Onboarding Roles

A quick overview of the entire onboarding can be found here.

Recruiter

Who’s that?

The person who recruited the new joiner. The Recruiter provides the overall structure for the onboarding process (GitHub tickets, main accounts) and is in general the fallback in case the buddy or the tech buddy are not available and there is a problem. If the new joiner has a question he/she can always contact the recruiter.

I’m a Recruiter, what now?

You are lucky :) Due to ISO requirements, we have your role clearly defined and documented here (https://intranet.giantswarm.io/docs/people/reading-material/onboarding/) Please make sure that if there is anything that needs to be updated to ping @team-team. A few things to really keep an eye on:

• You own the admin onboarding ticket(find it in the template folder in GitHub or by creating a new issue) together with the new joiner. Make sure that working through this ticket feels like a piece of cake for the new joiner and answer any questions that might arise during this.

Buddy

Who’s that?

You are the main person that accompanies the new joiner during the first month. Do you still remember the weird old times when on the first day people were forced to walk through the office and were introduced by a super excited co-worker? That’s YOU :D

I’m a Buddy, what now?

You own the entire Onboarding both from a cultural as from a technical point of view. Whenever the new joiner has a question, problem or wishes you should be there to support. Please make sure that you are proactive and make the new joiner feel welcome as we are growing and things are getting more and more complicated and complex. To make it a bit easier for you we have summarised a few of the core tasks that you need to keep an eye on:

• Get in contact with the new joiner before the official start date - do you remember when you joined? How nice is it if you get to know someone even before the first day. You can also invite the new joiner to things like lunch, Friday beers or our giant swarm and friends events.
• You own the general onboarding ticket(find it in the template folder in Github or by creating a new issue) together with the new joiner. Make sure that working through this ticket feels like a piece of cake for the new joiner and answer any questions that might arise during this.
• For the first week make sure to have a daily check-in with the new joiner to ensure that everything is alright.
• Make sure to have at least 2 check-ins with your Team Facilitator and the new joiner in the first few weeks - remember you are the new joiner’s “best friend” 🙂

Techbuddy

Who’s that?

A person who gives safety for the technical side of the job who either has the same role in the team or if that’s not possible in the same area.

I’m a Techbuddy, what now?

First and foremost, your responsibility is to not only be the go-to person for all technical things but actually be the person who goes to the new joiner on a regular basis to ensure they have everything they need in order to do their job. But there are a few more things to keep in mind:

• You own the position-specific onboarding ticket(find it in the template folder in GitHub or by creating a new issue) together with the new joiner. Make sure that working through this ticket feels like a piece of cake for the new joiner and answer any questions that might arise during this.
• You make sure that the work being done by the new joiner is reasonable. E.g. don’t start with a super hard and long task on the first day. Make sure things are slowly ramping up throughout the onboarding process.
• At least a weekly meeting for the first month with your new joiner.
• Make sure you have min 3 follow-up meetings with your buddy. This should happen in the first week, after one month and after 3 months. Apart from that just have on-demand meetings or pre-scheduled ones (whatever the two of you are more comfortable with).
• Enter your name in the Techbuddy field in the Personio profile of the new joiner. make sure that meetings, problems, challenges and opportunities to improve are documented in the position-specific onboarding and added to the template, for bigger things write an intranet post - keep in mind you own this ticket so make sure it stays up to date
• Make sure to regularly check in with the PO of the new joiners team to make sure that nothing is missing/blocking further process

Team Facilitator

Who’s that?

The team facilitator of the team that the new joiner is going to be part of.

I’m a TF of the new joiner, what now?

• You are responsible to keep everything together.
• Planning of new joiner arrival
• Are buddies decided, is the onboarding checklist on your team board …
• Expectation management in the team (role, seniority, time zone …)
• Look after proper inclusion into your team
• Is work with the buddy going ok?
• Does the person integrate well into the team?
• Can you somehow foster interaction between the new joiner and the remaining team?
• Probation period feedback
• Make sure 3-month and 5-month feedback is scheduled
• Ensure preparation of the feedback session
• Together with stakeholders
• Help from Area TF

Team Member

Who’s that?

Quite obvious right? You are on the same team as the new joiner.

I’m a team member of the new joiner, what now?

Good news 😀 no actual to-dos for you. But, be a role model in all possible ways. Think about meetings, slack use, how to handle your tickets in Github, how you document things, and most importantly: Be nice!