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
"Hope locates itself in the spaciousness of uncertainty and the belief that what we do matters even if outcomes are unknown."
Frances YllanaDesignOps–Leading the Path to Parity
April 27, 2023
"We heard a bit about understanding the power and privilege that we have as designers, how to wield it, but also how to yield it to others."
Ariel KennanTheme Two Intro
November 17, 2022
"No one hated technologists, they just didn’t know who they were because there were no personal relationships cross teams."
Husani OakleyBias Towards Action: Building Teams that Build Work
June 14, 2018
"People really hated using Harvest to log billable hours, some just put the same hours week after week."
Kristin Skinner Kamdyn MooreGroup Activity: A Deep Dive Into Value and Outcomes
October 23, 2019
"Empathy makes us care, and caring is what fuels the energy to get through tedious workshops and meetings to ship ideas."
Steve BatyBreaking Out of Ruts: Tips for Overcoming the Fear of Change
June 9, 2016
"One out of every 12 men have some form of color blindness — that was overlooked until we changed our flag icons and got tears of thanks."
Dan WillisEnterprise Storytelling Sessions
June 8, 2016
"Leadership is unlocking potential and taking responsibility, far beyond the title or executive level."
John Mortimer Milan Guenther Lucy Ellis Patrick QuattlebaumPanel Discussion
December 3, 2024
"You want a computer to do computer work—finding patterns in large datasets."
Jane DavisStrategic Shifts and Innovations in User Research: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities
March 11, 2025
"All designers have responsibility to communicate upstream and downstream, sharing their work context and contributing to the DP&M system."
Ellie Krysl Jon FukudaPlanned Right. Managed Right. Designed Right.
June 6, 2023
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What practical practices can make accessibility a sustainable part of daily design and development workflows?
Can outcome-based OKRs be applied outside product teams, such as HR or finance? How?
How can teams integrate inclusive design into early product development stages to avoid costly late fixes?