I am looking for ideas on putting together a comprehensive new hire process from the requisition stage all the way through onboarding/orientation. Does anyone have flowcharts or examples they would like to share?
New Hire Process
Answers
Jennifer:
Ours are usually pretty basic.
-Role definition (what needs are we meeting)
-ZBB (is this role more important than another role, do we have to cut to fill it, etc?)
-Position description; start with generic and have mgt and peers review.
-Posting; this includes "refer a friend bonus", X.com sites and headhunters as appropriate.
-Filtering; Always best to delay, and run a few rounds. One two weeks out, one four weeks out, then terminate the listing (unless you are doing ongoing hiring, of course). Don't filter too-hard, just the ones that are obviously awful.
-Initial response; Reach out, ask a generic followup question, essentially asking for a cover letter. It doesn't matter if they already attached one. This hopefully levels the playing field.
-Secondary filter. Run through the responses, pull the top ten. From there we've done everything from manager fiat to voting (keep it secret if you do) to scoring (a gentler version of voting). I personally prefer the last, but it isn't always appropriate.
-Phone screen. Ten questions. Score on those plus appropriate phone-screen metrics (professionalism, etc).
-References check; do before the in-person, IMHO.
-In-person rounds: Limit heavily. Keep it brief, try not to do the 20 vs. 1 interviews unless that is part of the job (seldom is). Stats tell us that first impressions are overwhelming, so own that and don't depend on 20 or so hour long interviews (there are big famous companies in the Valley who still do this...it is costly and improves nothing, except to foster contempt among new hires).
-Final tally: generally mgr fiat with peer input.
-Onboarding:
-Schedule lunches, dinners, etc: Socialization. They shouldn't be alone ever in the first two weeks. This part is, imho, terribly neglected.
-Followup: HR goes back to mgr and to employee after a few weeks, makes sure there are no open issues.
-3 6 9 month reviews against goals, etc. Chances are this is a moving target until year 2 when you are getting to know the role and their skills better, adding
-Checkpoint / pass-fail: You might be running a probation system tied to benefits, etc. Never more than 6 months, but give them time to settle in and for you to have actively managed the role before you do this. For most knowledge roles, 3 months is the minimum, but for more basic roles 3 months could be too long.
Cheers,
KP
Thanks for the information!
What about a social media activity review (yes, most will not admit they have a formal policy in doing it, but it is very common as a general practice) before you even bring in a candidate for an on-site interview and every year thereafter? I think that is part of good due diligence in today's world.
1
Ernie, this is a great point, but a legal nightmare.
Be sure to get your legal teams advice before putting any social media review into your policy and practices.
At a previous employer it was determined that social media was a no fly zone for new hires. Simply visiting the page opened the door for discrimination claims. Even if such claims are blatantly false, they are very expensive to make go away.
The basic logic was you found them to be acceptable enough to warrant a social media review. If you then discard the candidate you have potentially made that decision after obtaining protected information. If you go on Facebook for example, you now could know, age, race, marital status, sexual preference, religion, etc. You would need to carefully document the exact reason you decided to pass on the candidate to CYA.
What do you hope to gain from a social media review? I suspect the answer is something to due with character, and that can be gotten elsewhere (Interview, references, network, etc.) Trying to document a character flaw based on a social media post is a losing fight. Too much subjection.
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Human Capital