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
"Screen readers have two modes: browse mode for navigating content and focus mode to interact with form fields or apps."
Sam ProulxEverything You Ever Wanted to Know About Screen Readers
June 11, 2021
"We have to design not just for humans but for other life forms on this planet."
Christian BasonExpand—Rethinking Design for Public Challenges
September 14, 2022
"We herded all of our unicorns and named them appropriately with clear, meaningful titles."
Tanya SnookDesigning the team experience: Building culture through onboarding
November 4, 2021
"When you ask ‘When was the last time you asked this question?’ it can trigger panic in someone with anxiety."
Pippa LomasPaving the Path for Neurodiversity in Design
October 4, 2023
"Remote collaborative journey mapping is possible but requires seeing participants’ hands and having a scribe to keep pace."
Jemma AhmedConvergent Research Techniques in Customer Journey Mapping
March 31, 2020
"What I realized is you need to add one word to the climate Venn diagram: specific, what specific work needs doing."
Sara ConklinA UXer’s 12-Month Journey from Climate Concern to Climate Credibility
June 26, 2025
"You have to hold people’s hands through your organization—not just hype about AI."
Erika FlowersAI-Readiness: Preparing NASA for a Data-Driven, Agile Future
June 10, 2025
"Good design with great SEO and accessibility can change your audience by a magnitude."
Chris Govias Mai-Ling Garcia Emily LessardPerspectives on Civic Design
September 23, 2021
"I’m trying to separate who I am from what I produce and the roles I hold."
Ashley SewallExit Interview #5: Designing My Life After Tech
February 19, 2026
