Great news – you found the perfect candidate to fill your vacant position, and they accepted the offer! But before you start celebrating, you need to make sure that your onboarding experience sets your new hire up for success. By keeping the following best practices in mind, you can help increase retention rates and ensure that your strong hires are here to stay.
Be Realistic from the Beginning
As much as you are looking for a good fit for your open position, remember that applicants are also looking for a good fit for themselves. The hiring process is a two-way street and you are not benefiting anyone by not giving an accurate description of what the position actually entails. Will there be a lot of travel time involved? Are employees expected to fulfill certain tasks or have certain skills? You will not do yourself any favors by making the job “sound better” than it is – instead, when you are honest, you increase your chances of finding someone that is looking for exactly what it is you are offering.
Identify a Point of Contact
Communication is integral if you want to make the onboarding process as seamless as possible and to troubleshoot any potential problems as they arise. The best way to do this is to give your newest hire a dedicated person that they are able to touch base with regularly. This will ensure that any questions they have are answered, which means they will be less likely to feel lost as they become familiar with your company’s internal processes.
Incorporate Multiple Team Members
Having a dedicated point of contact is really important for new team members – but it is also important to remember that everyone is different, and that some new hires will build stronger connections with certain colleagues than others. There is always a chance that your new hire will not get on well or feel comfortable with their dedicated point of contact. And that is okay. Although, it could be a deal breaker if they do not have another outlet that they can talk to. By making sure that new hires have exposure to different team members – and even different teams – you help ensure that they will find their niche and build a strong professional identity within your organization.
Build Feedback into the Process
Without clear and proper communication, it is impossible to discern someone’s true onboarding experience, which means that you will not be able to effectively address any potential problems or questions as they arise. There are some things that certain new employees will only share with their peers, others with a manager, and some only with HR. By establishing multiple clear lines of communication and feedback from the beginning, you can improve the chances that onboarding will be a positive experience for the new hire, as well as the team and company as a whole.
