Why recruiters need to take part in onboarding
I’m sure, during your career, you’ve probably had at least one good onboarding experience and one bad one. It keeps everything in balance; as a candidate, you can’t truly appreciate what good onboarding feels like until you’ve experienced it in its worst – or nonexistent – form.
Good onboarding is the yin to bad onboarding’s yang.
That said, it is definitely possible to deliver an objectively good… no, excellent…no, outstanding(!) onboarding experience regardless of anything else the candidate has encountered before.
And guess what… as a recruiter, you can play a huge role in making sure that happens. After all, you probably have a closer relationship with the candidate. So it makes sense for you to be there as a point of contact for both candidate and client to grease the wheels of the handover.
The truth is, though, this isn’t the reality. Most recruiters step away once their candidate has signed on with their new job – like your college tutor when you passed your exams. And if you’re reading this thinking, “That sounds like me!” then you’re not alone.
But by not taking part in onboarding, you’re missing a great opportunity to build stronger relationships with all parties. And that brings with it a range of benefits.
So let’s take a look at:
Why is the onboarding process so important?
Now I know I’m probably preaching to the converted. We all know how important effective onboarding is, even if as a recruiter you don’t actively participate in it. But let’s just remind ourselves of why it’s such a crucial step.
1. Candidates need to be immersed in their new employer’s culture from the get-go
Onboarding is an inexact process; there are many means and methods by which you can deliver it. As a beloved relative used to say, “There is more than one way to skin a cat” (try not to let the mental image that conjures cast a shadow over the intended meaning).
This ambiguity around the process is probably why a Gallup poll revealed that only 12% of employers think they excel at onboarding new hires.
But regardless of the route they choose for getting there, employers need to immerse new employees into the culture from day one. This can be achieved by sharing the company’s mission, vision and values.?
This enables the employee to understand the purpose behind the company, how their employer plans to fulfill that purpose, and the guiding set of beliefs and actions they think will help them get there.
By doing this, new employees can see with clarity how they can align with the mission, vision and values, and how they can contribute towards the company making them a reality.
2. Candidates need to understand how to be successful in their new role
New employees need to get off on the right foot and, as much as possible, be self-starters. In other words, they need to know from the first day what a successful employee in the company looks like and what they do.
This can be achieved through mentorship schemes – both formal and informal – as well as short-term goal-setting with regular reviews and feedback.?
This facet of the onboarding process empowers new employees with confidence and the ability to think independently and make decisions autonomously. This engages them from the word go and contributes to a culture of innovation, collaboration and success.
What’s the risk if new employees don’t understand how to be successful in their new role? Well, true to the analogy, without the company’s road map to success, employees can quickly become lost. This will inevitably lead to them becoming unproductive, disempowered and disengaged.
The margins for this are pretty fine. According to the Allied Workforce Mobility Survey , it takes eight months for a newly hired employee to become fully productive. But as this article from the Society for Human Resource Management shows, nearly a third of all new hires quit their jobs within the first six months.?
That’s proof that new employees can become disengaged and even leave before they ever become productive. So the imperative for getting new employees up and running quickly, with a clear understanding of what it is to be successful, is clear.
3. Candidates need regular communication throughout the first year and even beyond
Like with many things at work or in life in general, problems can be solved and goals can be achieved through good, regular communication. This is certainly true of onboarding. The entire process hinges on the consistent and meaningful dialogue between both parties that should extend way beyond the first year.
The dialogue can be initiated by the new employee's line manager before they begin. As this article from Seismic shows, best-in-class employers are 35% more likely to begin onboarding before the first day.?
By communicating before they start, then meeting in the first few days and following up weekly or bi-weekly – as long as it’s a regular cadence – questions, feedback and issues can be exchanged and problems can be solved in a timely and contained manner.
According to this CareerBuilder survey , 67% of job seekers have a positive impression of a company if they receive consistent updates throughout the application process. And that will remain true in the lead up to their first day and beyond.
Communication is the element of the onboarding process that really underpins the whole process.?
It’s incredibly effective in solving problems before they snowball. It’s also crucial in engaging new employers and assisting with cultural buy-in, and giving a positive overall impression about the company’s people strategy.
The results of great onboarding vs. bad or no onboarding
Overall, great onboarding delivers many benefits for both the employer and the employee. It impacts retention, performance and productivity.
According to the SHRM article, there are huge wins in terms of retention. Sixty-nine per cent of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience great onboarding. And those that have been through a structured onboarding process are 58% more likely to still be with the company after three years.
Overall, employee onboarding has been shown to improve retention by 82%.
In terms of productivity, the article also shows that employers with a standard onboarding process experience 50% greater new-hire productivity.
On average, employers with a strong onboarding process improve new hire productivity by over 70%.
When it comes to performance, the Seismic article shows that employees at companies with a longer onboarding program gain full proficiency 34% faster than those with shorter programs. And 77% of new hires who hit their first performance milestone had formal employee onboarding training.
Where can recruiters get involved?
Right, so we’ve established the necessity to deliver a great onboarding experience. So the next questions are: as a recruiter, how and when should you get involved?
It’s important to say that I am a realist. I’m fully aware of your time constraints as a recruiter. So I’m not suggesting you take such an active role in the onboarding process every time. It simply wouldn’t be feasible. But there are occasions when it is absolutely necessary, and others when it’s certainly preferable.?
Where employers don’t have an onboarding process
According to this article from the Harvard Business Review , 22% of companies have no formal onboarding program. And 35% of companies have no onboarding budget whatsoever. In this event, you can provide an impromptu external onboarding experience.?
