REPOST: 5 Tips to Improve How You Onboard Entry-Level Employees

It’s always a challenge for employers to look for qualified candidates to fill in a new position or a recently vacated one. Here are some tips from Business 2 Community on how to successfully transition new employees into the company workforce.

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It’s no secret finding the right candidate for a job is often anything but easy. Entry-level positions can be particularly difficult to fill, as applicants customarily have little (if any) related work experience to help your decision making. So when you find a quality person for an entry-level job, you want him or her to stick around for years to come.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, young employees between the ages of 20 and 34—the ages you typically see for entry-level applicants—will only spend an average of 2.3 years with an employer. Some sources indicate employees will decide in as little as 10 days if they intend to stay with an organization or begin looking for a different job! This means successfully onboarding entry-level employees can reduce turnover.

As an HR representative, the bulk of work associated with onboarding often falls on you. Now is the time to create a positive onboarding experience for entry-level employees. These tips will help you get started. 

1. Start the Process Before the New Hire’s First Day

For entry-level employees, few things are as full of promise and excitement as the first day at a career-starting job. First days are also typically full of questions, many of which can (and should!) be answered before a new hire arrives. That’s why you should begin the onboarding process before the new person starts work. Send an agenda of what you’ll be covering on the first day. Also send a list of FAQs so you can spend less time answering questions about paid time off and more time discussing job-specific responsibilities and expectations.

2. Explain Why The Employee Was Hired

New employees want to know why exactly you chose them over the other candidates. This information can be especially worthwhile to entry-level employees who are likely new to job search. “Don’t let new employees lose sight of what makes them different,” says Jeff Haden on Inc.com. “They have qualities and attributes other candidates didn’t. Explain what those qualities are and how they helped you make your hiring decision.”

3. Assign a Mentor or Buddy

Starting a new job can sometimes feel like starting at a new school: Current employees already know each other quite while, and they already have their groups of friends, which can cause a new employee to feel alienated. You can account for this by assigning a mentor or buddy to show the new person around, make introductions and begin training. This relationship should continue after onboarding into training and may continue much longer if the pair form a connection.

4. Automate Onboarding Documents

First days come with a lot of paperwork for the new employee to fill out and for you to process. Between company handbooks, insurance and benefits information, employee agreements and tax forms, it’s easy for a form to go astray. By automating onboarding documents, you can eliminate paper shuffling entirely. Onboarding by Hyrell allows you to organize the distribution and collection of all documents needed to process newly hired employees. As an added bonus, by distributing these forms electronically, entry-level employees will get a great first impression of your company’s tech savviness.

5. Ask the Employee for Feedback

It’s important to recognize that, no matter how efficient and effective you think your onboarding process is, there is always room for improvement. After training has ended and the entry-level employee has worked for the company for a period of time, get back in touch to ask for feedback on the onboarding process. Ask questions to determine if the process met the employee’s needs and how the employee would change the process to make it more enjoyable for future hires.

Working to create a positive onboarding experience for entry-level employees may reduce turnover and make your job less stressful. Use these tips to get started today!

 

The Bertrand Management Group is composed of industry professionals specializing in business coaching. Find out more about their work by liking this Facebook page.

Understanding the Gen-Y workforce

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By 2025, it is expected that Generation Y, also known as the millennials, will take over the working population. This generation, which is composed of people born in the ‘80s to the ‘90s, is perhaps the most diverse and most connected. Millennials are considered by the older generations to be very independent, creative, and resourceful.

However, they are often misunderstood by their elders for being self-involved and narcissistic because of the influence of social media culture. That aside, millennials thrive in the workplace because of their passion. Unlike baby boomers who tend to work mainly to make a living, millennials take the time to find out what they’re passionate about and make career choices based on whether they could make a difference. They also value transparency, which lets them in on how a task they’re assigned to do matters in the big picture. This could be a source of conflict between them and their managers, who are most likely baby boomers who aren’t used to being questioned by their subordinates.

