Getting New Employees Off On the Right Foot

     There is a considerable amount of time involved in the hiring of a new employee.  Making and delivering advertisements.   Time cost of the internal recruiter and that of the  recruiter's assistant in reviewing resumes and performing other recruitment-related tasks.  Conducting the interviews and background checks and the various pre-employment assessment tests and pre-interview meetings.

     In my 26 years of employment at my present company I have been involved directly and indirectly with numerous new hires.  I have seen it done right and seen it become a disaster for both the new hire and to company.  I am going to discuss several simple key factors that you can do so that after all the hard work put into the interview process itself, you can ensure that both your time and the new employees time is best maximized.

Step #1 

If it is possible have at least one person from the team/area that will be closely working with the new individual on the interview team.  I find that as a direct supervisor it worked well to have myself and one of my direct reports on the team.  Another advantage to this is you will most likely hear of their strengths and weaknesses in the interview.  This gives you the advantage of holding the new hire to the high standards that were set in the posting/interview that allowed them to be selected for the job.  Often the interview data gets lost and forgotten after the person is hired.  As well by doing this you are taking personal responsibility of your new hire giving you the motivation to see that your selection works out well.  

Step #2

Select a mentor.  Before your new employee even starts their first day of work select a team member who has good work habits to be their mentor.  As the team leader you will not be able to dedicate the time required to assist and train this person like someone who is working by their side all day long.  Keep these two workers together until the new employee is comfortable working alone and you feel it is acceptable to do so.  Once again you now have a team member who has invested time and energy into seeing that the new employee succeeds.

Step #3 

Guidance.  Both your mentor and the new employee should have clear goals and expectations of what the next few weeks results should entail. Check on them regularly and see how their progress is and if any roadblocks have emerged.  Remember to encourage open discussions so that you can get a good feel of how the training and mentor-ship is going.  Make a connection with your new employee.  This will open up the doors so that your new team member can become engaged in their job.  Encourage good behaviors and give them tasks that you know they can exceed in to build their confidence.  By doing so, you will set the stage for a workplace where every employee feels valued.

Step #4

Educate.  Many workplaces have procedures, policies or manuals to guide their employees in their day to day tasks and anomalies.  Make these readily available to your new hire but do not overload them with too much at one time.  This step you educate yourself as to where the new employee has strengths and their weaknesses.  What do you need to do to make sure that this person keeps moving forward in a positive way?  Talk to your other team members and find out how this person is doing in their new role.  

Step #5

Evaluate and make adjustments if needed. Slowly involve others in the training.  Try to get the whole team involved over the first few months.  Now you start to see how well this person is working out and how they interact with the team.  Increase their responsibilities and keep repeating these steps as they grow into their new role and complete new tasks.