Talent Insider

Thursday, October 1, 2020

Virtual Onboarding Made Easy

There is plenty of information out there right now on how to successfully conduct virtual interviews. But what happens after you hire the candidate? How do you mirror in-person onboarding in a virtual environment? Recently, Orion Talent CEO Mike Starich shared an inside look with Recruiting Daily into a successful virtual onboarding program led by our client FTC Solar, a renewable energy company led by military veterans.

In the article, Mike breaks down what one week of virtual onboarding looks like at FTC Solar, beginning with the shipment of a laptop as soon as the hire is made, including a 45-page employee handbook.

Read on for a detailed preview of the week:

Day 1: Virtual meetings are held with the CHRO, manager, IT team, and finally an informal mentor - to answer any questions and review the plan and goals for the week.

Day 2: This day starts with a 90-minute new hire orientation presented by the CEO and CHRO. During the interactive session on Zoom, new hires learn about the history of the company, company purpose, and benefits, among many other topics.

Day 3 and 4: Onboarding shifts to on-the-job-training (OJT) conducted via Microsoft Teams. FTC Solar relies on Teams’ screen sharing capabilities for an efficient transfer of skills and knowledge. These sessions are also recorded for future reference.

Day 5: The week concludes with an informal virtual happy hour, where new employees are encouraged to engage socially, and ends with a toast to the new hires.

Even though onboarding has to be done online for many companies, that doesn’t mean it can’t be informative, engaging, and even fun.

Check out “Create a Virtual Onboarding Program that New Hires Rave About” and gain some takeaways that you can implement into your current processes.

Outsourced Recruiting Solutions for the Technology Industry's TA Challenges

With driving forces like big data, cloud computing, information security, the IoT, AI, and Moore’s law, tech companies are experiencing massive growth requiring top talent. To meet this need, tech companies are increasingly turning to Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solutions from Orion Talent to manage the people, process, technology platform and strategy to boost their hiring performance.

To address the successful relationship between the tech industry and RPO, we have recently launched Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Solutions for the Technology Industry. On it, you will not only find a 2-minute video defining RPO and a quiz to help you determine if it is right for you, but also segment specific case studies, testimonials, and position coverage.

Companies across the Technology industry in sectors like Information Technology, Biotechnology, E-commerce, Semiconductor, Data Center and High-Tech Manufacturing can all benefit from the Outsourced Recruiting offered through Orion Talent RPO. Check out this new page to see how RPO can improve your most important hiring metrics like Time-to-Fill, Recruiting Costs, Retention, and Hiring Manager Satisfaction.

Five Tips for Retaining Great Employees

Recently, the folks at Accolo, an Orion Talent company, discussed with us five strategies for retaining employees over the long term. As we all know, finding the right talent can often be a battle in-and-of-itself. But you can’t stop there, or you may lose that employee down the line. The experts at Accolo tell us that following the five steps laid out below will lead to consistent, highly effective staff.
 
1. Create an employer brand - An employer brand represents your business’s work culture, mission, and values. The employer brand should entice candidates and current employees to want to work for your company.
 
In TA Trendsetters - Winning Strategies from Talent Acquisition Leaders, Katy Theroux, CHRO and EVP of Corporate Marketing for NCI Building Systems, now Cornerstone Building Brands, delves into this topic saying, “For our organization, we have one message to the marketplace about who we are and what value we bring. Those values get translated into a set of behaviors and how we work with each other….That voice is what ties us all together, defines who we are together and what that means to our customers, our employees and our NCI brand.”
 
2. Practice open communication - You need to be accessible to both candidates and employees. Cameron suggests offering three ways they can get in touch with you. And, just as you wouldn’t want to create a bad hiring experience, you should keep the employee experience positive.

By earning a bad employer reputation, you lose out on referrals and make the recruitment and retention of staff even more difficult for your company. Referrals are often long-term employees, and they usually stay at their jobs at more than twice the rate of job board candidates.

3. Be reliable - This is a simple tip. If you expect your candidates and employees to be punctual and reliable, you need to be, as well.
 
4. Encourage growth - As the Accolo experts point out, the time when employees stayed at a job for decades and earned a Rolex are over. The average employee tenure is now only 4.2 years.
 
According to Mike Starich, CEO of Orion Talent, writing for Recruiting Daily, it is important to take into consideration the training opportunities you offer. “According to a recent survey from McKinsey & Company, executives now see ‘investing in retraining and ‘upskilling’ existing workers as an urgent business priority that companies, not governments, must lead on,’” writes Starich, “On-the-job training and team development not only safeguard your ability to stay competitive as a business, it sends the message that you are dedicated to helping your employees achieve meaningful careers.
 
5. Measure performance - High-performing workers want quantifiable goals and useful feedback. Managers should not only maintain metrics on that employee, but then measure them up against the business as a whole for a bigger picture. Illustrating the valuable role each employee plays in the company's larger mission can be rewarding to the employee. Indeed, Mike Starich reminds us in his article “not to underestimate the role that meaningful work plays in retention.
 
You didn’t just happen upon the great team you work with -- you worked hard to recruit the right people for the job. Don’t let attrition chip away at your hard work. Follow these five tips by developing an employer brand, openly communicating, being reliable, providing upskilling opportunities, and putting performance in context, and you will be on your way to keeping that team around.

On-Demand Virtual Hiring Events Through Orion Talent

 
In addition to our scheduled industry- and region-specific virtual hiring events, we are excited to offer our clients the ability to customize an On-Demand Virtual Hiring Event. These events are catered to your scheduling, recruiting, and compliance needs, enabling you to overcome travel and social distancing restrictions, all while meeting your ongoing recruiting needs.
 
Orion Talent On-Demand Virtual Hiring Events serve nearly all industries and include benefits like:
 
 
With an Orion Talent On-Demand Virtual Hiring Event you can recruit skilled specialists and professionals for a wide range of permanent and contingent roles. All we need to know to get started is:
 
- What positions would you like to fill?
- How many candidates would you like to hire?
- When would you like to virtually interview Orion's candidates?
 
We take it from there and set you up with military talent ready to start a new career with your company. Before you know it, you have recruited top leaders and technicians, without having to leave your office, just like the environmental engineering firm below.
 
 
Whether you are looking to ramp up hiring for project based needs, are seeking a company-wide coordinated Military Talent Strategy, or need to fill just a few positions, Orion virtual interviews make it faster and easier to interview the right Military Talent. Contact us today, and put the industry's most committed, outcome-driven recruitment force to work for you today!

According to our Clients

Refer a Military Job Seeker or Client Company to Orion

job seeker
If you would like the chance to win a $50 gift card, enter into our monthly drawings for Client referrals and Job Seeker referrals. If your referral results in a hire, you will personally receive a $100 gift card as our way of saying thank you. As always, we will maintain your privacy and never share your information nor that of your referral. That's one entry for each referral that you submit - good luck and thank you for the referral!

Charlene Rowe won the Job Seeker Referral monthly drawing
and is the winner of a $50 gift card.