Onboarding Part Two: A Text Book Case

In order to get a company perspective, I talked with one of my clients this week.  This VP of Human Resources and I had worked for the same company in the early 1990’s.  That company had a model onboarding program, so I was not surprised to learn of my client’s commitment to effective onboarding.

My client, let’s call him Mark, told me that they viewed onboarding as a process, not an event.  They use a six month period to assimilate the new hire into the culture, her role, and her team.  He said, “the Devil is in the details.”  It is a well-planned program run by their training department.  That was an interesting revelation.  But it makes sense.  He went on to say that the new hire’s supervisor is involved in the process to include regular interaction.  The new hire is assessed throughout the process which is recorded on a balanced scorecard. 

Mark told me that a new CMO had joined the company that day.  She was beginning to go through the same process, starting on the shop floor.  This first step is scheduled for six to eight weeks.  During this time, she will learn the business from the ground up.  The next phase is to shadow a Regional Operations Vice President for eight to twelve weeks.  She will see how the moving parts work together in the field, especially how Sales, Operations, and Marketing personnel interact.

The final step is to spend time with her direct reports to understand how the business rolls up to her level of responsibility.  The evaluation process includes a three hundred sixty degrees review.  Mark is very proud of their process and its results.  He said, “it is important to start the new hire on the right foot.”  He went on to say that their home office turnover is very low, seven percent.”  As I mentioned earlier, Mark and I had worked for the same company years ago.  Their onboarding process was superb.  It is no surprise to me that he carried on the tradition with his current employer.

Mark went on to tell me that the onboarding plan is customized to the new hire.  A conference call is scheduled prior to the new hire’s start date.  It is a group conference that includes all relevant parties.  Adjustments are made along the way to accommodate for transition issues like house hunting trips if relocation is involved.  At the end of the process, the new hire debriefs with her Superior.

My client’s program is a textbook example of onboarding the new hire most effectively.  Probably the most effective part of the process is the significant amount of time given to shadowing key personnel in the field.  Not only does the new hire see what gets done they also become immersed in the culture.  They learn the company’s philosophy,  values, and norms.  They learn about the formal  power structure as well as the informal power dynamics of the firm.  The latter may prove to be very important to the new hire’s success.

Successful onboarding programs think of the new hire as a customer.  Their question is.“ how would you deliver great service to this customer?”  A key component of great customer service requires monitoring the process and the evaluation of the customer’s effectiveness using the product.  My client’s program closely follows this model.  Additionally, by placing the responsibility for onboarding with the training department they ensure that accountability is optimized. 

If the employer believes that onboarding is critical to the new hire’s success, then it needs the appropriate emphasis.  If the employer lacks the resources internally, it may be worthwhile to consider an outside resource to guide the process.

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Jim Weber, President

New Century Dynamics Executive Search

www.newcenturydynamics.com

Onboarding: Start A New Job The Right Way!

When I begin hearing the same thing from different people at the same time I stop and take notice.  That is what happened last week.  One day, my colleague on the consulting side of our business was lamenting a client’s poor management of the onboarding process for a candidate I just placed.   The next day the issue became, even more, personal as a close friend opened up about her experience.  She was disappointed with the way she was onboarded by her current employer.   She had just completed her one-year anniversary as a Key Account Executive with a Fortune 500 financial services company.   She thought she could have been much more productive leveraging her six-figure salary if her boss had crafted a better onboarding program.   The message to her was: "you are smart and experienced so you can figure it out."   Of course, she did figure it out, but at what cost?  

To some extent, I can understand the first situation as the client is an emerging brand with a lot of moving parts.  On the other hand, my colleague had delivered the on-boarding plan to the hiring manager.  All he had to do was to share same with the new employee and facilitate his training and assimilation.  The second situation is more confusing as the employer is a major, well-established brand. 

When I think back on my job changes, while an employee in the Fortune 500 environment, I enjoyed the benefits of well-crafted onboarding programs.  These were significant Senior General Manager positions.  Not C-level jobs, but meaningful, highly compensated jobs.    My employers invested the time to ensure that I had the tools, understood the culture, and assimilated well into my new job.  They knew that if the onboarding program were sound, I would be more efficient sooner enhancing my potential to the company.   

