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If you walk into the office on your first day and the receptionist doesn't know you're coming, they don't show you to your desk or how to use the phone, chances are you made a critical mistake during the final interview – you didn't ask about new employee training. Whether you call it orientation, assimilation or use the term favored by human resource professionals, onboarding, it's wise to at least briefly discuss it before you accept a new job.
While every company does onboarding differently, a solid program would include information about culture, processes, policies, specialty practices and IT systems, as well as day-to-day details like how to open the door, make coffee and use the phone.
How long should a good onboarding program last? "The assimilation process is a year-long process," says Mark Koziel, senior manager at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "It takes that long to really get assimilated."
Sandi Guy, human capital partner at BDO Seidman, Chicago, agrees. "If you think about it, until you've gone through a full business cycle with your employer, everything is new to you," Guy says.
What An Employer Should Do to Orient New Team Members
So, showing you to your desk and slapping an employee handbook and a big mound of employment paperwork in front of you and saying, "Read this and fill out those," doesn't cut it. What does?
"Providing the right training at the right time," Guy answers. That may mean first-day topics such as where the mailbox is and where everyone goes to lunch, and holding off on expense report system training until six weeks later. "What you need to know the first week, I teach you in the first week," she adds. "If I teach you everything in the first week that you need to know in the first year, you're going to forget some of it before you have a chance to use it."
Who provides the training can also be an issue. The best trainers are those who do the work. It's better to learn audit standards and procedures from an auditor rather than an HR professional, Koziel says.
In addition to training, a good onboarding program will also cover performance standards whether you're a feedback provider or receiver. "You want to learn about the expectations of the firm and its performance management system as you go through the [early] orientation process so there are no surprises down the road," he adds.
How Candidates Should Question Employers About Onboarding
Since not all firms put an emphasis on onboarding, be careful when asking about it during interviews. "If they don't have it or support it," warns Koziel, "there's a good chance at that point they're going to worry themselves about getting you. You can take yourself down a dangerous path if they don't have it."
Start with general questions about training and then drill down into orientation and assimilation. "Keep digging into what you think you're going to need to know, and how and when they teach you about that," Guy says.
"If a firm can't answer those questions thoroughly for you, you're going to be set up to fail," she warns. "They're investing a lot in you. They've paid a headhunter, or a job site to post the job. These are key questions and if they don't have good answers, you need to consider that you're being set up to fail."
And, in the final analysis, the answer to a question about onboarding will tell you a lot about a company's culture. "This will show you how important personal success is to an organization," Koziel says. "If they want to ensure success by giving you the proper training up front, chances are they're going to continue on that decision and provide training, tools and resources you need to succeed throughout your career."
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