Top 5 Onboarding Practices When Hiring a Developer

​Onboarding new hires, especially when they are developers, take some time to take their perspective into account and design the best types of experience for your new hire and try to contribute as much as you can to them as fast as you can!

Onboarding hires are about taking perspectives into account and trying to design some of the best experiences you can for your new teammate. This includes clarifying the role, aligning goals and expectations, and having your new hire feel like they are at home from day one.

Furthermore, in this article, we will deeply discuss how we can use these onboarding practices to hire a developer. 

5 Onboarding practices to use for hiring a developer

1. Pre-boarding

​Pre-boarding is the time between a final interview and the first day of work. During this period of time, your candidate is trying to learn more about you, and so are you. However, let's not forget that your candidate has other options, too, so you need to respect their time as much as they respect yours.

Every business has a different hiring process. The final hiring process is different for every business. However, some like to include a test at the end or offer a few rounds of interviews to learn more about the candidate. However, being a developer requires technical knowledge, so it's best to include a test in this case. In this case, you can take the opportunity to:

• Start introducing your new hire to the team for example your could hire LATAM developers. If you're working remotely, you can arrange different meetings for people to meet at different time periods to meet new candidates.
• Give your new hire a tour of your office or even a virtual tour if you will work remotely.

As soon as your candidate accepts to join your team, you need to continue supporting their decision to join the team. Nevertheless, here are some other things you can do to help the candidate:

• Send a short brief of what day one will look like and give them some information that can be helpful for them. For example, if you have to meet your candidate, provide them with information about where you should meet.
• Complete all paperwork, physical and virtual
• Share information about the company's vision, culture, and mission. 

 2.Use an SQLite coding test

SQL is the standard query language for managing relational databases. It allows developers to create software by leveraging their well-structured data efficiently. Working with SQL databases is part of the everyday work developers go through. Therefore, knowing SQL is highly beneficial for you and helps you deal with complex data.

The SQLite test allows you to evaluate a candidate's ability to deal with real-life programming skills involving complex database structures. This test lasts around half an hour, and the overall objective is to create a query that acts as a report with key insights from the database.

Thus, you can distinguish which candidates are successful. Let's not forget that the test ranks candidates by using more than ten different test cases, making sure candidates are going through other test cases.

Note: Learn how to prescreen SQLite coding candidates.

3.Create an excellent job description 

 Do you want some of the best developers to be around you? Well, it all starts with writing the proper job description. There are plenty of great talented developers out there, so your job description should stand out from the rest and attract qualified users.

Beyond the basic information, such as stating the requirements, salary range, and the type of position the developer will be working in. Overall, you want to ensure why your company is an excellent fit for the kind of hire you will make and ensure that you add something unique when writing your job description.

When you write your job description, the most important thing to mention is that they are well structured. They need to provide a proper tech understanding of the project the developer will undergo and avoid any complex long paragraphs, descriptions, and being too wordy in their description. According to statistics, some of the most successful job descriptions are 300 to 600 words.

Above all, you should prioritize the structure and tone of your copy in the job description. Try using a tone and structure that reflects your company's culture so you don't mislead your candidates. So you don't have to struggle through any procedure, we will give you an example of an iOS developer job description:

Hi there,

(Your company's name) is looking to hire an iOS developer to design, build, and maintain modern-day and future iOS applications. Your main goal and daily objective will be to develop high-quality iOS applications for the latest Apple devices. Your daily duties will include collaborating with the internal design team to maintain & identify core codes, update applications on the app store, and provide new app features.

To ensure you have the proper skills of an iOS developer, you should have proficient knowledge using iOS frameworks, Objective-C and effectively collaborate with the internal team. The iOS developer should be able to create effective and high-end iOS apps that meet user requirements.

Here are the primary responsibilities you'll have with the following position:

• Build mobile apps for the iOS platform
• Closely collaborate with the internal design team
• Ensure you are delivering high-quality at all times based on requirements and specifications given
• Releasing new apps on the app store
• Maintaining and fixing codes of the application
• Implementing all recent application updates
• Fixing all bugs that appear on apps

iOS Developer requirements:

• A university degree in Computer science or software engineering
• Experience working as an iOS developer
• Proficient in Swift, Objective-C, and Cocoa Touch
• Excellent knowledge of iOS frameworks
• Extensive knowledge of C-based libraries and continuous integration
• Experienced in code versioning tools such as Mercurial, SVN, and more 

4.Make the first day a great one 

First impressions are more important than anything else, and let's get it right; you can't make a good first impression for a second time. So, apart from showing your new developer around the place (even if you are working remotely), here are a few more things you can do:

• If you are sharing the same office, it's good to give your new developer a tour throughout the office and clarify daily roles and what they can expect.
• An intro to the company and what you stand for (your mission, vision, culture, and more)
• Introduction to a new mentor or work buddy
• Introduction on Slack if working remotely
• Sharing access to all the required files that are needed within the company
• Having some lunch with the new developer and inviting the internal team as well
• Having regular team meetings

In order to further strengthen relationships, you can consider asking your new hire the following questions:

• How do you like the new position?
• What can I do to help you feel at home?
• What type of work motivates you and gives you the energy to work more?
• How would you like to schedule your working hours?
• How would you like your feedback to be given to you? 

 5.Conduct frequent check-ups

Delegate this part to a mentor or manager to check in with the new hire every day for the first few weeks. Then, as employees settle in their new job, managers can reduce the number of checkups needed. In the beginning, it can be every day, then every week, and when the new employee is comfortable, you can have a check-up whenever the new employee needs some assistance.

One-on-one meetings are an excellent way to allow employees to ask questions, express their concerns, share ideas and get feedback on the current projects you are working on. In addition, it's an excellent chance for the manager to value the new hire when they do a good job and provide coaching whenever needed.

New hires need special attention more than the rest, and let's not forget that you need to make them feel comfortable whenever they make a mistake. The beginning will always be difficult, so don't make them feel like it's the end of the world because they made a mistake. 

Wrapping it up

That's all for this article. These are the five onboarding practices you can use for all the new developers you'll hire. Starting a new position at a new job can be rough from time to time. Never aim to make your new hires feel uncomfortable at the workplace and offer them an attractive offer they can't resist.

If you're aiming to enhance your team's capabilities with highly skilled professionals, it's worth exploring the option of hiring developers from LATAM. These developers can contribute a fresh perspective and valuable skills to your projects, thanks to their established expertise and forward-thinking approach.

Especially if you're hiring talents, keep in mind that they have other offers, too, and your competitors might be an inch away from having a better offer than you!