Proactive information seeking can fill these knowledge gaps. Proactive information seeking on the part of new graduate students involves establishing ties with other individuals in the new environment. This is especially important because it is rare that a graduate program has formal procedures in place to disseminate the information necessary for newcomer assimilation. It is only after newcomers have established this framework that they can compile task, group, and role knowledge in a manner that will be beneficial for adaptation to the new organization. Although much of the recent literature on organizational socialization has emphasized the proactive role of newcomers in their own socialization, it is important not to forget the role of organizational insiders in providing newcomers with information, especially for the initial task of learning what to learn.
Insiders can also advise newcomers as to the credibility of different sources of information.
It is especially beneficial for new students to talk to more experienced students, because the experienced students have a great deal of knowledge about the culture and climate of the graduate program. The conclusion for new graduate students to draw from the research on organizational socialization is that proactive information seeking behavior facilitates adaptation to the graduate program. Research has shown the importance of peers and supervisors as sources of information and support in the socialization setting. The new student can better their chances of getting the information they need when they need it by proactively initiating ties with faculty and more experienced graduate students. Faculty and experienced graduate students can ease the transition of new graduate students by also being proactive in communicating with new graduate students, particularly when the new student first enters the graduate program.