You’ve chosen your candidate, offered them the position, and now all that is left is to onboard them (easily and smoothly!!) To do this, I suggest having your Project Management tool all set up with an “onboarding” board, that you can easily copy for each new hire – and I’m going to walk you through EXACTLY what to put on that board to make sure the onboarding process goes smoothly.

If you’re just joining me now I suggest going back and make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you begin the hiring process.

Check out the earlier blog posts in the series about how to decide what to hire for, construct your job application, and conduct your interview.

Sign a Contract

You need to offer the candidate the position. Feel free to let his reflect your personality! Record a short video asking if they’d accept, send them an email, make a phone call, or schedule a video-conference follow up! There’s no wrong way to go about this. Just choose whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you.

Next, you’ll need to have them sign a contract before onboarding for both of your business’ safety. There are lots of contract templates around on the internet, but I suggest The Legal Paige or Bobby Klinck’s templates. No affiliate link – just have used them in the past!

Once the contract is signed by both YOU and your new hire, you can get moving on work!

Add to Communication Channels

The next step is to make sure you’re communicating HOW you’re going to communicate. Will you be using Slack or Voxer? Will you be communicating with a project management tool like Monday, Asana or Click-Up? Just email (FYI – do NOT recommend that!).

Onboarding to the Team

From there, make sure they have all the steps necessary to succeed. When you onboard your first hire, I’m not going to lie to you, there will be a bit of work upfront. BUT – with all that extra time, you’ll be creating more revenue and eventually be able to outsource even MORE of your tasks as you grow. So the front end is all worth it – trust me.

Include these on your “Welcome Board” in your project management tool of choice:

• Video of how to use your project management tool – this can be a video you recorded or a brief explanation/YouTube video
• Directions on how to track their hours/get paid
• Directions on how passwords will be shared
• A “Get to Know You” survey – optional, but if you’re looking for a long-time team member, it’s nice to celebrate birthdays, send little treats etc.
• Specific directions/information about THEIR role – i.e. what do they need to know about managing your Instagram? Is there a certain number of posts they should be completing per week?

Onboarding Orientation Call

After your new team member has had a few days to complete their welcome materials, it is time to hold an orientation call. If this is your first team member, you can do this OR if you’re working with an Online Business Manager, this falls under their wheelhouse!

In the orientation call, I usually ask the new hire if they have any questions that didn’t get answered about the welcome packet/board, and then I go over a few other house keeping items which may include the following:

• Overview of all the business’ “paths to money” just so they have a brief understanding of all streams of revenue.
• Communication agreement – go over your general expectations for response time, lead time for vacations, expectations for meetings.
• What to do in an emergency
• Other team members’ roles (if you have any!)
• Priorities for week one – what do you hope your new hire can accomplish in the first one to two weeks

Setting Up Your First Month for Success

The MOST COMMON reason for unhappy/unsuccessful working relationships are UNCLEAR EXPECTATIONS. Read that again. The most common reason for unsuccessful working relationships are unclear expectations.

Listen, you combed through applicants, you interviewed 3-5 people, you FOUND YOUR PERSON!!!! Now, let’s keep everyone happy by communicating clear expectations during the first month of working together. Over-communicate your expectations and feedback. I suggest checking in daily. This doesn’t have to be a Zoom call or anything – it can be via Slack/Voxer or email. The purpose is to keep communication lines open, see how you work together, and ensure things are getting D-O-N-E.

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