Have a seamless onboarding experience for your new sales recruit

You’ve invested in the recruitment process, hired your preferred candidate and they start on Monday.

All three parties have a vested interest in this candidate being successful with your organisation – you, the employer, the recruitment consultant and, of course, the candidate who is now your new employee.

How can you ensure the employee has the best, most positive start?

How do you onboard them in the most welcoming and seamless way to help keep their stress levels down (and yours too) on what could be an overwhelming, busy and intense time?

Emotions could be running high and even the most confident candidate could be second-guessing their ability and their choice to join you. They may also have a level of imposter syndrome going on in their head.

Be organised:

• Have their business cards ready and on their desk for their first day.
• Have their laptop/computer working and ready, perhaps with a screen saver welcoming them by their name to the company.
• Have them start on a Tuesday, so it’s not such a long week as often Mondays can be hugely busy for the team
• Have their car ready. A nice touch is to arrange for them to collect it the weekend before their first day at work. Not having to arrange a lift or take public transport on their first day is one less thing for them to worry about. (One of my thoughtful clients even asked the new recruit what colour car they wanted! This was a lovely touch which was especially appreciated by the client’s young son who requested red.)
• If you can’t be there to greet them personally when they arrive, have them start slightly later so you can be there and give them your full attention.
• Prior to their start date email them a schedule for their first week so they know in advance what to expect. Ask them how best they learn and tailor your induction to suit them.
• Have a morning tea organised on the first or second day with the sales and support team they will be working with so they get to know people and feel welcomed and special.
• Compile a ‘go to book’ so the new recruit knows who to go to in the company for what. The may not remember a verbal list and can feel embarrassed about asking. This gives them more ownership and one less thing to remember.
• In the ‘go to book’ include the schedule for onboarding so they know who they will be shadowing and can immerse themselves across the different areas.
• Mix up the day with a variety of tasks so it’s not too heavy on one area like product training.  
• Check in with them regularly to see how they are finding the workload and the onboarding, and whether the plan needs to be tweaked slightly.

We don’t always know what’s happening in their personal lives and it will be outside our control. However, we can minimise the risk of new recruit leaving early in their tenure by having a well-planned onboarding experience.

To find out more about Miller Recruitment and what we can do to assist and support you in your sales recruitment give Sally Miller a call on 0211493656 or email on [email protected]