Onboarding: The Ecosystem, not the Afterthought
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
"Change is a game of inches; we take two steps forward, six steps back."
Jacqui Frey Alison RandSetting the Table for Dynamic Change
October 24, 2019
"We need to harness the power of citizens to make real change."
Ali Jeffery Sheri ChudowHow DesignOps Helped Enable Wall Street to Work Remotely
October 22, 2020
"If we haven’t defined and branded ourselves, others will—and others could be wrong."
Molly FargotsteinMultipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing
September 12, 2019
"If you smush all of these things together, you get the perfect whole."
Dr. Jamika D. Burge Jemma Ahmed Chris GeisonBridge Building across Research Disciplines
August 26, 2021
"Ivana will teach you how to scale fast and big from day one through product operations."
Lada GorlenkoTheme 1: Intro
January 8, 2024
"Sometimes with kids, you just have to get artifactual data or creative outputs because they can’t always articulate."
Mila Kuznetsova Lucy DentonHow Lessons Learned from Our Youngest Users Can Help Us Evolve our Practices
March 9, 2022
"AI is not going to make you an expert but it compresses access to previously inaccessible domains."
Kritika SonyMoving AI offscreen: Exploring failures, constraints, and recovery in physical game design
June 10, 2026
"Design and product is more about making sure design is part of product than implying any subordination."
Louis Rosenfeld Christian CrumlishOpening Remarks
November 29, 2023
"Relational design privileges relationships and reciprocity not only between people but also with rivers, mountains, and animals."
Meghan Hellstern Joanne DongThe Next 100 Years of Civic Design: How Might We Better Rise to Meet the Challenges of Today and Tomorrow?
December 10, 2021
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What role can familiar communication channels like WhatsApp play in deploying AI tools in resource-limited settings?
How can AI help UX teams challenge and optimize entrenched operational workflows?
What task scope limitations should be considered when working with AI for code generation or design assistance?