I understand that the world that changed.  People are expected to do more with less.  Some things have not changed, however.  Turnover is still very costly.   Typically, most turnover comes from the ranks of the least-tenured employees.  In other words, there is a majority of permanent employees who have been with the company for a long time.   The smaller group of less tenured employees represents the segment that is turning most often.   Why is that?  It is costly!   Companies do not hire from the outside if they have the talent available inside the enterprise.  So churning the most recent hires represents a failure to meet recruiting goals.   In these situations, something is amiss in the recruiting-selection-management process.   

For our purposes, onboarding is about housekeeping, incorporation, and acceleration.  Housekeeping refers to the administrative activities of making a new hire an employee.   That includes completing the new-hire package to put the individual into the payroll system and assigning their workspace.  It also includes providing the new hire with tools of the trade such as cell phones, computers, and access to the intranet.    Incorporation speaks to the introduction of the new employee to the company.  That includes getting to know their existing team, peers, and possibly the next level of management where they may interface.  Acceleration is about helping the new hire become fully productive as soon as possible.  Acceleration is learning how things get done in the company.   It is as much about cultural indoctrination as it is about understanding business processes.  Acceleration may be the most critical part of the onboarding process as it is highly interpersonal and likely the most politically charged part of the work environment. 

If you are about to start a new job, invest some time learning about your onboarding plan.  If you find it lacking, you must be proactive!  Take the initiative to enhance the onboarding program and gain buy-in from your hiring manager and key stakeholders.   Success in your new job depends on getting off to a good start!   For the next few posts, we will explore the onboarding process more thoroughly.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

I hope you enjoyed my point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email in-box.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list. 

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so please leave a comment.

Jim Weber, President

New Century Dynamics Executive Search

www.newcenturydynamics.com

Your Recruiter's Vetting Process: Other Activities

For the past few weeks we have explored the candidate vetting process via interviewing.   Interviews are important, but hardly the only way candidates are evaluated.  There is a lot of work done throughout the selection process that precede, parallel, and succeed interviews.    To be successful you must understand the entire vetting process and prepare accordingly.

Most of my candidates come from my network, either as primary contacts or their referrals.  I generally know a bit about them and may have worked with them in the past.   The people in my network have established a certain level of trust.  Candidates introduced by network members benefit as that trust attaches to them, more or less.   Additionally, the referral source will provide much needed background information on their referral.  It is not uncommon to receive referrals from second and third level connections who I may not know.  Or, for some searches I must actively network to find candidates.  In these cases I am connecting with people I don’t know.   Since they are unfamiliar to me, I must establish a comfort level to put them into contention.  The basic process to accomplish that goal is:

• Talk with people at companies where they have worked.
• Review their on-line persona.
• Conduct an Internet Search.

It really is a small world which technology continues to shrink.  Since I focus on a limited number of industry segments my professional world is a bit smaller.  If I have not crossed paths with someone, I know people that have.   By using my network I can talk to people who have had direct experience with the job seeker.  They will validate him, or not.  These discussions are particularly helpful as I will uncover information not available through more traditional means.

One's online persona is important to explore.  We have heard stories of bad behavior displayed on the Facebook pages of recent College Grads and younger professionals.   Although this is less the case with more senior executives, there is still a lot to learn by reviewing their social media accounts.  It may seem like an invasion of privacy, a little creepy even.   The Internet, however, is the public domain and fair game.  LinkedIn is particularly useful.  The background information presented there is more comprehensive than most resumes.   I can get to know the candidate's professional associations and affiliations as well as references provided by coworkers.  If they are active in on-line groups I can evaluate their technical savvy and writing skills.  If they are active on Twitter I can learn more about their interests.  In summary, social media is an information gold mine.

I use Google to find news articles about or written by my candidates.  There’s also a number of fee-based services available to collect highly personal financial information.  I haven’t found the need to do so, but you can be certain that others will.  You must know that the internet makes it easy to learn as much as one needs to know about job seekers.

Understanding the full scope of the recruiter’s vetting process is important to your success as a job seeker.  Understanding the information the recruiter needs and how she finds that information will help you better manage your personal brand.   Manage your public profile proactively to better support your job search goals.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

I hope you enjoyed my point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email in-box.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list. 

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so please leave a comment.

Jim Weber, President

New Century Dynamics Executive Search

www.newcenturydynamics.com