If you are looking for creative way to make a lasting impression on your new hire, onboarding is the best place to start. Think about your first day at any job. How did you feel? Did you have a million questions? Or were you confident and prepared? Thinking about the things that made your first day easier and the things that made your first day difficult is a great starting point. As a business, you only get one chance to create a memorable first day. The onboarding experience, when done well, leads to higher employee satisfaction.

1. Before Day One

The moment someone sees your job ad, their (potential) journey with your business begins. Every interaction from this moment is all part of the onboarding experience. Once hired, the moments between accepting the offer and day one are more important than most think. We have discussed some top tips for this whole experience previously. Keeping in regular contact, getting all documents signed, adding them to team communication channels are just a few of the small changes you should be making to your onboarding process. Once you have a process in place, it’s time to start getting creative with the onboarding execution:

  • Utilise video content on the job ad and when sending the offer. This is a great way to show off your business and put a face to the name.
  • If you have any planned team outings/activities invite them along, even if they haven’t started their first day.
  • Give them more than just the basic info. Let them know the best coffee shop nearby, any great lunch deals they should look out for, parking and travel times. All the small details a new hire will be thinking before starting.

myjoboffer has a great before first day function that can give you the tools to get creative with onboarding.

2. Creative Onboarding During the First Week

Getting creative for their first week can really make a lasting impression. Don’t just sit them at the computer, make them read boring manuals, leave them by themselves or any of the other common mistakes we so often see. Having a plan and checklist in place is the key element you need to get right. Once that is in place, that is when the creative onboarding can come into play.

  • Create a buddy system so there is always someone to look after them, take them to lunch, answer any smaller questions.
  • Utilise video content. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is a great way to engage employees and show off your business.
  • Display a welcome sign so everyone working expects a new hire, and the new hire feels a part of the business already.
  • Leave a gift at their desk. Something as small as a block of chocolate can make the new hire feel valued.
  • Get the executive team to come introduce themselves
  • Have a box of donuts or similar for the whole office, but leave it by their desk. This gives your employees a reason to come make small talk.
  • If you hire a large amount of people, line up their start days and training so they have a team or partner to lean on and work closely with.
  • Create a scavenger hunt at the end of the week to help them have to remember where everything is.

These are just some of the fun and creative ways you can onboard new employees. Before thinking about this stuff, we can’t stress enough the importance of getting the process right. Getting it right the first time round shows real professionalism and makes the onboarding experience smooth and hassle free. If you want to have a chat about how you can take your onboarding to the next level, request a free demo today.