How can you ensure niche talent feels valued and supported in the onboarding process?

Don't onboard your niche talent like everyone else. Tailor it to their unique needs. Niche talent is different. They have unique skills, experiences, and perspectives. Treat them that way in your onboarding process.

Understanding the unique needs of your niche talent is a critical step in effective onboarding. By taking the time to assess their goals, motivations, and preferences, as well as their strengths and areas for improvement, you can create a tailored onboarding process that addresses their specific requirements. Identifying the challenges they may encounter in adapting to your organization's culture, systems, or processes is essential for providing the necessary support and resources. Utilizing methods such as surveys, interviews, assessments, and feedback sessions helps you gain valuable insights, ultimately leading to a more successful onboarding experience for your niche talent.

Niche talent - hard to come by! Some of my clients in the civil space adopt the following practices to retain top talent: - industry specific training - mentoring from experienced engineers, to help them navigate the complexities of their industry and role. - access to the appropriate tools/technology. - project team integration - introducing potential new starters to the project team during onboarding is a game changer! - project exposure - ensuring niche talent are on projects that align with their expertise and interests. - recognition of their talents - letting them know the impact they make on critical projects and what their presence truly means. - regular feedback/performance reviews.

We all have different lens to see and evaluate niche skills. In my point of view all the hiring are as equally important as niche hiring. You can not bare the loss to lose even a vanilla skills candidate at the time of delivery. being a recruiter, I have all my intension to provide them a good onboarding experience. There are various ways to make them feel a valuable resource for the company : 1. Personalized Joining : make yourself available on their first day of joining despite if you have a onboarding team. No one can give them a comfort zone like a person who reached out first. 2. Inclusive Company Culture 3. Assign a buddy : Pair them with a colleague (buddy) who can assist with day-to-day inquiries 4. Continuous Learning Opportunities

My goal is to help people attain their dream jobs, drawing on my experience as an Organizational Psychologist and recruiter/headhunter, along with my master's in Organizational Development. I have a holistic view of individuals as biopsychosocial entities striving for self-improvement. My time management is a challenge, often leading to weekend work. Adapting to constant changes within my organization can be disorienting. I employ surveys, interviews, assessments, and feedback sessions to gather information, with a focus on qualitative and quantitative techniques, like document analysis and focus groups. This data informs a tailored onboarding process for my niche talent.

Assign a buddy: When new hires are paired with a buddy who they regularly meet on a weekly or monthly basis, they’ll have someone to turn to for questions and concerns. This can be especially helpful for niche talent who may have unique questions or concerns that aren’t addressed in the standard onboarding process.

You should be adaptable to the candidates preferences, and ensure you clarify what they are before proceeding. How often do they want to be communicated with? By which means? How can they contact you? And how quickly can they typically expect a response? Gaining transparency on both sides will go a long way to ensuring a positive onboarding experience.

Niche talent needs personalized support, not a generic onboarding process. Give them the attention and guidance they need to thrive.

Niche Talent is very critical for any organization and hence onboarding them strategically is very important and the process starts from pre joining where he/she should be handled with lot of enthusiasm, Pre Onboarding Calls/meeting - set up pre onboarding meetings or call with the respective hiring manager who will create a sense of belongingness and enthusiasm for joining the organization. Assign a Buddy from day 1 so that he/she feel inclusive from the start. New Joiner Candidate experience - TA/HR should stay in continuous touch with the niche talent to provide the extended support and help.

An often overlooked yet impactful way to provide personalized support is through the development of a 'Mentorship Matchmaking' program. This initiative carefully pairs the niche talent with a mentor whose expertise and career trajectory align closely with the new hire's aspirations. The mentor acts as a navigator, helping them understand the nuances of the organization and offering insight into how to leverage their unique skills within the company framework.

I absolutely agree with this perspective. In my experience, Buddy programs can be very effective in pairing niche talent with like-minded individuals who can support their integration to the organisation. This builds a sense of belonging and community right from the onset.

Create an onboarding buddy system so the individual has someone to help them onboard. If the current department doesn't have anyone with a similar background, then see if there's someone on a cross-functional team who can help the individual acclimate to the work environment.

En les encourageant à participer à des activités de groupe et à des projets collaboratifs. En leur offrant un mentor ou un guide qui peut les aider à naviguer dans la nouvelle culture. En créant un environnement inclusif et ouvert où ils se sentent à l'aise de poser des questions et d'exprimer leurs préoccupations. En organisant des réunions régulières pour évaluer leur progression et leur fournir un feedback constructif. En fournissant les ressources et le soutien nécessaires pour développer leurs compétences et talents.

Also, let's not forget the power of a good old fashioned welcome wagon. Introducing them to teams and individuals who can collaborate and appreciate their niche skills creates a sense of belonging. This isn't high school; we're not trying to throw them into the deep end to see if they swim. It's more about guiding them into the cool part of the pool where the interesting conversations happen.

