Want to know what getting onboarded at Yarno is really like?
Well, you're in luck! Who better to let you in on company secrets than me, Liam – Yarno's newest intern.
Here's the short version of how it goes down:
- You and your supervisor send emails like penpals for a month
- You get sweet Yarno merch (including a custom-drawn illustration that is so much more attractive than you really are)
- The team designs content specifically for you! Yep, I got my own Yarno campaign.
And let me tell you, I was the best performing new employee by far. I was so far ahead on the leaderboard that I couldn't even see 2nd place! (This is the first of many terrible jokes. Apologies in advance.)
Apparently that's the way companies treat interns these days. And I'm fine with that!
Don't get me wrong, though, there are drawbacks to working with people who are nice to you. After a few weeks, you sort of feel obliged to write them a blog post (tough life, I know).
Note to readers: prepare for the new Yarno employee to tell you how good Yarno is (I'm sorry but they brainwashed me already - ONE OF US, ONE OF US, ONE OF US).
This isn't the norm, though. To walk through the door as a 20-year-old and feel comfortable in an office is something rare. These people are adults with responsibilities who work full time, I'm just a kid with a drinking licence and an ever-growing HECs debt.
So how did they accomplish this?
It was through an incredibly purposeful, intelligent and considered plan for integration. Sounds great right? Thought so! Let me give you a step by step breakdown of how they made it so easy:
1. Attract the right people
I don't think steps 2-4 work if you don't attract the right sort of people. And for a tech start-up looking for a keen uni student, they nailed the brief.
Most companies just list a set of skills and the requirements of the role. Now of course Yarno did all that, sure. But they also had a bit of fun - they quoted Zoolander. Now as a fan of the high brow humour of Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell, I was immediately intrigued.
And then how did I get the job? Well, I quoted Zoolander and Step Brothers back to them! I also told them why I'd be qualified and a great fit, but that's unimportant.
If you want to know how to get a job, make bad jokes. And I mean REALLY bad jokes that quote early 2000's movies.
To me, this says a lot about Yarno. They don't just care about someone who has the skills, but they also want someone who can be a good cultural fit (excuse me while I praise myself for having stellar qualifications and a great personality).
2. Communication
I thought when I got the job that I would hear from Yarno maybe the week before I started and we'd go from there. But as soon I got the role, they wouldn't leave me alone for over a month - and it was surprisingly refreshing.
Every couple of days, nothing too crazy, I would email Joel (and sometimes Mark and Lachy). We talked about the things you'd expect; what the plan for my training was, the project I was working on and a bit about the company.
Interestingly, we ended up chatting about so much more. I learned about Joel's family, his travel plans for the next few months, and even what his dad did for work when Joel was a child.
I didn't just know what my role was; I had started to get to know someone before my first day, which for some people is the most daunting part of starting a new job.
3. The Yarno Yarno Campaign
The Yarno Yarno campaign fell in the last week of my exams.
I'll be honest – I wasn't enthusiastic about coming up for air from my Contract Law study (and Netflix binge) to do a quiz every day of the week.
I'm sure this wasn't the first time Yarno had encountered a learner who couldn't be bothered with the Herculean task of taking 3 minutes out of their day. But it really was quick and painless.
Maybe I should have believed the website. It was actually telling the truth. And the best part was that I had learned a few things by the end of the campaign.
Who knew that a company in L&D could teach you something with their platform? Yep, great insights from the intern - this is the intelligence and skill I was talking about before.
But honestly, I learned the basics of our culture/philosophy, about the product itself and about the people who work at Yarno. I also had the bonus of understanding how a learner uses the Yarno platform (useful seeing as my first project is writing quiz content for learners).
This was all before I got a foot in the door. When I realised how much I knew, I was pretty impressed. They had been not so secretly brainwashing me before I even got there (though I'm told its called pre-boarding, not brainwashing).
4. First week induction
(Note to readers: this last step is usually the second and final step. Yarno have added steps - very sneaky.)
With the initial communication out of the way, induction was a breeze. I got to take some time out to chat with Joel. I got online with all the different work systems. I got woo-ed with Gyros (YUM!). I read through some induction materials. I had 1:1 presentations about Yarno culture and philosophy. I got briefed on the project I'd be working on. Then I got started on my project.
This all happened in a few short days.
And when I started my project, it wasn't even overwhelming.
Having already learned bits of the information beforehand, it wasn't that difficult. I mean, it was always going to be a learning curve – but it wasn't insurmountable. It was manageable.
This is all my way of saying, Yarno works for pre-boarding!
When you combine a Yarno pre-boarding campaign with some great communication and purposeful planning, onboarding can actually be a great experience.
Just ask the guy who works at Yarno, it works (no bias here, completely objective, TRUST ME).
Hey there – it's Erin on the mic now. (Nice work for his first post, right?!)
If you're not convinced and you'd like to hear the other side of the story – check out the first in our Yarno onboarding series here.
