So you’ve found a new candidate you’re excited about, and they’ve accepted the offer — congratulations! Now you can turn your attention to building their onboarding plan. Onboarding is more than a few intro meetings and paperwork. When done correctly, onboarding will reassure them that they made the right choice coming on board and set them up for long-term success and productivity on your team. 

Here are six onboarding tips to ensure your new hire is set up for success. 

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Share your why 

During their first week, I recommend sharing the purpose or goal of your business. Let them know what your mission statement is or why you show up to work everyday. Maybe your goal is to empower seniors to be the healthiest version of themselves or to provide beneficiaries with the greatest fiscal support. Understanding the why behind the day-to-day tasks will make them feel more connected to your business. 

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Outline 30, 60, and 90 day goals 

Starting a new job can be overwhelming so it can be helpful to be specific on what the first few months on the job will look like. Setting goals in these time increments give your new hire clarity on what they need to do and what you are expecting of them. Who should they meet with by the end of month one? What tasks should they feel confident doing by the end of month two? Asking questions like these will reveal what sorts of tasks and goals to list under each month. 

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Have weekly 1:1s

A recurring 30 minute meeting every week will help you start building rapport and give both of you the opportunity to reflect on what’s going well and where they can improve. You can check in on their 30, 60, 90 goals and surface any issues sooner rather than later. During my 1:1s, I always like to ask: What can I do better for you as your leader? 

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Set them up with the right tech 

It’s important to have a reference guide outlining all of the technology and systems you use to keep your business running. A large part of onboarding is getting your employee integrated into systems, so they have access to the tools they need to do their work. Having documentation on your tech stack (where to access the tool, how to create login credentials, etc.) will make it easier for your new hire to ramp up quickly. 

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Create working-style cheat sheets

Everyone has different preferences on how they like to work and communicate. Creating a cheat sheet on your working style, that you can easily send to new hires, will provide clarity in advance and outline your expectations. You could include things like: if you prefer phone or email communications, what your expected response time is, your working hours, and how you prefer to handle feedback. 

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Get them onboarded to the Spark platform 

Almost anyone you bring on board will probably need to work in Spark. With the Spark platform’s user management function, it’s easy to invite new teammates and set custom permissions so they can enter data, send SOAs, submit support requests, and generate quotes. In addition to our Help Center guides on platform workflows, our team offers weekly training sessions and 1:1s to support new users while they get familiar with the platform. 

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What’s next? 

Download our free onboarding plan template to use anytime you make a new hire. 

Learn about the Spark platform that helps agents double their business. Follow Spark on LinkedIn for more industry advice and success stories from top agents and principals. 

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