Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
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Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#2This is good stuff! I am adopting it for the next hire in my company.
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#3Jesus, this sounds like my nightmare. Just lead me to my cube and let me get to work.
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#4Jesus, this sounds like my nightmare. Just lead me to my cube and let me get to work.
That's why it is very important to touch the company culture topic during the interview and find out if it's a good match.
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#5I'm starting a new job in a week. Just in case they read HN, I really like brand-new Ferraris....
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#6Jesus, this sounds like my nightmare. Just lead me to my cube and let me get to work.
I have to admit I was a bit scared when I read this too. My introvertness makes me want to run from stuff like this. However I do have to say that there should be some effort to greet the new person. I had one job where I was sat in a cube and no one around me me said hello. I had to reach out and they were so dispirited I got a lukewarm response. It was a chilling effect for a first day.
Oh and I could not do anything with my machine since it was not set up.
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#7Jesus, this sounds like my nightmare. Just lead me to my cube and let me get to work.
Exactly.
There are some types of people who like it when you dig into their Facebook profile to find out who their favorite band is. But there are just as many people who will find it creepy that you stalked them online, or who will get outright angry because they expect separation between their job and their hobby. My hunch is that more of the first type become managers and more of the second type become makers, although I don't have any data to back it up.
Likewise, there are some types of people who obsess over doing memorable (but otherwise not particularly valuable) things for the sake of memorability, whereas for others, the first day is just another fucking day and nothing would be more memorable than actually writing a beautiful piece of code and seeing it in production. I'm guessing that the first type of people are responsible for most of those corporate picnics that result in severely interrupted coding sessions.
If you're the first type and you like to work with the same type of people and you want to make it a company tradition, by all means do so. It's your company after all. But please don't make it a surprise. Be very upfront about your "traditions" when you interview candidates, so that the other half of the human population will know well to stay away from your company.
Disclaimer: Of course I'm exaggerating. Still, work != party.
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#8Jesus, this sounds like my nightmare. Just lead me to my cube and let me get to work.
This isn't about embarrassing you. This is about showing that they care about you. Clearly, in your case they would prepare something to suit you - perhaps a gourmet basket sent to your house or similar, in a way that wouldn't embarrass you.
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#9My more memorable first days of work consisted of walking into a relaxing setting, sitting through new hire orientation where I learned everything about the company spoken by the heads of every department, being served free food all day and receiving a gift bag of chachkies at the end of it all. That process always made me feel like royalty: a few days of interacting with senior management (and other new hires) and being served free food.
Re: Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires
#10I think this is good concept - though I'm not sure if I would take it to the levels that they did (the Facebook part was a bit much for me...).
Even a small thing - a personalized postcard in the mail that arrives a few days before you start - would make me smile and feel welcomed.
There is a fine line though, and the difficulty is that the line is different for every person. Some people would love a personalized cake celebrating their first day, others would not.