How to Hire the Right Onboarding Manager

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Onboarding Manager

In layman’s terms, employee onboarding can be referred to as the process by which a new employee gets initiated into a company and is made aware of his/her job roles. As you could guess, for such a process to become successful, there is an inherent need for mentoring programs, interactive meetings, and training sessions to be held on behalf of such employees. What’s more, at the end of this process, the employees in question are expected to have acquired the skills they require to be competent in the job and also know the organization as well as the behavior that is expected from them.

The process of onboarding can be regarded as one of the most crucial activities in an organization mainly because it defines how productive new employees will end up being in the future. No one would want a half-baked employee and thus brings out the need for making the onboarding process to be as successful as possible. One of the primary ways in which this can be achieved is through hiring an onboarding manager.


How to Hire the Right Onboarding Manager

Due to the crucial role that an onboarding manager will play in the success of a company by bringing out the best qualities from the company’s new employees, there are some mandatory strengths that one should look for when hiring such a manager. Among the many attributes, it is paramount that the onboarding manager should be extremely efficient and a person that is capable of handling the onboarding process independently. In light of this, the question of how one can hire an onboarding manager that will help to propel their company to new heights arises.

Below are some of the most outstanding characteristics to look for when choosing an onboarding manager:


Choose Someone That Showcases Utmost Professionalism

Having a healthy mental and moral character is one of the rarest but most valuable qualities in these present times. The reason behind this is that few people are strong enough to dare to try out new things and can also evade falling into an emotional abyss of the negative comments thrown at them on a regular basis. On top of all these qualities, they are ever ready to put their best foot forward irrespective of the tough situations they might find themselves in.

The values that have been talked about above are some of the indicators that you should look out for in your quest of finding the best candidate for an onboarding manager. In addition to these qualities, having a person with a high degree of professionalism is vital for the job of an onboarding manager because such a manager will assure you of the proper treatment and care for your employees.


Ensure that the Person has Effective Written and Verbal Communication Skills

The essence of top-notch written and verbal communication skills in an onboarding manager cannot be emphasized on enough. It is pointless for you to go through all the trouble of hiring an onboarding manager that’s not able to communicate seamlessly with newly appointed employees both on a verbal and a written level. This is because the employees` training sessions and initiation processes rely heavily on the onboarding manager`s verbal communication skills for them to be a success. On the other hand, you will also require an onboarding manager that has great writing skills to assist in communicating on the company’s behalf in official documents such as internal memos to new employees and business proposals, among many others.

In case your onboarding manager has a hard time getting his/her thoughts across, it will be an uphill task for the manager to keep the new employees engaged with what he/she is talking about even for a minute. This will end up being counter-productive because it’s the onboarding manager`s job to see to it that new employees have been properly introduced to the various departments and teams in the company.

How to Hire the Right Onboarding Manager

In addition to the above, an onboarding manager is responsible for ensuring that a flawless communication pathway through which data is dissipated is maintained. Also, an outstanding onboarding process will even continue after the new employees have joined the organization. This calls for the onboarding manager to always track everything that’s being shared with the employees, both written or verbally.

Therefore, it would be prudent for you to ensure that you have a standard method that you can use to test the written communication skills and verbal prowess of all the candidates vying for the position of onboarding manager. The people that will score highly in these tests are the ones you should give more consideration for the onboarding manager position as they will be in a better place to craft your new employees into more refined products.


Open-Mindedness and Enthusiasm Should be Natural Attributes to the Onboarding Manager

With the volume of hiring new employees in the US expected to rise to around 58%, it is vital to come to terms with some behavioral patterns of new employees. One of such behaviors is that it is common to find new employees playing to the tune of music present in their new place of work. In light of this, it is essential for the onboarding manager that you will leave in charge of the initiation and training sessions for your employees to be both enthusiastic and open-minded. The reason behind this is that these new employees will quickly pick up his/her attitude from the first minute of interaction and thus lead to the fashioning of enthusiastic employees. In the long run, it will lead to the enthusiasm and an eagerness to perform to become an integral component of your company’s business environment.

In addition to the above, the onboarding manager should have the capability of accepting new ideas and thoughts to ensure that the initiation and training process can turn out to be the best that they could be. Therefore, it would be in your best interests to recruit open-minded individuals for the position of onboarding manager to yield success in your company.


Look for a Motivating and Positive Person

Because the onboarding manager is going to be the person in charge of any newly recruited employee as well as the initiation and training sessions, it is paramount that he/she can effectively motivate these employees to get positive output from them. By just being positive or radiating positivity in the workplace, there is a ripple effect of bringing about the creation of a friendlier and better work environment for both the old and new employees.

On top of this, it is essential for you to note that when it comes to the performance of new employees, motivation is a vital tool in the quest of making them deliver their best in the workplace. Therefore, always be on the lookout for candidates that can do an excellent job of motivating your company’s workforce.


Choose Someone that Adapts Well to Change

The world we live in today is changing, and one of the key contributors to this is the rapid advancement that is being brought about by technology on a daily basis. Likewise, it is common to find that the methods and principles in the business world are changing in close relation to the changes taking place in technology.

With this in mind, it would only be prudent for you to have an onboarding manager that can quickly adapt to change. Having such a manager in your company would go a long way in ensuring that your new employees have received adequate training regardless of the dynamism of the technological world or even during periods of economic and political uncertainties. In addition to this, such a manager is also able to assist in the management of your old employees and help them in utilizing all new resources availed to them.


Efficiency is the Secret to Success: See to it that he/she Can Handle Business and Projects Analysis

One of the most basic but useful business principles is that the more efficient you are, the more the power you have to complete more work within a particular span of time. With this at hand, it becomes easier to earn higher profits for your company.

Look for an onboarding manager that can manage projects on top of taking care of your company’s onboarding process. He/she should also have additional functionalities such as the capability of evaluating and analyzing new employees. A person who can do all this while not wasting time can bring enormous gains for your company. Therefore, it is of the essence that you should have an efficient manager on board that can ensure that employee onboarding practices are executed in the best way possible.


Find Someone Who Can Take Feedback as Positive Criticism

The ability to take feedback as a platform for improving oneself rather than an insult is a difficult quality to find in leaders these days. Therefore, it is incredibly crucial to choose a manager that is open to receiving feedback and uses it as a form of constructive criticism to improve on his/her methods and generally assist the organization to function better.

In addition to the above, you find that the onboarding manager’s job requires him/her to accept new ways of looking at things for them to adopt good onboarding practices. A person who is open to feedback will utilize the feedback`s content to help him/her use the resources at hand in new and more efficient ways hence resulting in better performance of the company.


Look For a Person That Has Complete Mastery of the Industry

There is an adage that says “The blind cannot lead the blind.”Likewise; it goes without saying that before an onboarding manager can begin to orientate new employees concerning the company, he/she has to understand the company by heart. What’s more is that this should not just be restricted to the company alone, but the manager should also understand the mechanics of the industry in which the company lies. If it is an online writing services company, the onboarding manager should understand what their site talks about as well as what the online writing industry entails.

The reason behind this is that it is common to find new employees who have not only changed their jobs, but have also had a change in the industry in which they were working in. In light of this, it is crucial for you to gauge the potential candidates for the position of onboarding manager according to their level of qualification and also their experience in the industry where your company is functioning. This will see to it that your new employees receive adequate training and initiation into the company as well as the industry, hence increasing the value of your recruits` output.


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Every company contains its specifications and requirements when it gets to the process of hiring a new person. However, regardless of the myriads of differences in the various elements, the methods above are bound to help you in choosing an onboard manager that will compliment your company’s onboarding process.

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