under way this week, Natalie Elphicke joined Labour as her surprised Conservative colleagues looked on.

What exactly happens when an MP defects to another party?

Ms Elphicke  is far from the first MP to change sides between elections, but it was incredibly rare - until recently - for a member of the governing party to switch to the opposition.

She is the third Tory to do so in just over two years, following  Christian Wakeford in 2022  over the partygate scandal and  Dan Poulter just two weeks ago  over the Tories' handling of the NHS.

Before that, it hadn't happened since 1995, when Alan Howarth became the first ever Conservative to cross to Labour on the eve of his party conference, citing the "divisiveness" of policies under John Major's leadership.

Only three MPs in the past 25 years have gone the other way - from main opposition to government - all leaving the Conservatives to join Labour.

Defecting to smaller parties happens more often, such as moves  from both Conservative and Labour to Change UK  during the Brexit years, or  Douglas Carswell  and  Mark Reckless  heading over to UKIP ahead of the referendum.

By Jenness Mitchell, Scotland reporter

John Swinney has axed the post of minister for independence from his ministerial team.

The role, the first of its kind, was created last year by then first minister Humza Yousaf.

Jamie Hepburn, who previously held the Scottish government post, has now taken over from George Adam as minister for parliamentary business.

Earlier on Thursday, SNP MP Alyn Smith appeared to confirm during a radio interview that the role had been "subsumed" into Angus Robertson's constitution, external affairs and culture brief.

Mr Swinney was  legally sworn in as Scotland's seventh first minister   at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning.

Read more on the new Scottish cabinet here:

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