How Managing Your Expectations as Hiring Manager Allows Your New Hire to Succeed

Sam Rogal
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As a hiring manager you know better than anyone what it takes to be successful for the job you’re hiring for. You know the ins and outs of this position and you know what each of your employees needs to succeed in terms of support and resources. Hiring can be a lengthy process, depending on the position it’s possible that you’ve read a person’s resume and cover letter, looked at samples of their work, interviewed them multiple times, and then explained to your higher ups why they were the right person for the job. So, once you’ve decided that a candidate is the right person for the job how can you allow them to succeed once they’re brought on board?

One of the best ways to ensure the success of a new hire is to manage your own expectations in the first place. A new hire will be getting used to a new position, a new corporate culture, new people, and they will lack any sort of firm base at the company. In many ways being new to a company is like being in a new country. You don’t know anyone, you don’t speak the language, and you don’t know your way around. However, all of these issues are solved by one simple magical thing, time.

If you truly did your due diligence and found a candidate who is right for the position then the best thing you can give them once they’re onboarded is time. Allow them time to get used to the temperature of the water at the company. If they make a mistake early on you must find a way to encourage them to learn from it instead of coming down on them. Your new employee is finding their path and, just like you took time to find your path after being hired, they need you to give them the time and the space to do it their own way.

You want to avoid a new hire being so scared to make a mistake that they don’t ask questions about things they don’t understand. This can stunt the learning curve that a new employee goes through and slow the process of them being a full-fledged member of your team. Just a little patience and understanding at the beginning of a new hire’s career can go a long way to have them become the great employee you know they can be.

This patience also goes beyond yourself. It’s best to make sure that whatever team this new hire is on also manages their expectations. If their new team is as understanding and patient as you are then the new hire will slip into this role with ease. Everyone needs to work together to bring this new person into the family, it may be difficult but the benefits will be far reaching. Also, once you establish a protocol for dealing with a new employee you can use it going forward and never have to worry about putting too much pressure on a new person.

There will always be turnover in certain jobs, and you can do all the due diligence on the planet and still end up with someone who just doesn’t work out, however if you do find the right person giving them some space and time to get used to their new surroundings is an invaluable skill for a hiring manager. 

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