Onboarding is not just onboarding: While a person with professional experience has the best prospects of settling into a new company quickly, the optimal onboarding of trainees requires different ingredients. They come straight from school, from a backpacking trip, or from university and need to be integrated into the company step by step. Find out here what you should pay special attention to when onboarding trainees.

• 1. Special challenges for trainee onboarding
• 2. Methods for trainee onboarding

1. Special challenges for trainee onboarding

While you can generally assume that new employees will quickly find their way around the "company" microcosm, you first have to pick up trainees where they are – still with one foot in school or university life. That is why you should know and reflect on their starting position.

• How do I behave? For trainees who have not been able to gain any practical experience beforehand, a company is a completely new world. That is why the onboarding of trainees should provide them with everything they need to find their way around as quickly as possible. This includes all important information and documents in a folder and, ideally, in digital form via the onboarding app for quick access.
• Who is my contact person? Whether at school or university, trainees were previously used to being "taken by the hand" to a greater or lesser extent. Now they are confronted in a company with many new faces who take on different roles and tasks. Organizational charts or profiles in the company app offer orientation.
• What am I actually doing here? Trainees usually only understand what it practically means to complete an apprenticeship as a media designer, office management clerk, or industrial electrician once they are already in the middle of it. No matter how good job descriptions are: it takes practical experience to understand and practice tasks and work routines. The onboarding of trainees should also take away the young people's fear of making mistakes or failing.

2. Methods for trainee onboarding

The next generation is thoroughly tech-savvy. Training companies can take advantage of this. To bind trainees to the company as early and as well as possible, they can use an onboarding app. In pre-boarding, they unlock some functions and provide the trainee with the first important information and maintain contact. This incidentally reduces the risk of the trainee getting "cold feet" before their first day of work and not starting the apprenticeship.

Here you will find further field-tested methods for the comprehensive onboarding of trainees:

1. (Trainee-)experienced companion for the acclimatization phase

An employee should take enough time in the first few days to welcome the new trainee and be the most important contact person. In the best case, they already have experience in dealing with new trainees, know their worries and needs, and can thus intercept as many issues as possible.

2. Buddy system

Organizations can also think about a buddy system: In this case, another experienced trainee stands by the new colleague's side and accompanies them through their first working days. A very special relationship of trust quickly develops between young colleagues, which makes it easier for the newcomer to get a good start.

3. Company tour

To get an overview of the "company" microcosm, the trainee should receive a tour of as many departments as possible and also get to know important places such as the canteen, HR office, toilets, and parking lots.

4. First getting to know each other

The trainee should get to know the first colleagues from their immediate working environment in as informal a situation as possible. In this relaxed atmosphere, it is easier to ask initial questions and get a feel for personal interaction. Formal introductions in discussion groups and meetings are then also a little easier.

5. Feedback culture

New trainees should be encouraged to ask questions early on and provide feedback on the onboarding process. This way, difficulties and unanswered questions can be cleared up quickly and at an early stage. Trainers also receive important information on how they can further improve onboarding for trainees.

Would you like to receive more ideas for a holistic onboarding of new employees? Then get to know our onboarding app here.