7 Advices That You Must Listen To Before On-boarding Freshers
Freshers and startups have so much in common. Both are full of innovative ideas, fresh energy, enthusiasm, passion, and zeal to do something meaningful. No wonders why freshers are great hires for any startup. But hiring and on-boarding a new employee in a startup company come with a price. And hiring a person straight out of the college with no previous experience for your startup can slow down the shipping cycles as you take the time to on-board and bring the fresher to the speedy pace. And if we talk about a very early stage startup with no HR person, you or someone from your team has to take this on-boarding task.
To make your life easy and reduce the induction period of freshers in your startup, I have listed down few ideas which I learned from my own experience and want all of you to know about them. Hope it would be helpful.
1. Choose the right team for them
Being a fresher, everyone wants to work with the best people from the industry. Initially, let them work in the team which has few learned people. This way they will learn not only the right tools and best practices but also will get inspired from experienced folks. You can always choose the team dynamics smartly.
2. Understand their interests
Before hiring them, you might have asked their areas of interests. But startups don’t obey plans. Many times, you ask them to work on some different projects which are not of their interests. In such situations, make sure you convey them that you understand their interests and explain them the situation well. Let them feel connected with the company.
3. Understand their way of working
Sometimes, they might not want to follow the process, search for the quick hacks to get the work done as fast as possible. And sometimes, they might want to build everything from scratch and miss the deadlines. In both the cases, you should act as a mentor and teach them to be flexible as the need arises.
4. Do proper induction
Take some time from your busy schedule and plan a proper induction for them. You can also assign this task to your team members. Introduce your team in a fun way, tell them about your work culture, office timings, leave policies and address all their queries.
5. Explain the financials
As this is their first job, they might not be well aware of the tax system, salary structure, insurance policies, equity and stock options. Please explain them all this well, give them time to understand and ask if they have any questions. Think about the day when you first joined some big company and the questions you had. Advise them not to discuss their financial matters with the team.
6. Explain leave policies
Being in a startup, everyone thinks of growth and employees tend to work long hours and in lean startups, one can not take unplanned leaves and transfer ownership's. To avoid surprises for the new joiners, explain them the leave policy well in advance.
7. Feedback
Regularly go on one on one conversations with new joiners for starting months. Make these feedback session a two-way process. Give them unbiased feedback of their work and ask for their new ideas. This is the best way to mentor them and build a sense of trust and credibility in them. Take my words, this would go long way.
In the end, just relax. Challenge them, trust them to wait to see your youngest wonder. These are the major points I have learned. Please share your thoughts in the comments.
P.S.- By hiring freshers, you also reduce the average employee age for your startup and feel good(young).
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