Onboarding An Apprentice Remotely

Over the last few months – almost every business has had to change their processes to acclimatise to the ongoing Covid-19 situation. 

This can be challenging. Especially if all of your working life and process has been done predominantly face to face. The luxury of meeting someone in person is not something readily available to you.  

As we look forward – it may be something that becomes more familiar when we do eventually come out of the current climate we find ourselves in. 

Working with a variety of different businesses, all within various industries, LDN Apprenticeships has taken on and enjoyed the challenge of helping employers transition over to a remote working structure.

One of the ways we have helped employers bring in new apprentices is our digital recruitment event Virtual Career Kickstarters.

But the one thing businesses we talk to are having the most trouble with is onboarding their bright-eyed and enthusiastic new apprentices. 

This is a challenge. How do you shadow a new apprentice and make sure they’re settling in? You can’t even show them around the office and introduce them to the rest of the team!

We’ve helped businesses onboard and induct their new apprentices over the last few months to great success. Making sure both the employer and apprentice are comfortable and happy within their new role. 

What is your current onboarding process

The first thing you can do is look at how you would onboard new recruits if you had the freedom to do so. What can be transferred over to a remote and digital induction and onboarding style? What can be done better? 

Once you know what you can do digitally and what may need changing – you’ll have a much clearer understanding of what you need to do to prepare for your new starter.

Diary and task management

Being able to manage a diary and tasks is more important than ever. Give the apprentice you are inducting a short list of simple tasks to complete. Then slowly increase the jobs you’re giving them as they progress.  Consider using time management software such as Clockify or Harvest.

The ability to go away and complete tasks independently is crucial to their onboarding being a success and will shape the rest of their apprenticeship. Make this clear from the very first task you give them!  However, make sure they feel comfortable to ask for help. Honesty is most certainly the best policy. 

Shadowing

Despite not being in the same location – you can still effectively shadow and mentor your new recruit. This ideally should be done by their line-manager and the person they will be directly reporting to. 

Set up calls with them at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. Run through what you would like them to do during the day in the morning – then at the end of the day – they can talk you through what they’ve achieved and any issues they’ve encountered. 

As an apprentice becomes more comfortable within the role – let them tell you what they’re doing and what they hope to achieve on the first call of the day.  

As with any new recruit – ideally you would like to be available for a call at any point in the day – especially for the first two weeks. But these regimented morning and end of day calls set a base and structure to the day. Allowing for tasks to be delegated and feedback to be given without fail. 

Video calls 

Video calls are now a common theme for remote working. Being able to not only communicate well on video calls but to also turn up to them on time and conduct themselves in a professional manner throughout are important basics for any new apprentice onboarding remotely.

You would have been confident of their video call skills during the recruitment and work trial process. But making sure they’re consistently turning up on time and are in an ideal setting is crucial.  

The standards you expect on video calls needs to be set from the very first day of onboarding. Introducing morning and end of day calls with your apprentices should help with this as well. 

For more information and tips about video calls – check out our blog on video calls here. 

As mentioned – the recruitment process is helpful when onboarding a new apprentice remotely as smoothly as possible.  

Virtual Career Kickstarters and Work Trials are crucial steps in making sure your apprentice is inducted properly via digital means. Something LDN Apprenticeship is able to guide you through every step of the way.