15 Candidate Pre-onboarding Tips every Recruiter MUST follow

“Slow and steady wins the race”. We’ve all heard this proverb since childhood, but you can’t fit one solution to every problem, especially in the talent acquisition arena. Here “It is better to walk fast than be angry at the forest”.

The word pre-onboarding is self-explanatory. It aims to give the candidates a smooth onboarding journey. After an applicant accepts a job offer, the pre-onboarding procedure begins.

When all the necessary recruitment steps are struck off, pre-onboarding activities become even more engaging and that’s vital for your business. Today’s candidates want to have enough opportunities at hand. Some candidates begin job hunting within the first week based on what their first impression is of the company. So, make your first impression count.

Most Effective Candidate Pre-Onboarding Tips

1. Clear the paperwork

Send new hires the necessary employment documentation to get things started on the right foot. After that, it can be the Employment Proposal Letter and Contract. Within this time, candidates have enough time to consider choices like benefit options and contributions, which might significantly impact their future financial security.

2. Plan the process of pre-onboarding

Focusing on developing a procedure rather than jumping starting into implementation. Create a plan for the pre-boarding process that specifies each step in detail. You can shave off the repetitive tasks. In this step, to make things easier and faster, automate the document signing. There are plenty of them available in the market. Pick one of them that fits your budget and needs.

3. Update candidates about the pre-onboarding steps

Anxiety about starting a new role is common, especially between accepting an offer and the first day on the ground. An informed candidate is less likely to assume things and the possibility of doing things incorrectly, decreases. Sending out detailed first-day instructions will help your newcomers stay confident and keep first-day sweats at bay. 

4. Send a personalized welcome note

Having a kind face-to-face greeting with new workers is a great way to set the tone for a workplace. They feel excited; You feel good. But as remote jobs are growing, the chances of face-to-face meet up are decreasing. You can still celebrate their joining with a personalized note. Or let the AI take the plunge. Send a pre-recorded customized message from the CEO or team lead using a candidate experience tool like Callify. 

5. Send them a welcome kit

Who does not want to feel special? A present is a sure way to get an edge. So to brighten your new employee’s day, send them a welcome kit. It could be like, ” Yes, you did it”- a pat on their shoulder. You can include a diary, pen, mug, or even pen with your brand craved on them. This little effort shows your new hire that you value them as individuals. And guess what? You can do them without increasing preboarding expenditures!

6. Focus on better scheduling

Communication is the key to unlocking new possibilities. Don’t sleep on the telephone conversation or video calls. These in-person or over-the-telephone communications will establish a structured organizational procedure. Use a pre-onboarding solution that includes scheduling and monitoring features to ensure a seamless transition for the new employee. Update the recruit on their availability in real time so that they don’t miss the call.

7. Help them to build connections with the team members 

One of your primary goals during pre-boarding should be fostering team cooperation. However, the fate of your team rests in its own hands. Include the new hire’s name, title, and start date in the announcement. If you want your recruit to grab the limelight on their first day, you shouldn’t break the news too much before their start date. The opportunity to interact with new individuals and form new friendships significantly impacts an employee’s sense of fulfillment and motivation. 

For this reason, it’s a good idea to have new employees join the team for a pre-work event or lunch to let them get to know everyone before their first day. When people are relaxed and comfortable, they talk more freely. In addition, you can add them to your Slack or WhatsApp group.

8. Organize required resources and tools

Whether it’s their first job or a company switch, they will need some supervision to fit your company culture. Pre-onboarding is the best time for that. Make job-specific training guides and onboarding manuals. Give employees access to a database or wiki containing videos and papers outlining the company’s values and goals. Don’t forget to tailor your training program. 

9. Prepare and plan their training

Your new employee has probably already heard about the company’s culture and principles by the time they reach preboarding. The chance to fulfill those assurances arises when you provide them with proper training. You can put together a resource page or a wiki page with videos and documents that explain your company’s mission, vision, organizational structure, and perks. Make training materials for each job role as well. Make the training process fit the person who is being trained. 

You can assign an existing team member to walk them through their day-to-day responsibilities. . As a bonus, the trainee will feel more at ease from the get-go because they will have a point of contact from the beginning.

10. Keep them in the loop for clear communication throughout

Candidates are often too nervous to inquire about vacation time or benefits packages during the interview process. A recruit package can cut off these worries before they even start working for you. Share anything from parking regulations and break times to employee benefits and company holidays. Make sure everything is digital so they can store it and access it easily in the future. Set up automated email alerts to ensure the timely delivery of relevant information and prevent recipients from being overwhelmed. Apart from Emails, you can add more communication channels, for example- SMS, call, or even chatbot. The idea is to shoot all the doubts of the employees anytime.

 11. Take feedback about your hiring process

When a candidate becomes a team member, it’s a good time to ask for feedback on the recruiting process so you can make adjustments based on immediate insights. We cannot stress the value of empowering employees because of its positive effects on productivity, creativity, and synergy between individual and organizational development. Also, it’s easier to develop from the get-go, just like the rest of the components of a healthy corporate culture. Simply asking the recruits for their feedback about the hiring process also goes a long way in strengthening their impression of what kind of company they are in.

Make a short candidate survey to get some answers. You can get a good mix of quantitative data and nuanced personal experience by asking close-ended and open-ended questions. You can use Google Forms or Type form for that.

12. Give a heads-up about the onboarding process

Let the newbies know where they are heading too. Send them crucial corporate information and first-day instructions in advance. Prepare them for their first day by giving them the resources they’ll need. As a result, prospective workers will better understand the benefits you provide. The one will be simpler if they clearly understand the resources. They will feel less anxious. You will feel more relaxed.

13. Help them to set the expectation right

Exhilaration and nervousness will always be unbeatable when they step into your company. But they can go over the board as well. However, you can take control of the situation with a precise plan for the first week. Include introductions to influential individuals and team members, mandatory training sessions, completion of online paperwork, day-to-day responsibilities, and work ethics. More information, less confusion, and the right expectation. 

14. Give them a glimpse of the company and their team

After the initial high-hellos, the first official day will be overwhelmed with all the admin work. But how can they collab better with the teams without knowing their names and designation? Share the team members’ details. Even give them a virtual tour of the team and office, if in-person is not possible. 

15. Keep things simple

The human brain can not stand complexity. If the pre-boarding is multilayer, new employees’ brains will be puzzled. Do you want to drain all their energy even before their first day? So keep things simple. Shake off the traditional methods. Take the help of top-notch technology to guide your employees throughout the process. 

Conclusion

Pre-boarding success is not proportional to the size of your welcome package. Your success will depend on the candidate’s experience. Clear communication and humility will make the onboarding process a huge success. Callify helps you maintain the candidate experience from start to finish. While onboarding, you can record their offer confirmation, tentative joining dates, and other documentation on a digitalized call. Hence, you have evidence of all your communication with the candidate, to keep doubts and discrepancies at bay.