Here's the Most Overlooked Step of the Hiring Process

January 27, 2015 at 12:47 PM by Kathleen de Lara

pier_blog.jpgWait.

Before you kick back, relax, and breathe a little air of relief after filling a few of your open positions, there’s one more thing we need to bug you about your latest hires.

One of the last steps of the hiring process is onboarding, and it’s central to how happy the team is, how quickly they ramp up to the way company operates, and how motivated they feel to do well at their job.

The first 90 days is often referred to as a core time period for training employees and measuring their fit for the position, but even within the first week on the job, new hires can quickly make their mind up about the actual length of their stay.

Onboarding is sometimes treated as the red-headed stepchild of the hiring process, managers forgetting there’s a Point C to reach after getting a candidate to accept an offer. Successfully training new hires preps employees for the job, gets them acquainted with their colleagues, and boosts the likeliness they’ll stay with the team long-term.

Check out these four items to get started on evaluating your onboarding process:

Warming the welcome.

If you did some school-hopping growing up, you know the first day drill isn’t the easiest to get used to, and it can be a while until the general sense of standing out from the crowd rubs off and you find a core group of people. A first day on the job is comparable, but relieving the tension and making a smooth transition into a new role takes small, noticeable gestures, like an introductory email to the team giving a heads up about the latest team addition, a giveaway bag of company swag, or a company happy hour. That way, new employees aren’t walking in to uncharted territory alone, and instead, get a sense of camaraderie and their peers’ warm reception.

Establishing your company’s cultural norms, values, and mission.

“Culture fit” is frequently cited as a reason for a candidate being rejected or an employee calling it quits, and the opposite. Company culture is an umbrella term for multiple components of how a team bonds together – what’s important to the company, what people expect from each other, how they communicate, the way business values are prioritized, how employees are recognized for their achievements.

Let new employees know what you’re about and what the company stands for, not only from a customer’s perspective, but also from an employer brand ambassador’s view. A short presentation or slide deck is one way to standardize the way culture is communicated, and can include company history, pictures and videos of the team, and a few slides on the company’s mission and values.

Sharing company’s sales and marketing resources.

Even if your new employees aren’t part of the sales or marketing teams, sharing resources that go out to prospects, customers, and competitors helps them understand how the company’s product is positioned to the public. This can include one sheets, case studies, videos, press articles, and the company page and social profiles.

Getting feedback on the hiring and onboarding processes.

Set aside some time during the first few weeks at the job to discuss what new hires liked, didn’t like, and would change about the recruiting and hiring process. Were there gaps during the interviewing and the offer that need to be clarified? Was there something a recruiter said that rubbed them the wrong way that could potentially scare off future candidates? Similarly, a few months into the job, ask about onboarding and training process. Getting feedback can help the hiring team adjust training to be more accommodating, comprehensive, concise, and practical.

Setting up the team for long-term success isn’t solely an effort to retaining employees already in the game – remember to tie back how the company can help develop longer-term career goals. Focusing on new team members from the start conveys the company is committed to nurturing its employees, emphasizing satisfaction and understanding of the role, not just the short-term worth of having more bandwidth.

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