Your First 90 Days: A Guide For New Hires
Your employee onboarding process is essential to individual and organizational success. Onboarding is a critical transition period where you can take advantage of time and opportunities. We surveyed candidates we recently placed at esteemed organizations and compiled their advice on how to effectively approach and navigate your onboarding experience.
Do Your Research. We encourage our clients to provide company information prior to starting so that candidates can get a comfortable understanding of the organization they are about to enter. In the event that your organization does not provide company information upfront (or even if they do), take the initiative to research as much as you can.
With so many unknowns, take advantage of the resources you have (the Internet) prior to beginning the role. Read and scour all that you can to contextualize and understand the organization.
Connect, Connect, Connect. Create opportunities to connect by scheduling one-on-one calls with your peers and team. Taking initiative shows curiosity and credibility, and will help to clarify many of the unknowns that come with a remote transition. Always opt for a video call, when possible, to most closely mimic face-to-face interaction.
When meeting with colleagues, ask questions to better understand their role in the organization. Then, you can gauge the extent to which you can (or cannot) establish a more personal connection. Making time for casual conversation is essential to forging trust and building credibility. Work calls can be transactional in nature, so ensure that you allot time to speak with peers outside of work-based discussion to develop personal connections.
Have Courage. It’s okay to not know the lay of the land when you are just entering it, and can be even harder to gauge when that entrance is over the computer. Have the courage to ask questions—no matter how small. Taking the initiative to speak up helps subside unnecessary pressure and shows transparency and humility.
Remember that everyone has once been in your shoes, and people are more understanding than you are inclined to believe.
Give Yourself Grace. While it can be tempting to dive in head-first, be mindful of how much you take on. The onboarding process is designed to provide you with ample time to learn, connect, and assimilate.
When working remotely, it can be easy to run into multiple back-to-back meetings and rarely find time to decompress. Try to allot a few minutes of buffer time between meetings to process and regroup; this will help increase productivity and avoid overwhelming yourself, which can lead to burnout.
The effort you dedicate to onboarding generally indicates how much value you will derive from the process. While entering a new organization can be daunting, applying these steps increases comfortability and will ensure that you get as much as you can out of the onboarding experience.