How carwow successfully onboarded a Product Designer remotely

Photo by Domenico Loia on Unsplash

Hey 👋
I’m Anthony, a Product Designer at carwow. I’ve been here for 3 months at the time of writing and I’d love to share my remote onboarding experience and what carwow did to impress me in this world of hybrid-working.

You will notice there are words within square brackets throughout this article; these are carwow’s values which can be found on our jobs page. I’ve included them as it became apparent that employees really live up to the company values even as they onboarded me!

The interview process

I applied to carwow following a desire to shift into Product having worked at an agency for 7 years. Needless to say, I had fears going about such a change:

• What if I didn’t like the Product structure?
• What are carwow’s processes?
• Will there be genuine growth opportunities?

Thankfully, a bit of research before the interview calmed these fears as I quickly found articles about carwow’s hiring process and progression framework for Researchers and Designers.

The stages of my design interview process:

1. Phone call screening with Gareth, Head of Research and Design.
2. Case study walkthrough with Gareth and Jonny, Lead Designer.
3. Take-away design task to do at home (for which Gareth briefed me by phone and email).
4. Presentation of my design task to Gareth and a team of three designers at varying levels of seniority.
5. Culture conversation with two members of my future product squad.

There were some unforgettable moments throughout the interview process which really got me excited about the company. The little things really do add up:

• I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from Gareth the day before my presentation task. He rang me to check in, provide some guidance, and see if I had any questions relating to the task — how awesome is that?! It made me feel like I was already part of the team and boosted my confidence.
  [Positive, Clear, Proactive]
• During my group presentation, everyone was enthusiastic and wanted to get to know me as a person. I knew it was an interview, and that it was supposed to be challenging, but everyone made me feel comfortable. The conversations felt honest and it was awesome to have met the majority of our growing design team.
  [Curious, Humble]
• Even the transition from interview to offer was super smooth. Becky, from the People team, got in touch to move things forward quickly in getting my contract signed and answering any questions I had relating to employment. All communications were sent out promptly as promised with no delays.
  [Effective, Collaborative]

My first days at carwow

Receiving my equipment & swag
Soon after, the I.T team sent out my brand new laptop and got me up and running with pre-installed software (I was given the choice of a new Surface or MacBook 💻).

A day or so later, a parcel arrived containing some carwow swag including a notepad, hoodie, pen, sunglasses, etc. All I can say is that there was a build-up of excitement leading up to my first day and I couldn’t wait to get started!
[Effective]

Onboarding
My first day began at 10am with a coffee chat on Google Meet with Gareth, my manager. I was shown a list of onboarding tasks for me to work through along with the itinerary for the week. There were numerous talks (for new starters) to introduce us to the ways of working, company structure and how teams are integrated within the business. It even included a founder’s story talk with James, our CEO.
[Clear]

End of day sync
At the end of the day for the entire first week, Gareth checked in with me for a quick 15-minute chat on how the day went. This additional communication was actually more necessary than I felt at the time. It really showed me that the business cared about my wellbeing, happiness and settlement into carwow.
[Positive]

Meeting 28 people in 28 days
I was surprised to see that one of my onboarding tasks was to meet 28 people in the company in 28 days by having a 15-minute coffee chat over a video call. I’d never heard of such a thing! The goal of the exercise was to understand who these people were, how their team operated and to get to know them at a personal level. Given I didn’t have the privilege of wandering around the office to meet people to say hello, I found it very beneficial.
[Curious]

Shadowing teams
Shadowing product squads provided insight into how teams functioned and opened doors to have a conversation with more individuals. As someone who had come from an agency and didn’t have a sense of how product teams functioned as a unit, I particularly found this useful. I was invited to all squad meetings to observe what went on — it goes without saying that everyone was super welcoming and friendly 😊
[Collaborative]

Car buying challenge
Every new team member is asked to ‘buy a car through carwow’, even going as far as test driving it at a dealership… just not actually buying it! I was asked for my experience to be recorded (shout-out to Tesla Dartford for not being too pushy with me 🙌) and then presented to the members of Research and Design. This challenge was a super cool way of getting new starters to understand the product and help us be more comfortable with our direct team. Not to mention, it’s one way of getting feedback on how to improve the product!
[Proactive]

I got through the above tasks — and a few more — during my first month, and had regular ‘lightning conversations’ with Gareth. Just over 3 weeks in, I was introduced to my product squad and got stuck in with some supporting work. Despite the anxiety, everybody has been extremely supportive and empowered me to do my best… almost 3 months in and I’d like to think I’ve become fairly confident with the processes and workflows at carwow.

Remote hiring is a challenge

Remote hiring is a challenge, sometimes even more challenging for the employee than the employer. At the end of the day, companies wish to retain employees so setting off on the right foot is always the best start.

To anyone else hiring remotely, here are some top tips for what made my remote interview and onboarding a success at carwow:

1. Keep the candidate or new starter engaged through enhanced communication. Try to go the extra mile; this is vital when there is no physical contact.
2. Be completely transparent and honest in the interview process. It’s easier than ever to bend the truth on a video call, but this will not hold up well once the employee sees the reality.
3. Make new starters feel included by providing enough video calls to mimic an office environment as best as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask them for feedback to understand if they need more/less contact.
4. Be patient and empathetic. The team at carwow were very patient with my many questions; these may have felt repetitive at times I’m sure, but I really appreciated it.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this blog post, and want to join the carwow team, why not take a look at our jobs page?