Orientation
Begins Before Day One
You've
been recruiting and interviewing for months.
You've finally identified a top candidate, and
your number one choice has said, "I will." You've
set the start date, and you prepare for the first
day of employment. You get the orientation
checklist together. You
prepare the office space. You tell your employees
about their new coworker. You even put a little
sign in the front lobby welcoming the new
employee.
You
wait, and you wait, and you wait. You
finally call the new employee. "No, I
don't think this is the move I need to make right
now," the candidate states. "I've
decided not to take your offer."
"Not
take my offer?" Suddenly you feel as though you're
in a Twilight Zone episode. Somewhere, when you
weren't looking, it seems as though the tables
turned and candidates suddenly decided to be
cavalier about jobs and making money. You're not
alone in this experience. Many hiring managers
have also discovered that they've hired no-shows.
Many seemingly interested candidates often get
cold feet and decide to either stay where they are
or take another offer, and they don't even have
the courtesy to let you know.
This
is particularly true if you recruit college
students, often months in advance of the start
date. In fact, the longer the time between making
the offer and the start date, the more you should
consider developing strategies to begin building
loyalty and commitment with the new hire well
ahead of time.
Invite
the new hire to tour your facility. If the
candidate hasn't yet been on a company tour,
invite the candidate, post-offer, to see the
entire operation. During the tour, introduce the
candidate to future co-workers, and show the
candidate his or her work area. Stress the quality
products and services your organization offers,
and point out any features that makes your
organization a great place to work. Convene a
lunch so the candidate can get to know the team in
a fun, group setting.
Invite
the candidate and family members to the
facility. Family
members may also want to see the facility and may
enjoy the facility tour. Since family members can
support the individual in their move, get them on
your team to emphasize your company as a great
place to work. Again, this is especially valuable
with new graduates. Their parents could be an
especially valuable ally in getting their children
launched.
When
recruiting an out-of-town new hire, invite the
candidate and family members for a tour of the
community. You're not
only selling the company, you're selling a whole
new life for the new hire. Help your
new employees build excitement about their new
world. Include a house-hunting or apartment
shopping tour, a tour of schools, as well as the
more fun attractions, such as sporting venues,
shopping areas, art centers, theatres,
restaurants, health clubs, and other areas of
interest.
Team
up the soon-to-be-employee with a
coworker. Many
organizations have a buddy or mentoring program
for new employees. This
provides the new hire another contact, other than
the human resources department and the hiring
manager, for answers and insights into the new
job.
Send
a gift. Boost
company loyalty by sending a gift basket, flowers,
or logo wear to get the new hire excited about
working for your organization. Granny's
Goodies in Alexandria,
Virginia,
provides gift boxes - often for college students
who have accepted the job offer - which include
coffee mugs with the company's name, coffee,
cookies, and other goodies (knowing that this is
often exam time when the students might enjoy some
special pampering). Another organization sends
flowers to the individual who has just accepted
the offer - at their old place of employment. This
also sends a message to employees that your
company might be worthy of their consideration as
well!
Send
company literature. You
should also send company literature to the
candidate so the new employee will be able to hit
the ground running. Send benefits information so
that the individual and family members can
familiarize themselves with this information and
pose questions before the individual's first day
of employment. Also, be sure to send
product/service information to build a sense of
pride in the new employee.
See
if you can arrange to give new hires their email
address in advance of the first day. This way they
can start the time-consuming process of announcing
their transition to everyone in their email
address book. Not only is it better for you that
they take on this project on their own time,
they're selling themselves on the new job with
each excited email they send to yet another friend
bragging about their new career move.
Start
your orientation process before Day One, and by
the time they report for work, they'll already
feel like a valued, established member of the
team.
About Cathy
Fyock
