Onboarding and the Current Job Market

The job market continues to lag behind the other economic indicators, so it’s more important than ever to focus on a successful search and onboarding process.


The National Employment Report published and released last week by ADP, Automated Data Processing, a business services firm, provided an improving, but still declining job market from the month of June to July 2009. They found that the employment decline in this timeframe was the smallest since October of 2008.

Good news? It could be worse, but according to ADP, jobs are a “lagging indicator” of the health of the economy and they expect to see further decline before the labor market actually starts adding jobs.


However, this does not mean that hiring has stopped. Organizations in certain sectors are growing and hiring while others are just trying to keep up with attrition. According to Forbes.com, during their last fiscal years, Wal-mart, the retail giant, hired 100,000 new associates, while Randstad, the international temporary staffing company, hired 59,000, and IBM hired 31,000 new people to fill existing and growth-related positions.

So in this type of climate, how can the job seeker be successful and what role does the organization have in his or her success? Because the selection process is now longer and there are more candidates in the pool, it is more important than ever for these new associates to “hit the ground running” in their new positions. The primary responsibility is on the new hire to manage his or her own transition, but the organization must also step-up to support the onboarding process.

What an Individual Can Do to “Jump-start” the Onboarding Process?

Even though it may seem like it, the “work” is not done once a candidate has accepted the job. Time and attention to the transition is critical because so many people, particularly the ones in the managerial positions tend to have difficulty in the first few months on the job and can derail, costing the individual and the organization time and money.

Here are some key things that all new hires must do to cement success in a new role:
• Create a plan
• Identify key stakeholders; build relationships
• Be clear about the role and what is expected
• Be patient
• Ask questions
• Listen, observe

So again, the work is not over when the job is accepted--it's just beginning.

Next blog--What can organizations do to support onboarding in this climate?