Bob Van Rossum — April 3, 2018 — April 3, 2018
After you’ve completed a marketing executive search and you’ve found the perfect executive to add to your marketing team, one of the most important things that sets your new hire up for success is the onboarding process. It is one of the earliest measures that efficiently jumpstarts your new employee into productivity.
As an employer, you expect senior marketing executives to hit the ground running based on the investment you are making in them. However, the more senior an employee is in your organization, the more important and challenging onboarding a new hire becomes.
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The lack of an effective onboarding process can stifle the success of an individual joining an organization.
As an executive recruiting firm, we recognize the importance of properly integrating your new executive into your team, culture and environment of your organization. However, we know this process can be quite challenging for the hiring company as we frequently see companies of all shapes and sizes do a mediocre job of effectively onboarding marketing leaders into the workplace.
So, what are some things hiring managers and key leaders can actively do to ensure they deliver an engaging and productive onboarding experience?
Here’s a list of best practices executive recruiting firms believe employers need to successfully jumpstart a smooth transition:
Initiate Communication Before Their First Day
This should be a given but we see far too many organizations leaving communication with their new marketing executive on the back burner. If you’re investing in high-quality talent who’s taking on leadership within your marketing team, why wouldn’t you give them the support they need to be as effective as possible early on?
It’s important for you to reach out to new hires in between the time they’ve accepted the offer and their start date to engage them in a meaningful conversation. If you aren’t, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to set your new employee up for success early on.
A simple phone call welcoming them to the team and preparing them for the first week can alleviate the pressures and put their mind at ease about the transition. If you want to be even more efficient, set KPIs and benchmarks you expect from them in the first 30/60/90 days. Everyone has a different way of learning so make sure to ask your new hire what their learning style is. This will set the foundation for how they should be trained early on, making the process more efficient.
The First Impression Is a Lasting One
You only get one shot to make a good impression on your new employee’s first day. Take advantage of it and dedicate some time that first day to have a conversation. If you want your new employee to step in right away and start being productive, you need to give them the right tools to jump right in. Give them an opportunity to meet key members of your organization and make sure they’re equipped with all of the resources to be successful.
Make an effort to make your new hire feel sufficiently welcomed on their first day and cared for on a personal level – any small gesture to make your new hire well welcomed will do wonders in setting the right impression.
Company Culture Needs to Be Transparent
Executive recruiting firms know company culture plays a significant factor in the long-term performance of an employee. That’s why it’s imperative to communicate your organization’s culture right from the beginning and what you expect from your new executive to be a good steward of it.
If you forego your company culture and neglect to share it early on, you may find that even the most skilled marketing leaders aren’t able to add value and perform to their highest ability. You must spend time communicating proper etiquette and rules of engagement that are specific to your organization. Avoid the possibility of finding marketing talent that doesn’t mesh well with your organizational culture when it’s too late.
Paperwork Can Wait
Your new marketing executive is most likely excited and anxious about their new opportunity. And the last thing they want to do is fill out paperwork all day.
Instead of drowning them in mind-numbing tasks and endless documents to sign, break it into pieces over the first week or have them complete it online before their first day. This gives your new hire the freedom of completing it on their own time and allows you to jumpstart the productivity of your marketing executive to work on valuable tasks and priorities.
Closing Words
Approaching the onboarding process successfully will reduce errors, waste less time and resources, and introduce your new hire into your organization to ultimately produce better results. It’s important to make your new employee feel welcomed, valued and fully prepared when entering their new position.
Don’t sabotage what could be a great new hire experience. A small amount of preparation could dramatically boost the productivity of your new hire and could make the difference between a great and subpar executive to lead your marketing efforts forward.
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