How ensuring a smooth transition from candidate to employee makes all the difference
My favourite type of holiday is cruising. It’s strange because I never imagined it would be, and I certainly felt no excitement about it leading up to the first time we went. My arm had been twisted quite firmly by my wife and eventually, as the nagging reached its crescendo, with some reluctance I agreed to go. She insisted we sail with Cunard because they had that touch of class and she said she didn’t want to go “on a booze cruise with 24-hour party people”. Hang on, don’t I get a say in this?
Although I wasn’t looking forward to it, my mind was changed dramatically the moment we stepped on board. We found the staff lined up to greet us, resplendent in red uniform jackets with gleaming brass buttons. When we got to our stateroom there was a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us with a little welcome note. Then our cabin attendant turned up to introduce himself and assure us that anything we needed we just had to call.
From then on I knew I was going to enjoy my cruise. It was the attention to detail that impressed me, being made welcome and they were glad I’d joined them, it made a difference.
Such attention to detail makes a difference when bringing onboard a new employee too. Ensuring that they feel welcome and wanted and that the transition from candidate to employee runs smoothly is of great importance. Why? Because while this won’t be their first impression of your company, it will be the one that makes the biggest impact upon them. Neither you nor they may realise it, but it will resonate with them for as long as they work for you and may determine how long they work for you.
Perhaps you thought the hard work was over when you made them the job offer and it was accepted? You recognised the need for another staff member to complement your existing team, you put together an advertisement for the vacancy that attracted a lot of interest. You sifted through them creating two piles: the suitable and the not so suitable. You brought in the suitable ones and conducted preliminary interviews, making the pile of suitable candidates smaller until you had created a shortlist of the best ones. Not wanting to miss out on their services if they were attracted elsewhere you quickly arranged for the second round of more in depth interviews. The suitable list was narrowed down to just a single star player who you offered the job to and, thankfully the answer came back yes.
Throughout the whole process you ensured all stakeholders – the management, the team leader of the section requiring the new member, the candidates themselves – were kept informed of developments at every turn. That’s it then, you’ve got your new employee; they start on Monday morning, it’s time to sit back and relax in the knowledge of a job well done.
No! What’s going to happen when the new recruit turns up on Monday morning? Who is going to be there to greet them? Who will show them around and introduce them to their new team? What about payroll and dealing with HMRC? There is much paperwork to exchange: from them there will be ID in the form of a passport or driving licence, their National Insurance details, references to be checked, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks…; from you there will be a formal offer of employment letter, their employment contract, their Welcome Pack… If all of this is not taken care of, if they turn up and it’s a case of “Sorry, who are you and who have you come to see?” down at reception – that’s not the sort of impression on their first day you want to make if you expect to keep them in the long term.
You might be horrified and doubt this scenario could play out but trust me, this has happened to me.
As part of the Recruitive award-winning Applicant Tracking Software package, you can expect the onboarding features to make life that little bit easier when bringing in and bedding down the successful candidate. These include:
- Onboarding Checklist Creator
- Reference Requests Creator
- Employee Contract Generation
- Advanced Onboarding Features
- Automatic Email Notifications
- Progress Reporting
- Employee New Starter Forms
- Offer Documents by Hiring Department
Everything you might need is taken care of and you can just concentrate on welcoming them at the door and giving them the tour.
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