Up your on-boarding game
When it comes to growing your team, competition for talent is becoming fiercer by the day as candidate availability declines. The jobs market now, means that candidates have more choice, and more often than not, they’ll have more than one offer on the table. It’s why employers need to keep the hiring process as nimble & fluid as possible, and you’ll need to sell yourself at the interview, as well. Employers simply don’t have the luxury of a long list of potential hires, it’s safe to say, the tables have turned.
With the slump in candidate availability, if you do offer and nab someone for your role, you will want to ensure you keep them as engaged as possible – before they start. Just because your new hire has said yes and accepted, doesn’t mean that they won’t be counter-offered, continue interviewing, or get offers from elsewhere. In the current climate, nothing is set in stone.
It’s the reason why your pre-onboarding experience needs to be engaging, exciting, and more than anything else, welcoming! Time and time again we have seen employers make an offer, send the contract and offer letter, confirming their start date, and then kick back and relax. With 22% of job seekers admitting they didn’t show up for their first day of work after accepting a job offer, this approach just doesn’t cut the mustard nowadays.
Below we are going to delve into the pre-onboarding experience and give guidance on what this could look like.
Be quick
As soon as you have decided to make an offer, you can put the basics down in an email confirming the job title, salary, benefits including holidays, pension, healthcare, etc…, bonus structure, and potential start date. Put it in your company branding to give it more impact and get it out to the potential new hire as soon as you can. Then, within the next 48-72 hours, you can send the more detailed offer containing all terms and conditions.
Up your communication
This is the number one thing you will want to do! Serving a notice period gives people time to question their decision and lose their excitement which is why you need to keep the buzz alive and carry on selling yourself right up to your new hire’s start date!
The way to do this is to communicate and do it well! Keeping communication alive depends on how you’re set-up, but we suggest that this is a joint effort. If there is a HR function, as a manager you should work with them to make sure your comms are top notch. We suggest the HR team comes up with a guide for when a manager should reach out, and get all of the legalities done. HR is there to get boxes ticked! As a Manager, we suggest that you get in touch with the new starter more informally than HR would and let them know that you’re on hand if they need you.
Prepare them
When you do get in touch with the new starter, you should let them know what to expect when they start. Reach out, and while you’re letting them know how excited you are for them to join, also let them know what their first day and weeks will look like. Give them a flavour of the projects you’re working on and any upcoming ones, and give them an idea of the culture. The more prepared each of you are, the better.
Introduce them
Before the new hire starts, book some time out of you and your team’s diary and invite them out for lunch, a coffee date, or even a pub quiz if that’s more your thing! It is the perfect way to get to know the new addition and let them get to know you and the team a little more. It’ll also make their first day a little less daunting and feel more relaxed overall – there is nothing to lose!
Welcome pack
This doesn’t need to be an over-the-top gesture, but we do suggest you send something to them ahead of their first day. Consider what they might need for their first day, it could be something as small as a branded pen and notebook, you could send them a mug with some tea bags and biccies to use for a five minute breather on their first day. Even sending a card congratulating them on their new job, will make an impact!
Putting all of these things in place will pay off! It’ll mean that your new hire turns up engaged, and buzzing to join a company that cares.
