Now that you’ve selected your new employee, it may feel as though the hard part is done. While adding a member to your team is certainly a relief, you can’t expect them to come in their first day and hit the ground running. If you don’t provide suitable guidance to new hires, they’ll often feel lost, and that doesn’t lead to great productivity. Instead, by using a thorough onboarding process, you can set them up for greater success, provide them with support, and ensure they are productive as quickly as possible.

Here are some tips to get you started on creating an effective onboarding process.

If you want a smooth onboarding experience, you want to start planning for it before you have a candidate selected. Ideally, you should start preparing as soon as you start working to fill the position, as this ensures you have a suitable amount of time to get things in order. It takes the pressure off of the managers as they don’t have to throw something together at the last minute. Additionally, it gives them an opportunity to assess how to integrate the onboarding tasks into their current workload, ensuring they are appropriately available when the new hire comes in on their first day.

Often, determining what the new employee needs to know within their department is relatively easy, but onboarding traditionally goes well beyond a single section. You need to consider how the position interacts with other departments, as well as what core areas should be universally reviewed. Typically, everyone needs an introduction to key personnel in human resources or tech support, so include these in the onboarding process as well.

If you’re looking for a solid source of information, other recent hires can provide important feedback. They can let you know what was missing from their onboarding process, allowing you to fill in these gaps for future hires. Additionally, they can let you know what went especially well, giving you the ability to keep those steps in place unchanged.

Generally, this approach can provide powerful insights, especially in areas that many employees see as common knowledge. For example, most new hires have questions about basics, like dress codes and lunch schedules, that might not be automatically included in the onboarding process by managers who’ve been with the company for a while. By providing these details, you give new hires a chance to get their footing faster, and improve the overall process.

While there might be a lot of information to cover, you don’t want to risk overwhelming the new employee by throwing it at them all at once. Instead, consider if there are logical divisions in the information, and see if things can be divided to make everything more manageable.

Begin by identifying what details can be provided in advance of their first day. This can include the above-mentioned dress code information as well as things like where to park and where to meet their manager on the first day.

Then, prioritize the other information based on what needs to be addressed on day one, like computer password policies and team introductions, and then schedule out accordingly.

By creating an effective onboarding process, you’re helping the new hire get started in a more efficient manner. This can make them more productive quickly and ensures they are comfortable in their new workplace.

If you’re interested in more tips about successful onboarding or are seeking candidates for a vacancy, The Advance Group can help. Contact us today to discuss your needs with a member of our skilled recruitment team.