Virtual Onboarding at a Place Built for Virtual Onboarding
Pros
I interviewed at Slack at the very beginning of press about Covid-19 here in the states -- my plans for in-person interviews quickly shifted to virtual and from an external candidate POV, it was shockingly smooth. The team was just as inviting as I imagine they would have been in person, and I feel I got to know my interviewers well throughout the thoughtful, in-depth interview process. I got the job (yay!) and then was, of course, onboarded virtually. The dedicated team of program coordinators and enablement specialists embodied everything I had heard about Slack: they were all inclusive, flexible, warm, welcoming, empathetic, etc.! It seemed that everyone truly cared about my development here (not just my core team, but also hiring teams I supported, folks I onboarded with, and stakeholders across the org). Slack is, as most know, amazing as a platform: being new and having this wealth of searchable information, with bots, reminders, everything you need to ramp up quickly. So, I won't ramble on about that. But I will say, I am genuinely so thrilled to be here at Slack. I believe in the power of our platform, believe we have amazing growth ahead, and feel really fortunate to get to work with this lean team of smart, humble, hardworking recruiters and business partners day in and day out. Even though I've never met my coworkers in real life, I've found my niche here and have appreciated how quickly the team welcomed me into the fold.
Cons
Virtual onboarding, wherever you go, is hard. While the meetings were necessary for me to get to know everyone, the first few weeks were overwhelming and meeting-heavy. There was a lot to learn, and while it's amazing to have this bank of searchable information, it takes some getting used to -- there's a little learning curve to use Slack to its full potential.
