Summary
Onboarding new employees to your team is all too often treated as an afterthought, or best case, as an at-the-moment-thought. Employees deserve a well-thought out experience that includes them from the very beginning–from the creation of the position description—to that time after they’ve become integrated into our teams and organizations. We can trace some of these imperfect scenarios all the way back to the creation our performance profiles or position descriptions, and how they were created. When we understand the entire journey from candidate to employee we see the value of treating onboarding as an ending of a particular process instead of a solitary event in time.
Key Insights
-
•
Traditional job descriptions focus on tasks rather than measurable performance outcomes, limiting effective hiring.
-
•
Performance profiles clarify what success looks like and help teams agree on hiring criteria, leading to better candidate matches.
-
•
Structured interview guides aligned with performance profiles ensure consistent, fair, and relevant candidate assessments.
-
•
Unpaid design exercises or take-home tasks can exclude qualified candidates with caregiving or other external responsibilities.
-
•
The candidate experience after the interview and before the start date is often neglected, causing anxiety and disengagement.
-
•
Maintaining personal contact with candidates post-offer fosters comfort and commitment before they begin.
-
•
First day onboarding should be treated as a commencement event, not a paperwork marathon, reducing overwhelm.
-
•
Buddy systems provide critical social and informational support, improving new hire adjustment and retention.
-
•
Assigning safe internal projects early helps new hires gain practical familiarity without pressure.
-
•
Onboarding should be considered a multi-touch ecosystem involving ongoing feedback, communication, and adaptation.
Notable Quotes
"If you really care about success, you define it first and hire against performance, not just experience."
"Manhole cover questions belong in the past. Focus on real skills and relevant experience instead."
"Unpaid design exercises are unfair because they don’t take into account people's real-life constraints."
"Waiting and vague communication during hiring is a painful guessing game for candidates."
"The post-offer period isn’t HR’s alone; hiring teams must stay in touch and keep the candidate engaged."
"Day one is a commencement, a graduation from candidate to employee, not a paperwork slog."
"Buddy systems create leadership opportunities and a support network without changing org charts."
"Internal projects give new hires a safe place to learn how the organization functions without fear of breaking things."
"Hiring managers should facilitate hiring decisions but truly rely on the team members who work daily with the candidate."
"Onboarding isn’t a single event or process, it’s an ecosystem with many touchpoints impacting the new employee experience."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"You might find that spending the most time getting people interested in collaboration is where the work really happens."
Marieke McCloskeyUser Science: Product Analytics & User Research
March 11, 2021
"Your main app stays stable on the main branch, and the app builder changes live on separate branches for safe developer review."
George Abraham Stefan IvanovDesign Systems To-Go: Indigo.Design Overview and Exploring the Developer Workflow (Part 3)
October 1, 2021
"You owe it to your organization and your team to grow the practice while staying true to your vision."
Rob Mitzel Sébastien MaloThe Tale of Two Companies: Building a Successful UX Practice in a Century-Old Enterprise
January 8, 2024
"Communication matters—sending an email to an executive with spelling mistakes can ruin your respect."
Ian SwinsonDesigning and Driving UX Careers
June 8, 2016
"We tend to do anything but inquire, even though inquiry is most effective for sustainable change."
Laura WeissThere is No Playbook: Leader as Coach During Challenging Times
April 26, 2024
"Colonial ways of being, knowing, and valuing will never produce emancipatory methodologies."
Victor UdoewaBeyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion
March 26, 2024
"We segment sessions into 101 and 201 tracks so people new to IBM and more experienced can both get value without being bored or overwhelmed."
Nicole UmphressDelivering Design Education During a Global Pandemic: Lessons Learned
June 9, 2022
"Protecting PII means anonymizing data when sharing and being careful not to post emails on company-wide pages."
Sarit GeertjesPeople, not Petri Dishes: Stories from a Research Recruiter
September 23, 2019
"The challenges we face are real, but so is our capacity to respond creatively and courageously."
Brendan JarvisIt was the Best of Times. It was the Worst of Times.
September 25, 2024
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What role does onboarding play as a high-impact service design opportunity in new organizations?
In an AI and code-driven future, how does service design remain relevant for human-centered experiences?
How do newer generations of law students view the incorporation of UX principles into legal education?