The first day of a new job is a big deal. You carefully prepare for the task ahead, focus on learning new habits and routines, and psyche yourself up to bring nothing less than your absolute A-game.
But what about the company that hired you? Are they ready to bring their A-game?
At HubSpot, we take the job of onboarding new engineers just as seriously as we take the recruiting and hiring process. After we’ve worked so hard to recruit and hire you, we don’t want to drop the ball when it comes to welcoming you to our team and getting you up to speed. Building a world-class team requires discipline through the entire lifecycle of your team’s growth. But let’s start with the first day.
Day One: Meet Your New Tech Lead
The key to a successful onboarding process is understanding that it rests equally on both the welcoming team and the new hire. But the primary responsibility for your onboarding rests with one person, and at HubSpot, that’s the Tech Lead for your new team. We trust in your ability to learn and produce, but we also have a responsibility to invest in your success, include you in our culture, and encourage you to make your mark at HubSpot. And it’s up to the Tech Lead to help make all that happen.
Here’s what our Tech Leads are charged with delivering to every new hire on Day One.
-
Make introductions. We ask Tech Leads to make sure that there is an introductory meeting scheduled on the first day between the new hire, themselves, and another engineering leader. It serves as a quick introduction to how the department works, how they can use their manager effectively, what they can expect from us, and when we expect from them.
-
Schedule one-on-ones. We schedule 1:1 meetings weekly for the first 90 days. These happen no matter what, at the same time, on the same day, every week. We’ll step this down to every two weeks after those first 90 days have passed. But for now, we want to be checking in on your progress frequently -- and giving you a chance to check in with us.
-
Go over the performance rubric. You want to know how you’ll be measured. The Tech Lead will carefully review our performance rubric, answer any questions, and give you a printed copy to take home and keep. We’ll start using this rubric to measure your progress at your first 1:1 the following week.
-
Talk about first assignments. As a new hire, you’re eager to crush it. So your Tech Lead will help clarify exactly what your initial focus will be on, so there’s no confusion or delay. It can be easy to get distracted in your first 90 days, so it’s our job to provide you with the target you should be focusing your energy on. The rest will come in time, after you’ve established a good baseline of knowledge, experience, and ownership.
-
Offer our complete support. We are committed to the success of every new hire. Your new Tech Lead will remind you that we're excited to have you join our team and that we all want them to succeed. If you’re ready to bring your A-game, so are we.
Overall, it’s just about dedicating all of your attention on the new hire. He or she needs to know you will be there to support their success through feedback, coaching and direction. But we do much more than just that. We also focus on making that a special day, but that’s for another post. For now just go on and get ready for that new hire!