This Is What Tech New-Career Employees Need to Succeed

Hiring TipsDeveloper Recruiting

As a newcomer to the workforce, there are things you can do to set yourself up for success.

The pressure is mounting on people managers to improve their onboarding processes for early-career professionals and set them up for success.

It is important to pay attention to early-career employees for everything they bring to the table — fresh, outsider perspective, new skills and diverse experiences — as well as for their special needs, whether they are just entering the workforce or changing careers.

They join the organization without the baggage veterans of the sector carry or wearing the blinders of tradition, only being able to see things as they have always been done in the organization. Being new has its advantages- these employees can be embraced for who they are while being introduced to how the organization operates, allowing them to see new opportunities.

Other recent statistics imply that workplace orthodoxies regarding new employees are ending. For example, approximately 25 percent of millennials think it is acceptable to leave a job within 12 months of being hired. The recent influx of millennials into the workforce has the potential to reach unsustainable churn rates quickly if their behavior and assumptions about leadership practices are not re-thought by people managers.

If leaders only pay lip service to valuing their people, they will face limitations in achieving their goals. In fact, nearly 90 percent of tech executives report turnover rates that exceed what was recently considered "normal." Anecdotally, a big-tech exec recently shared they have seen examples of employees recruited away from the company with offers that are 2x their current salaries. High turnover in a critical function coupled with unexpected growth in payroll expense can jeopardize the product roadmap and financial performance.

Early-career employees need to feel motivated and engaged in order to do their best work; people managers should get to know these employees and mentor them so they will not become part of the turnover statistics.

Their Experience Is Not Your Experience

No two beginnings are the same, especially when starting a new job or career. The experiences employees have in the early stages of their careers will have a significant impact on their future success. As a leader, you have the ability to shape these experiences through your actions and behavior. It is important to take this responsibility seriously and support employees as they adjust to their new roles on the team.

It is crucial to understand that how new employees perceive meaningful work could be dissimilar from your own perspectives or the perspectives of other existing team members. The workplace is changing and it's creating new complexity in building and leading collaborative teams, creating camaraderie, driving a cohesive culture, and understanding of the organization's purpose and goals. We need new solutions, and digital natives are in the position to provide them. Let's approach our conversations and learning opportunities as bi-directional. Yes, I may be coaching an early-career employee, but each conversation is an opportunity for me to learn from them. I'll be humble and ask questions.

Let Their Strengths Complement Your Weaknesses

A manager gave me this advice when I was a new people manager: "Hire people who do the things you don't like to do and are good at the things you're not good at." By following my advice, you are now managing people who can complement your skills and interests. Acknowledge your own areas of expertise and limitations. Understand that as you advance in your profession, you will have less knowledge of what your less experienced colleagues are working on. Be honest about what you know and what you don’t know.

Establish processes that ensure you:

• Ask questions: Develop trust by exhibiting true interest in team members as individuals, not simply cogs in a machine. A simple inquiry like, “Tell me about you and your goals,” before delving into the latest to-do list, can go a long way towards establishing that you care about your team members and why they decided to join your organization.
• Keep meeting with people one-to-one: Is there a key early-career team member who doesn’t report to you? Hold less-frequent skip-level meetings to check in, get to know them, and show that you care. Reach out to build a professional relationship.
• People managers must be held accountable for their people management skills, this includes adopting norms for onboarding and developing early-career employees. People management skills are something that can be learned, and people managers must learn and practice coaching as well as developing other competencies that may be completely new to them.

Collaborate on Implementing the 90-day Plan

A plan that defines key activities and outcomes for an employee's first 90 days on the job is beneficial for all new employees, including early-career employees. This is a pivotal moment during which they will establish relationships, a reputation, and their feelings about the decision to join your company and team. Make the most of it.

MAXIMIZE THE IMPACT OF THE 90-DAY PLAN WITH THESE 6 TIPS

• Be welcoming
• Provide a template for drafting goals
• Show them the big picture
• Focus on development
• Give them the trust they need to experiment
• Start coaching leadership skills right away

Be welcoming

It is important to introduce the new hire to the team, and provide them resources like people or groups with shared interests, as well as expose them to other parts of the organization.

Provide a template for drafting goals

Help them develop S.M.A.R.T. goals — goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Make sure that their goals connect to their abilities and passions.

Show them the big picture

New employees should be given a comprehensive orientation to the vision and North Star for the business, so that they understand how their role contributes. This orientation should include an introduction to the culture of the organization, and guidance on how to operate within that culture.

Focus on development

The 90-day plan should include professional development activities, like meetings and training, as well as specific assignments, to help socialize them and build confidence and relationships.

Give them the trust they need to experiment

It is important for organizations to be places of learning, where people feel comfortable experimenting and failing in order to contribute more effectively now and in the future. Create an environment that fosters creativity and experimentation to help reach business and customer objectives.

Start coaching leadership skills right away

It is important to coach on soft skills that matter most, including resilience, influence, communications, how to make positive choices and tradeoffs, and decision making. You are setting the basis for leadership skills that will matter throughout their career.

The traditional career path of laddering up at a small number of employers is no longer relevant. The Squiggly Career by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis presents the case for making different types of moves in one’s career journey. The "squiggly career" is an increasingly common experience for early-career employees. As a people manager, you can help them get started on the right foot by ensuring they have a positive experience at your organization.