Troels’ Perspective
My Onboarding was great – things were taken care of and they did what they could to prepare me.
—Troels Lytt Jensen, SEO-Specialist & Online Freelancer at VirtualAssistant.dk
Onboarding of a Geologist
“Starting out, you don’t have the faintest clue”
Troels Lytt Jensen is a SEO-specialist and online freelancer in his own business at Virtual Assistant. He had five years of experience in doing online work and have built several niche websites, webshops and affiliate sites.
Working among different companies, he experienced a multitude of different Pre & Onboarding processes. Troels both worked in China and in Denmark before starting his own business. One of the experiences he shared with us was when he worked for the public sector within the capital region of Denmark as an Environmental Consultant. Troels mentions how much he appreciated that he was provided a training programme before starting taking on assignments. “They started by providing me a two week programme of training, where they told us basically everything we needed to know – the workflow and the software.”, he recalled.
Aside from the training programme, the whole group of new employees, including Troels, had sessions with the top director wherein they were able to ask questions. The rigorous training programme provided Troels with all the skills he needed to perform, which made him he more confident in his new role.
Spotlight Quote
First weeks were fully allotted for training and then I would be getting assignments gradually.
— Troels L. Jensen, SEO-Specialist and Online Freelancer at Virtual Assistant.
Troels’ Background
I have a Master’s Degree in Geology. After graduating in university, I moved to China to work in Chinese for a Chinese oil company while taking an advanced degree in Mandarin. After a couple of years working in China, I came back to Denmark where I then worked in the public sector in doing environmental protection work. I worked there for seven years, protecting the groundwater from the pollutants.
Onboarding a Geologist in the Public Sector
The Onboarding process when I was hired was great. As they are a really big organisation within the capital region of Denmark, you can really see that they have done it so many times.
So what they did was, we wouldn’t start work right away. They started by providing us a two week programme of training, where they told us basically everything we needed to know – the workflow and the software. We even had a group session with the top director of the capital region, where he would answer our questions. We also had regarding the political leadership and the practical work. And in the coming months, we would have more group sessions with, for example, the top director.
The top director was was in charge of a workforce of around 50,000 people, and you could sit and ask him questions. So that was really cool!
Spotlight Quote
It would have been more beneficial to have some of the training a few months after starting.
— Troels L. Jensen, SEO-Specialist and Online Freelancer at Virtual Assistant.
In Troels’ Own Words
Going through an Onboarding journey benefited me in numerous ways. But the problem I had with my onboarding was that once you are starting out, you don’t have the faintest clue, and this is something you only learn gradually like with experience.
Meaning to say, it would actually have been more beneficial to have some of the training after a few months, where you have already gotten familiar and have had some experience. Then further training could come along.
But it was really good in the sense that things were taken care of and then they did what they could to prepare you, which is not something I’ve experienced in numerous places, for example, in China.
I was just thrown into it and like working in Chinese as the sole foreigner in the company, you know, there was no training whatsoever.
Pre & Onboarding Experience
I was just thrown into it (the job), there was no training whatsoever.
—Troels L. Jensen, SEO-Specialist and Online Freelancer at Virtual Assistant.
You Deserve a Great Onboarding
Everyone deserves a great start at their new job, but oftentimes, new hires don’t even get one. It was not until the recent years that the HR industry and workforce analysts started really highlighting the importance of onboarding and there’s as much that you could do on your own in reaching full productivity and having a great start.
Your new workplace has to ensure that you have access to all information, work tools, training and support mechanisms in order for you to become fully productive and prepared for your new role. So, what is your organisation doing to maximise your Pre & Onboarding experiences? Are they doing everything they could, or could they improve?
A 30 60 90 day onboarding plan can provide you with a structured framework for navigating the four phases of a structured onboarding. This kind of planning can guide you at the beginning of your employee life-cycle, while maintaining the focus on planning and execution, learning and role & social acclimatisation.
ONBOARDING INSIGHTS
An unsatisfied Pre & Onboarding experience can highly increase your stress levels during your starting process.
—According to ‘Your Pre & Onboarding Buddy’ eBook 2021.