Onboarding Like a Pro: How To Create a 90-Day Plan For Your New Job

Congratulations on your new job! 

While it’s exciting to embark on a new journey in your career, it’s normal to feel a bit nervous. It can seem challenging to learn new things, meet new people and perform well in your new job. 

But you aren’t alone. According to Gallup, 44 percent of employees feel stressed at work every day. So, as a new employee, it’s only natural to feel anxious. But an effective onboarding program will help you settle into your new job. 

In North America, 83 percent of employers have an onboarding program in place. 

In this guide, we'll go over how creating a 90-day plan for your new job will help you align your goals with the company’s onboarding program. 

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• When and how to create a 90-day plan for your new job‍
• What to do during the first 90 days in a new job‍
• Create a 90-day onboarding plan with Scribe Pages
• Final thoughts: Effective onboarding using a 90-day plan for your new job

When and how to create a 90-day plan for your new job

A 90-day plan is a roadmap to guide you through the onboarding process. You can start working on this plan right after accepting the job offer. If your new company has shared an onboarding schedule, use it to draw up your 30-60-90-day plan.

It’s also fine to wait for your first week to create your plan. Just make sure your 90-day plan for your new job includes the following. 

• A learning plan for the first three months.
• Performance targets for each month.
• One-on-one meetings with your manager or mentor.

It’s also a good idea to divide your first 90 days in the new role into three segments. 

1. First month: Learn about the company and start job-specific training.
2. Second month: Start using skills and contributing to the team. 
3. Third month: Start measuring your performance and accepting new challenges.

A 90-day action plan is also crucial if you’re in a remote or hybrid work environment. It will help you stay focused day-to-day when you don’t have your new manager or colleagues around. 

Benefits of creating a 90-day plan for your new job

Creating a 90-day plan for your new job benefits you as a new employee in many ways. For example, it:

• Sets clear expectations from your onboarding process.
• Helps you stay on top of overwhelming information.
• Enables you to prioritize your onboarding activities. 
• Improves your productivity by focusing on one task at a time.

Now, let’s explore what to include in your 30-60-90 day plan for your new job. 

What to do during the first 90 days in a new job

1. Clear any questions about the job offer.
2. Prepare for your first day.
3. Learn about your organization.
4. Understand processes and policies.
5. Acquire job-specific knowledge.
6. Understand the tools used in your organization.
7. Get to know your team members.
8. Set performance goals and define metrics.
9. Seek continuous feedback.

1. Clear any questions about the job offer

In general, it’s a good idea to start preparing for your new position from the moment you receive the job offer. The first step is to review your job offer and understand the following.

• Job responsibilities.
• Compensation and benefits.
• Notice period and termination clauses.

If you have any questions about the job offer, contact your hiring manager or human resources (HR) department. Make sure you have all the important information before accepting the job.

2. Prepare for your first day

Organizations often require new employees to complete a few pre-boarding steps before their first day, such as:

• Filling out forms to submit personal and tax-related information.
• Submitting education and work experience certificates.
• Completing a health checkup.

If you work remotely, make sure you have the necessary equipment and supplies, like a computer and monitor, before the first day. You’ll also need to know what remote working tools to use and how to log in to work.

3. Learn about your organization

Did you know that 51 percent of employees don’t feel engaged with their work? Connecting with your new team and organization could be more challenging for you as a new employee. But learning about your company is a great way to feel connected.

Make sure your 90-day plan for your new job includes this training in the first month. 

• The organization’s origin and history.
• The company’s mission and vision.
• The company culture.
• The organization’s structure and hierarchy. 

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4. Understand processes & policies 

Knowing your company’s processes, like leave application or income tax declaration, is essential to get started in your new job. So, your onboarding program should include finance, HR, and information technology (IT) training to get a grasp on their processes. 

If your new company doesn’t have process documentation, you can take the initiative to create how-to guides using tools like Scribe. 

During your first month, you need to know your organization’s policies to comply with business rules. Your onboarding plan should include essential policy training, such as:

• Information security.
• Data privacy.
• Diversity and inclusion.
• Workplace safety.