Addressing niche talent's potential isolation is crucial for an inclusive work environment. Remote work or different locations can amplify this, and communication and collaboration barriers worsen the issue. Connecting niche talent with their peers bridges these gaps. Incorporating socialization, networking, and team-building into onboarding helps build relationships and exchange insights. Encouraging niche talent to join relevant communities and affinity groups provides a sense of belonging and supports collaboration. This approach enhances engagement, diversity, and innovation, fostering a thriving, inclusive culture. It's a win-win for employees and the organization.

In my experience, recognizing their potential contribution before they even join is a huge motivator. If the team is looking forward to the person's contribution, this may create a sense of engagement, belonging and loyalty. I like to let the team know how I feel the person will be contributing and what they bring to the table. You do need to be careful though to not make this overwhelming and create too much pressure. It's a fine balance between exciting and setting expectations of contributions at the right level.

Positive re-enforcement and engagement is another simple, yet massively effect, way of making employees feel valued and included. Now imagine how this would feel if you are newcomer into a new organisation and a new team, this would feel very settling and reassuring to any one.

Recognizing and fostering efforts is not only essential for preventing feelings of undervaluation but also for promoting job satisfaction and employee loyalty. Constructive feedback, praise, and rewards are powerful tools for reinforcing appreciation, while involving niche talent in decision-making and innovation processes taps into their expertise and fosters a sense of ownership. Additionally, providing career development opportunities allows these individuals to grow and thrive within the organization. The result is a more engaged, satisfied, and committed niche talent that contributes to the long-term success and innovation of the organization.

Then there's the art of listening - and I mean really listening, not just nodding along while mentally planning your lunch. Understand what drives them, what they hope to achieve, and what might scare them (like office karaoke nights). This way, you can address their concerns and ambitions directly, making them feel like they're not just another brick in the wall.

In my experience, recognizing the hard work of talent is critical. I've seen firsthand how a simple "thank you" can brighten an employee's day, or how public recognition can boost their confidence. It is important to not only praise their accomplishments, but to truly listen to their ideas and perspectives. Inviting them to take the lead on projects that play to their strengths not only validates their importance to the team, but also encourages innovation. By actively seeking their input in decision-making and giving them opportunities to shine, you will see a remarkable increase in loyalty and job satisfaction. It's about making them feel seen, valued and heard.

For me onboarding is the show via which the new joiner gets a taste of the company culture make it the way you want the employee to treat the company for the entire tenure. For niche specially you can conduct a post onboarding session for doubt clearing and get a HR buddy assigned to them so that they can reach out whenever they have a query. As niche talents are often impulsive and difficult to handle. Hence, we need to deal with their query with utmost experience.

Don't let your onboarding process stagnate. Continuously evaluate and improve it to ensure that it meets the needs of your niche talent.

So I think, embracing the concept of an evolving and customized onboarding process is paramount, especially when it comes to niche talent. The onboarding journey should be a fluid and adaptive experience, guided by data-driven insights and feedback from niche talent and their colleagues. Regular reviews and updates are essential to ensure that the process remains aligned with the changing needs, expectations, and goals of niche talent. The result is an integrated, satisfied, and productive niche talent that is better equipped to contribute to the organization's overall success. The ongoing investment in the onboarding process is not only a commitment to niche talent but also a strategy for long-term organizational growth.

The onboarding process should never be a one size fits all approach. As with recruitment it’s continuous, it’s human and at different points in a year therefore constant review and adjustment is necessary. This supports an individual but also the evolution of the job role, business and environment.

Evaluating and improving the onboarding process for niche talent is an ongoing endeavor. Data analysis, feedback, and process updates are key elements. By continually refining your onboarding procedures based on niche talent input and evolving needs, you ensure that the process remains effective in integrating and retaining valuable niche talent.

??The level of value and support a new niche employee feels will be largely driven by the welcome received from existing employees ?? Prepare existing employees to greet their new teammate by sharing their background, role, start date and priorities for the first few weeks. This will take the guess work from existing employees and enable them to offer the most relevant value and support ??

Start with the onboarding even before the new hire starts. In some countries a welcome letter would be enough or giving a call would be highly appreciated for some cultures. Personalize the onboarding according to the country/culture. A body or a mentor will be helpful to provide a safe space for asking questions. A short companies presentation, training sessions can help the new hires to get familiar with the company cultures and processes. This way you will also reduce the risk that the new hire leaves in the first 3 months

Niche talent can often mean lower volume of new hires presenting different challenges to high volume. Depending on the size of your business. The challenge can often be scaleability of solutions or creating a consistent onboarding experience when it's ad-hoc hiring. Get the brilliant basics in place. Automations that underpin the process, coupled with clear self-service guides that support the manager and existing team to pick up and provide a great experience for those niche / ad-hoc new hires.

Lastly, feedback loops are your friend. Keep those lines of communication as open as a 24/7 diner. Encourage them to share their experiences and suggestions. This not only helps you fine-tune the onboarding process but also makes them feel like their voice matters - because, let's face it, it really does.

Empathy is the key to success. It can be scary to make a big change, especially for high-level niche talent. They are walking away from something very familiar, and walking into the unknown with a fair amount of risk. Attempting to walk in their shoes, and see it from their perspective is the key to ensuring they will feel welcomed and get off to a good start.