Buddy chat

Getting acquainted

We recommend for the first meeting to be pretty casual, so your new hire knows their OB is someone they can confide in throughout their onboarding process. It’s always beneficial if your new hire feels like their OB is a friend, so getting to know one another on a personal level makes sense for this first chat.

Here are some fun topics that your new hire and their onboarding buddy can cover: 

• Hometown
• College (or other school)
• Life in their current city
• Hobbies
• Passions
• Recent and favorite trips
• Family

If all goes well, their onboarding buddy will become a confidant who can answer questions your new hire might not be comfortable asking their manager. After they get to know each other a bit, have your new hire’s OB encourage them to ask about things like role-specific knowledge and the team, company, and overall onboarding process.

Consistency is key

In order for your new hire to get the most out of their relationship with their onboarding buddy, it’s crucial that they meet and talk about the onboarding experience on a fairly consistent basis.

At Sora, we’ve set the following expectations for our onboarding buddies:

• During their new hire’s first week, an onboarding buddy should check in every day via Slack or a quick Zoom call. 
• Following their new hire’s first week, an onboarding buddy should set up a weekly or bi-weekly coffee chat. These should be 15-30 minute (preferably video) chats, where they can check in, see how things are going, answer questions, let them express any frustration or confusion, or just catch up with them. 
• Onboarding buddies should be available for and attentive to any questions their new hire has. If there are questions they can't answer, they should refer them to someone who can.

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If a new hire expresses serious concerns, your onboarding buddy should be open to bringing this to HR - with the new hire’s permission - or encourage them to bring it up with HR themself.

Getting to the bottom of their frustrations right away can help mitigate any negative experiences the new hire has moving forward. It will also set an example of transparency and trust within the company and show your new hire that they can safely voice their concerns without fear of retaliation.