How can the first working days of the new developer be made easier?
Even if the candidate has found their dream job and is overwhelmed with joy, the first few days in the new company are always stressful. A new job with new colleagues, projects, responsibilities and even technology can be very emotional and stressful. How can you support new IT employees in the first few days of their new job? The solution is based on the theory of a positive “candidate experience”. What this includes in the onboarding process of IT professionals is described as follows:
Training guidelines, but...
Six months ago a friend of mine started his dream job. Although he was very happy about the acceptance, his feelings of happiness cooled off very quickly. After almost a week of security training, he wasn't just bored, he was actually disappointed.
Of course, the formal enrollment must not be ignored, but it is worth thinking about enriching the first few days with exciting activities. There are many possibilities. They can only be limited by a lack of ideas, a tight budget, or the existing culture of the organization.
One possibility would be, for example, to make all information about various company information more easily accessible. An idea worth mentioning might be the creation of a manual or...comic book that depicts the interdependence of the department, the history of the company and the culture of the company. In such an employee handbook you can include all the information that characterizes the given company or department. These can be habits, values, mission statements, interesting projects or even the greatest successes.
Get to know the team
How do I integrate an employee into a new environment? Good relationships with colleagues are the key element in the onboarding process. It is obvious, thanks to the rapid formation of new friendships, working in a team becomes much less stressful. It is therefore important that the new employee integrates into the entire team as quickly as possible. How it works? An exciting idea can be the organization of a gaming tournament. Thanks to the combination of "game" and "competition", the employees get to know each other faster and better and the "newcomers" will certainly think back positively to the first working day. Of course, an after-work drink can also help :-)
Helpful colleagues
The new worker's loyalty to the employer will largely depend on the support he received when he started work. Even if a person or role is positioned more isolated, support is an important part of a successful start in the new job. What can work well in the IT industry or software development? One tool could be the use of pair programming. Thanks to this method, the new employee will be able to get acquainted with his work together with an experienced programmer. This can not only explain to him how certain tasks are to be carried out, but also help to identify and solve emerging bugs.
Authenticity is the most important thing
How the employee's onboarding is implemented has a huge impact on their well-being and efficiency in the first few months. However, this process must be well thought out and, most importantly, it must correspond to the culture of the organization. Although HR wants to ensure a good “candidate experience” for new hires, the introduction should be natural and not over-the-top.
