Which Way From Here?

Staring a new job is scary. It's been a long time since I've had to do it, but I can well remember the butterflies, the wondering whether this job would be all that I hoped it would be and the fear that it wouldn't. The first day at a new job is usually both overwhelming...and incredibly boring. There's so much to learn and yet, most of the time, there's not much actual work you can do until you've completed all the learning.

I just finished a report for a client that recommended an onboarding program to address that very problem. How do you jump start a new employee's connection to your company and your culture? How do you get her contributing in a way that's meaningful to the organization--and the employee--on that very first day when she still has so much to learn?

Our solution is to look for opporutnities to immediately engage the new employee in a project that incorporates learning with meaningful contribution. Maybe the employee can research potential customers, look for trends in a data set, review materials for a fresh perspective, or find current events in the industry that can help shape customer messaging. Afraid they won't be able to complete such a project without needing additional resources? That's the point: nothing will make learning stick like needing to know it to complete real work on the job.

Whether it's reaching out to peers or finding a PowerPoint template, having a meaningful context in which to navigate the resources of a new company will make all the difference between an onboarding experience full of butterflies and unknowns and a positive and effective one.