A new recruit checklist is a document that helps you keep track of all the tasks that need to be done after a candidate has accepted an offer and leading up to their start date. Depending on how long onboarding lasts at your company (and who is involved in the various tasks), your new recruit checklist might extend through the new recruit’s first month, first three months or even their first six months on the job.

You can also create different versions of your new recruit checklist for the different teams or people who will be involved in onboarding such as your IT team, HR or people team, the new recruit’s direct manager and even their onboarding buddy.

Why is a new recruit checklist important?

Having a new recruit checklist (or several versions of a new hire checklist for different people or teams) is the foundation of a structured onboarding process. This is important because it:

• Creates structure and consistency in the new recruit experience so all new recruits start with the same information and resources. And this pays off in the long run – employees are 58% more likely to still be at a company three years later if they’ve participated in a structured onboarding process.
• Ensures nothing and no one gets forgotten. There are countless horror stories of new recruits showing up for their first day when no one was expecting them and not having the tools or resources they need to do their jobs. This is even more challenging in a remote setting, where all communication relies on having access to company email and other software. A positive new recruit experience, on the other hand, leads to happier employees in the early days and down the line. Research shows that 54% of companies with structured onboarding enjoy higher levels of employee engagement.
• Reduces fear and uncertainty for new recruits. If candidates don’t hear anything after they’ve signed an offer letter, they can begin to worry about whether they’ve made the right decision to join your company. But if you’re communicating with them regularly – whether it’s to ask them about their ideal workstation setup or schedule their welcome lunch – you’re sending the message that you’re genuinely looking forward to having them join your team.

How does Greenhouse use new recruit checklists?

Greenhouse uses new recruit checklists as part of our highly structured onboarding programme for new employees, their managers and anyone else who’s involved in the onboarding process. The engineering team at Greenhouse redesigned their onboarding process to make it more repeatable and scalable, relying on checklists in Greenhouse Onboarding to keep track of tasks and their owners. “We codified everything we could within Greenhouse Onboarding,” says former Director of Engineering Aaron Gibralter. For each piece of the puzzle, they figured out the ideal person to own responsibility for the new recruit and then built that into the Greenhouse Onboarding plan for new recruits in the engineering department.

And we’re not the only ones! Greenhouse customers Cheetah Digital implemented Greenhouse Onboarding to create a defined framework, allocate responsibilities and automate tasks and email reminders for new recruits – all while strengthening the company brand and getting employees up to speed. The results were pretty eye-opening. In the first 30 days, the team was able to seamlessly onboard 54 new recruits, complete 526 tasks and save 12 hours in HR coordination, plus they received 100% positive new recruit feedback.

Our essential checklists for new recruits include:

• A pre-boarding checklist to reference post-offer acceptance
• A timeline of tasks to complete in the week leading up to your new recruit’s first day
• A first-day checklist to ensure the teams involved are prepared and ready to go
• Checklists for week one and beyond, including ideas to keep new recruits engaged all the way through to month six