What tips do you have for onboarding new hires?

During today’s session “Onboarding from both perspectives” with Maddy Kilsby-McMurray and Scott Kenyon on the sixth episode of The Testing Planet, someone asked this question, but we didn’t have time to get to it.

We’re now opening this question to all of you to share your tips and perhaps create a checklist. :thinking:

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Yay, I wrote an article on this one!

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I participated in a contest about mentoring last year for which I prepared an experience report on my “coaching/onboarding” new hires (especially freshers) into testing.

By the end of three months, I had convinced the new hire to become an open-source contributor and do his bit of micro contributions (details in the attached PDF). He did that :orange_heart::raised_hands:

Detailed report here:
Moolyampics 4 - Experience Report by Rahul Parwal.pdf (404.2 KB)

Coming back to my tips for onboarding:

I usually use a Socratic approach to teaching, which involves asking questions and stimulating critical thinking to draw out multiple ideas and perspectives. This not only helps the learners develop their own solutions but also extends their boundaries and develops a deeper meaning and understanding of the subject.

Throughout my coaching sessions, I actively involved my mentee in the game of learning, encouraging him to take an active role in his growth. I wanted to help him develop the skills and confidence needed to overcome new challenges.

To blend this style with my topic-wise schedule. I categorized the coaching of any topic into 4 key activities:

  • Conduct: Basic Intro of the topic:
    • Cover the 5W1H (What, Why, When, Where, Who, How) of the topic.
    • Attempt to build curiosity
    • Whiteboarding about the topic
    • Use examples & case studies to explain how this skill helps you in the industry.
    • This is done in 1-1 mode in an office meeting room or virtual teams meeting by me
  • Share: Self-paced learning material with Mentee
    • Material shared from open platforms like Test Automation University, Dr. Cem Kaner, Testing Foundations Lectures, etc.
    • Reused past session recordings or internal training materials that I had done on these topics.
    • Shubham to take note of important pointers, key topics, doubts, questions, thoughts, anything that can be discussed later, etc.
  • Discuss: On a regular basis
    • Using daily standup calls (15 mins)
    • Using 1-1 calls (on a need basis)
    • Using 1-1 chats (for minor discussions)
    • Occasionally, also using ad-hoc and informal opportunities such as pantry talks, lunchtime, tea discussions, etc.
  • Debrief / Demo: The learnings to Trainer & Others
    • Invite others interested in a Debrief / Demo Session on Topic – “X”
    • Give 20 minutes to the new joined to share their key learnings, what they built using it, and anything that they want to talk about.
    • 10 minutes of open Q&A rounds from other members who joined the meeting.
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I wrote about this a few years ago with a long list of things to do:

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