First (day) impressions count

🕐 3 min read

Hiring is really tough, on your new hire! Take a little extra time to make them feel extra special and welcome.

Make sure your new hire has a comfortable, personal and inviting space on day one

You've invested all this time & effort in hiring, and so have they ;)

So you've got a new member joining your team and day one is fast approaching. Sure IT has been told and has their new machine ready. HR will likely welcome them and then it's over to you. How do you make that first experience magical?

Get their desk or workstation setup

Working in realestate this past decade or so, home is everything. Your desk at work is your professional home, so make your new colleague feel right at home.

Machine, cables, cords, chargers
Welcome letter with key company info printed out (also emailed)
Any swag: t-shirt, stickers, coffee mug, pens
For my designers I add sharpies, post-it notes and a moleskin notebook for capturing week 1 notes

Colleagues meeting 1:1 — Schedule 1:1s with peers and folks in the business they need to know

Group of people — Or, do lunch with senior people to give your team some face time. In this case I organised lunch with our former CEO

Book week one 1:1's with essential people

Save them having to seek out core team members by booking casual 1:1's with people they need to know. It's far more relaxing and occupies that first week getting to know others. Also add essential meetings and team rituals so they feel part of the machine immediately.

At an absolute bare minimum, just make sure they have access to *all* systems. All the applications, all the passwords.

Create a welcome document you can print and email

Bundle up all the essential information, a list of key people to meet (but organise the meetings for them), a glossary of terms, phrases or internal jargon even places in the area to eat or drink (and have your 1:1 there).

Some guys drinking beer — You can also go for lunch, coffee, bubble tea or beers!

Team meeting — Get your new hire involved in team activities and events ASAP

Create a Starter Kit for new hires

Particularly for design, helps to have a folder with essential company info:

Org chart
Company strategy and mission
How it makes money
OKRs or KPIs
Brand guidelines and principles
Core files (for designers it might be a design system or product roadmap)
Guide to essential software

Of course none of this replaces spending time with your new colleague and orientating them in person but it's great to have this fallback material when you're inevitably hauled off to some meeting.

Team lunch — Take the whole team and celebrate your new team member.

Collection of designs — Create a starter kit for new designers comprising key company documents and info, brand materials etc

Establish their brand. An avatar (of their face) should be added everywhere

Personal brand within a company is huge and it's important to establish it day one. I ask my new hire to provide a professional looking avatar first thing, jokingly threatening that no one gets paid until they supply the pic. Knowing your colleagues and being known helps you become influential and drives better team connections.

Email, intranet, slack, online services, workplace systems - wherever - establish your identity early.

Tell them to be inquisitive, to ask all the questions. You are at their beck and call

Pair them with a buddy or mate

Establish a mate: someone besides yourself to be their week one buddy. I pair them with a similar designer who can help be a contact to reach out to when you're not available. It's also a peer that can provide a more comfortable contact than their manager.

Welcome lunch

Lunch. That's it. That's the whole advice.