From a hiring manager’s perspective, when you are recruiting and have made an offer to someone, you need to understand that a counter offer is highly likely, it is also likely that the candidate may have multiple interviews lined up to choose from.
Most companies have worked hard on their onboarding processes over the last few years, in order to ensure that your new employee has the very best start to their career with you.
What’s now being talked about to make the whole recruitment process even smoother is preboarding.
You are investing in a piece of recruitment and want your offer to be accepted and for the new starter to be absolutely bought in to joining your company. ‘Minding the gap’ between interview, offer and start date is becoming more important than ever.
Thoughtful & effective preboarding minimises the risk of candidates accepting your offer but then being snapped up by someone else or accepting a counter offer with their current employer.
Get your preboarding groundwork done as early as offer stage.
Identify the time period between an offer letter being signed and the start date. It could be a week, a month or in a lot of cases 3 months. You want your new hire to be totally bought in to you, excited about their new job and feeling engaged and included as soon as possible.
What is clear is that you will have a committed and motivated new starter if you get your preboarding spot on.
And, it can be the very simple but effective things that will make a big difference:
- Meet the team – formally or socially
- Send a congratulations card
- Offer an invitation for a coffee catch up with you
- Communicate project information for them to start to think about
- Make LinkedIn connections with key team members
- Introduce them to their mentor or leaders
- Call them to check in weekly
- Get your paperwork out to them in good time
- Be diligent to ensure emails and company IT is in the process of being set up
- Invite them to a work event / networking event
The idea is to take away any concerns or nervousness about starting a new job. Think about the personal touches which will remove any new starter anxiety. A few simple ideas:
What time do they need to be with you on day 1?
How does the parking work at the office?
Does anyone travel in from a similar location? Bus share?
Is there somewhere to secure a bike?
What’s the dress code?
What do people tend to do for lunch?
In order to confidently hire in the market, put yourself in the shoes of the new starter. What would you want to know before starting a new job, how would you want to feel about the company you’re joining? How can you make the transition as smooth as possible? Attracting new employees can be tricky and retaining them can be even more difficult. How someone starts a job can have a big impact on performance and their desire to stay with you for years to come. So, mind that gap!