5. Acquire job-specific knowledge 

It’s important to acquire job-specific knowledge during the first three months in your new organization. After all, you’ll need to develop essential job skills to succeed in your new role. 

Here’s what you should do during your 90-day onboarding plan. 

• Make a learning plan for new tools and tech.
• Schedule knowledge transfer sessions with your colleagues. 
• Ask your manager to assign you a mentor or onboarding buddy. 
• Work side-by-side with your mentor. 
• Attend team meetings and online discussions.

Scheduling knowledge-sharing sessions could be challenging for remote employees. The good news is that you can use tools like Scribe to record the sessions and learn offline. 

Let’s say your team uses Zendesk for customer tickets. Here’s a Scribe to help you learn how to use the tool.

6. Understand the tools used in your organization

Modern teams rely on online collaboration tools to help you effectively communicate with your colleagues. Your 90-day onboarding plan should include a schedule to learn how to use these tools. For example:

• Make a list of the tools your team uses.
• Arrange knowledge-sharing sessions with your colleagues.
• Go through the team’s wiki or Confluence. 

You may need to keep using these tools to master them. So, when your mentor or colleague demonstrates a tool, record it with Scribe so you can always reference those instructions. 

For example, here’s a Scribe that shows how to use Notion.

7. Get to know your team members 

According to Ipsos, 88 percent of employees believe that a sense of belonging will lead to higher productivity. That’s why building relationships with your team members should be a priority in your onboarding plan.

Here are a few things you can do to build rapport with your team members. 

• Start conversations with them.
• Attend team meetings.
• Volunteer for team-building activities. 
• Add your colleagues to professional networks like LinkedIn.

Bonding with your team can be tricky if you’re in a remote environment. You’ll need to use online collaboration tools like Slack and virtual meetings to get to know your team. 

8. Set performance goals and define metrics

Setting achievable and measurable goals will help you stay on track with your onboarding program. You can divide the goals into a few categories. 

• Learning goals: The essential training and knowledge transfer in 90 days.
• Performance goals: Define your performance milestones and roadmap. 
• Personal goals: Build rapport with your team and feel satisfied with your new job. 
• Career growth goals: How you plan to grow your career in the first few months.

Define metrics relevant to your industry so you can measure your performance as a new hire. These performance metrics could be the number of training sessions you completed, lines of code you wrote, or successful customer calls. 

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9. Seek continuous feedback

Feedback is essential for growth, especially during your first few months in the organization. Seeking and offering feedback should be an important item in your onboarding plan. For example:

• Request feedback from your colleagues.
• Schedule frequent one-on-one meetings with your manager.
• Collect feedback from customers.

Now that you know what to include in your onboarding plan let’s see how Scribe can assist you in your onboarding journey. 

Create a 90-day onboarding plan with Scribe Pages

Scribe is a knowledge-sharing tool that lets you record processes. Scribe can make your onboarding process a breeze by recording knowledge-sharing sessions and converting them into step-by-step guides. 

It’s easy to start using Scribe. You just need to:

1. Sign up for a free Basic Plan (on any browser) or check out Scribe Pro (on any browser or desktop)
2. Download the Scribe Chrome extension, Edge add-on, or desktop app. 
3. Record your processes. Scribe will then convert them into onboarding material.

Scribe Pages will help you lay out your 90-day onboarding plan and store all your onboarding material in one place. You can collect the necessary documents, tutorials and contacts in a Scribe Page.

Here’s a sample onboarding plan we’ve created using Scribe Pages that can help you get started. 

Final thoughts: Effective onboarding using a 90-day plan for your new job

When you join a new company, it’s natural to feel stressed. You might find the learning curve of adapting to new processes, tech and people challenging. But by creating a 90-day plan for your new job, you can prioritize learning and achieve your milestones. 

Dividing your onboarding journey into activities for the first, second and third months makes managing all the overwhelming new information much simpler. On top of that, you can use tools like Scribe to easily create effective onboarding material. 

Are you ready to start your onboarding journey? Find out how Scribe can help.