I’m not recommending that you attempt to deliver anything beyond what you would if you were supporting an internal process provided by the employer. But you might want to consider facilitating communications between your placement and their line manager before they start and checking in with them more regularly once they’re in post.
领英推荐
You could also suggest some practices that you’ve picked up from other clients – as long as they don’t cost anything to implement. An HR department with no formal onboarding process or no budget for delivering one will likely be receptive to new ideas that improve their employee experience.
Be mindful of how you approach this one, though – you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes!
Where the candidate is a top performer
This one is a no-brainer. If you’re placing a top performer in their respective industry, their experience is of paramount importance; they are a VIP. So you don’t really have a choice, you simply must support the onboarding process. The potential benefits are too great to pass up.
Conversely, if your client is the one that’s of paramount importance and they are filling a senior position, it’s the same brief. You’re going to do wonders for your relationships with both parties in either event.
Where there is a retention-related bonus
Now this one is more about your personal gains from getting involved. If there is a retention-related bonus, i.e., the bonus gets larger the longer the placement stays in post, then it’s in your personal interest to participate in onboarding. You are personally going to gain if you help deliver an outstanding experience for the candidate.
And as we know from the figure above, great onboarding dramatically increases retention and performance metrics.
Whenever you’ve got time
Lastly, you should always get involved in onboarding when you have time. If you simply don’t have the resources to deliver it with every placement, or it’s going to be detrimental to your work elsewhere, then don’t.
What are the big wins?
According to the aforementioned Gallup poll, 88% of employers are not good at onboarding. That means there’s plenty of room for you to get involved and provide support for both employer and employee.
Save time and money
By helping to create a better onboarding process, you can save time and money – both for you and your client. According to the SHRM, the organisational costs of employee turnover are estimated to range between 100% and 300% of the replaced employee’s salary.
In addition, it’s estimated that $37 billion is spent annually in the UK and the US on keeping unproductive employees who don’t understand their job. So getting involved in onboarding will help make savings in both of these areas.
Elsewhere, in terms of your bottom line, you aren’t bogged down with trying to find replacement candidates for a failed placement. And, you might be in for a retention-based bonus to boot. It’s a win-win!
Better relationships with your clients
It’s fairly clear that this benefit links heavily to the previous one. If you’re saving your clients money, and helping their new employees perform up to 11% better , they’re going to be pretty happy.
That increases the likelihood of them using you again to fill other roles, and it’s also great for your agency’s overall reputation – think of the online reviews!
Good relationships with your existing clients are important always, but they are likely to become more crucial in the coming months. The job market has defied predictions and contradicted economy-related trends, but we’re already seeing signs that companies are laying off workers rather than looking for new ones.
So if getting involved with onboarding can help strengthen and lengthen your relationships with your clients, the juice has got to be worth the squeeze.
Better relationships with your talent
It stands to reason that helping out with onboarding would also improve your relationships with your talent. If nothing else, it shows that you’re committed to helping them find a job and succeed in the role. And that really is the nuts and bolts of what a recruiter is meant to do.
By supporting your candidates throughout the process, and checking back in with them in a timely and sincere manner, you will undoubtedly win their trust, and that’s going to pay dividends moving forwards.
Obviously, the other side of the coin is if you don’t support in the onboarding process and the placement fails within the first six months or sooner. That’s going to translate to a very unpleasant experience for your candidate – and it’s unlikely that they’ll keep their story to themselves .
Increased chance of redeployment
If you helped your candidate land their dream job and helped them integrate and perform within their new company, it’s likely you’ll have forged a decent relationship with them. And that’s gonna pay off when they decide to look for something new.
Better relationships with your talent increase the likelihood that you’ll be able to redeploy them in the future. And the more you know about them and what they want, the more accurately you’ll be able to match them with jobs further down the line.
Why might recruiters be reluctant to take part in onboarding?
Not within your remit
As I touched on previously in this article, you might be reluctant to get involved in onboarding simply because you don’t see it as your responsibility. And it’s obvious why this might be the prevailing attitude: the employer is the expert in terms of the company, the role and the day-to-day, so this process should be delivered by them.
Not enough time
There are also time and effort factors. You know how busy you are. You spend on average a third of your workweek on sourcing alone. So the initial time and effort outlay may simply be too much to invest upfront. Especially when the benefits might not come until much further along the road.
Negative impact on your existing workload
Lastly, you’ve got the impact on other clients and candidates. If you’ve got several open positions to fill, including some C-level or hard-to-fill positions, then they must take priority over checking in with a candidate you’ve just placed to see how their first week has progressed.
The impact of the economic downturn
The reasons above play a big part in convincing you to not get involved in onboarding. But something else is happening that is possibly having a more profound impact.
We’re rolling deeper into a period of economic instability, and that brings with it a great deal of uncertainty around the job market.
As I previously stated, the market remains buoyant for now, but that does show signs of changing. With fewer vacancies comes less requirement for recruitment agencies to help fill them. And that means less money moving around, and less money for the agencies themselves.
However, in response to this, it would be counterproductive to withdraw from your integrated onboarding strategy altogether. Think about those benefits listed above. They do require hard work in the short term but it’s a long-term investment that will build longer-term relationships for the future.
When your clients do inevitably start cutting contracts to recruiters, who are they likely to keep? The guys that delivered great candidates through an integrated onboarding process, which reduced their costs of talent acquisition via retention? Or all the guys that didn’t??
The story is the same with candidates. They will naturally want to work with a recruiter that’s invested in their success.
So when times get hard, resist the temptation to make savings in this area. Don’t just hand the baton over to the next runner – carry it all the way to the finish line! You can thank me for it when the market recovers.