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Because millennials are the founders of the social media movement, they place a significant value on interaction and the sharing of information. While this is frowned upon by some of their elders, particularly when it involves work, it also serves as their means of self-expression and a way to exercise their creativity.

Image source: marketwatch.com

Another defining factor of the millennials is their self-sufficiency. This, perhaps, stems from the fact that they are striving to build a stable life amid a cyclical economy. As a result, millennials are smart with their money and are not easily swayed to make big purchases.

Since millennials are the future workforce, it is important for today’s leaders to understand their unique traits to be able to become great mentors that would help this generation achieve career success.

For more stories on career and management, follow this Bertrand Management Group Facebook page.

REPOST: 5 Attributes Of A World-Class Workforce

In this day and age, how can companies come up with world-class workforce? This Forbes article shares some insights.

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There’s a technology-driven revolution happening in HR these days. It’s called self-service and it gives employees more power over their careers. In a nutshell, self-service gives people control over many functions that used to be handled by HR. With a private log-in, employees can now manage their own payroll and retirement plans, request time-off and other schedule adjustments, book on-line courses and other learning and development tools, engage and be social with colleagues on intranets, and just generally manage their own work lives to an extent that was previously impossible. This leads to more engaged, empowered and productive teams.

Self-service is a key development in building and retaining a world-class workforce. It is a key leadership and learning tool. It is what the future looks like. And it’s here today.

But, wait! Before you walk away from your computer and start doing cartwheels down the hallways, there is a major caveat!

Self-service is no substitute for savvy hiring. It can take smart hiring to a new level, but never everforget that hiring is the bottom line in HR and leadership. Hire wrong and all the self-service in the world will be worthless.

So, let’s do a quick refresher on the five most important attributes to look to for when building a world-class team of talent:

1) Talent. There is simply no substitute for talent. Talented people bring ideas, spontaneity, innovation, spark, and inspiration to your organization. Talent is invaluable, it is the heart and soul of a great company. Learn how to recognize talent. Hint: talent in one field is a predictor, if not a guarantee, of talent in another. Look for amazing accomplishments even if they’re not directly related to what your company produces.

2) Passion. Passion drives greatness. Passion is contagious. A passionate employee will go the extra mile – and then some. When hiring, look for people who have interesting quirks in their resumes, who are passionate about mountain climbing, Russian literature, recycling, whatever. A passionate person brings fire, heart and inspiration to your organization and culture.

3) Attitude. There is nothing as refreshing and uplifting as someone with an upbeat, kind, generous personality. They are one of the foundations of a world-class workforce. People with a positive attitude are teachable, eager to grow, develop, expand their skill set and deliver stellar performance. Plus, a can-do attitude, sense of fun and generous spirit are contagious, and lift morale and workplace happiness.

4) Aptitude. For some jobs, skills are the bottom line. IT and other complex systems demand up-to-the-nanosecond expertise. Yes, talent can be trained, but to stay ahead of the game you need a workforce infused with hands-on know-how, filled with people who are plugged into what is happening now and have their pulse on tomorrow. They must have the ability to quickly master the newest innovations. This requires aptitude and the confidence it spreads. A confidence that permeates an organization and leadership, that signals to everyone – employees in other departments, customers, social communities, and stakeholders – that you know what you’re doing.

5) Fortitude. A great company and great leadership never rests. It is never quite satisfied. It is always looking to better not only the competition, but itself. This takes a lot of good old-fashioned hard work. Hire people who are have a track record of delivering results, even it means pulling an all-nighter now and then. Look for people who love to get their hands dirty and nail down the details. You want to create that synergy between inspiration and perspiration. And hardworking people set an example that infuses energy into a workplace culture.

Hire people with these five attributes and then empower them with self-service technology – and you will soon find yourself on the way to building an ever-evolving, stellar-performing, world-class workforce.

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Bertrand Management Group is a consulting firm that handles the need of businesses to formulate plans to make their organization successful in various aspects, such as people management. For more about the company, follow this Facebook page.