How to Make a Good First Impression with New Hires

Companies spend a lot of money and resources on locating and hiring the right talent. However, once the employment contract is signed, many new hires feel lost due to ineffective onboarding programs that leave them unprepared for the tasks at hand. The repercussions for ineffective onboarding can be dire and cause missed opportunities for engagement of high-performers, increased time until full productivity, and higher rates of attrition.

Typical onboarding programs tend to focus on general corporate process and company logistics, rather than actual material that new hires can use to help acclimate to their jobs.  Due to this format, onboarding is viewed merely as a corporate requirement, rather than a helpful resource for new hires.

Providing new hires information that focuses on guidelines, and not on skill adoption, is common practice in many organizations. The same issue is true with training programs that primarily focus on general skills, not on specific job- and task-related activities. However, like onboarding, these training programs are evolving to cover and focus on applicable material.

Companies are taking a varied approach in revamping their onboarding strategies. Some members, like BEA, are creating “dedicated onboarding managers” to enhance employee engagement. They found that managers were more concerned with quarterly goals than acclimating new hires. Other companies, like CertainTeed, place the burden on the new hires to demonstrate their knowledge by proving they have acquired skills at multiple milestones in the onboarding process.

Companies are beginning to realize that like first impressions, they only get one chance to successfully onboard new employees, and thus are investing more resources into onboarding. Xilinx, Inc. recognized that reps need extra support during their first few weeks on the job, and provided them with dedicated phone support.  This external support aided new hires in their first few field sales, where there were many missed sales opportunities and frustrated customers. With the help of the outside support in providing reinforcement and tailored presentations, Xilnix was able to shorten new hire ramp-up time and sales cycle times.

SEC Members, read other member’s perspectives on onboarding new hires here. Also, visit the Onboarding topic center for best practices on effectively onboarding new sales talent.