The Lawyers Weekly - June 4, 2010

BUSINESS
CAREERS

Onboarding
Continued From Page 23
Nine tips for successfully
onboarding new hires
JUDICIAL VACANCY
ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
LINDSAY / TRI-COUNTY AREA
The Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee advises the Attorney General of
Ontario on the appointment of Judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, and invites
applications for a judicial position in the Lindsay/Tri-County area.
There is considerable investment—of both time and
money—associated with sourcing, interviewing and hiring
new practitioners. If new hires leave the firm in the first few
months, not only has their practical contribution been limited;
all the expense and effort put into their initial acquisition is
lost. With a successful onboarding strategy, you do not have to
continually kick-start the hiring cycle and incur further
expenditures to keep filling the same need.
YURI ARCURS / DREAMSTIME.COM
This appointment, while primarily a criminal law position, may also involve presiding
over family law matters and could also involve travel within or beyond the regional
boundaries as assigned by the Regional Senior Justice and/or the Chief Justice.
The minimum requirement to apply to be a Judge in the Ontario Court of Justice is
ten years completed membership at the Bar of one of the Provinces or Territories of
Canada.
All candidates must apply either by submitting 14 copies of the current (Feb 2009)
completed Judicial Candidate Information Form in the first instance or by a short
letter ( 14 copies) if the current form has been submitted within the previous 12
months. Should you wish to change any information in your application, you
must send in 14 copies of a fully revised Judicial Candidate Information Form.
If you wish to apply and need a current Judicial Candidate Information Form, or if you
would like further information, please contact:
Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee
Tel: (416) 326-4060. Fax: (416) 212-7316
Website: www.ontariocourts.on.ca/jaac/en/

All applications, either sent by courier, mail or hand delivery, must be sent to:
Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee
c/o The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services
Mail Delivery
77 Wellesley Street West, Room M2B-88
Macdonald Block, Queen’s Park
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1N3
Applications must be on the current prescribed form and must be
TYPEWRITTEN or COMPUTER GENERATED and RECEIVED BY 4:30 p.m. on
Friday, June 25, 2010. CANDIDATES ARE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE 14 COPIES
OF THEIR APPLICATION FORM OR LETTER. A Fax copy will be accepted only
if 14 copies of the application or letter are sent concurrently by overnight
courier. Applications received after this date WILL NOT be considered.
The Judiciary of the Ontario Court of Justice should reasonably reflect the
diversity of the population it serves. Applications from members of equality-
seeking groups are encouraged.
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Building an effective onboarding process
Of course, onboarding is not necessarily the beginning of the
process. Finding the right fit for your firm starts with effective
recruiting, a practice law firms invest in significantly. This applies
whether you are hiring new students or considering lateral hires.
Are candidates a long-term fit with the firm? Is the position con-
sistent with their career objectives? Is there a compelling busi-
ness case for hiring these candidates?
According to Ari Blicker, director, student and associate pro-
grams at Aird & Berlis LLP, when hiring students, it is critical to
align recruitment with the needs of the practice. “If your firm is
a full service firm but all the students you hire are interested in
one practice area (such as corporate law), you may end up with
the wrong long-term mix or be in the predicament where the
firm needs to reduce hire back numbers.”
Similarly, while recruiting top talent offers a competitive
advantage, you need additional focus to successfully onboard
practitioners into the firm and ensure they remain productive
throughout their careers. A firm “needs to make sure that great
students become great lawyers,” says Blicker. “There are different
expectations for students than for associates and they should be
clearly articulated during the onboarding process.”
As students progress, they also need to take ownership of
their own careers by building their practices, adopting a client
orientation and assuming practice management responsibil-
ities. Earning great marks in law school may be an indicator of
intelligence and a good work ethic, but it doesn’t necessarily
translate into being an effective lawyer.
In addition, firms should be forthright about what they
expect from new hires (be they students or experienced),
including the length of the work day, what type of work they can
expect and career advancement opportunities. Law firms are
doing themselves a disservice and risk quick attrition if they lure
the best and brightest with promises of partnerships and
expense accounts when the reality is quite different.
This is where effective onboarding achieves its potential,
helping to manage the gap between expectation and reality. It
can help ensure the candidate’s values and goals are aligned
with those embodied by the firm’s brand and strategy, pre-
venting miscommunication and disappointment on both sides.
Onboarding also facilitates adoption of the firm’s culture by
connecting new hires with established employees, so they can
form high-quality relationships and develop valuable social net-
works within and beyond the firm.
The true value of successful onboarding lies in the way it
benefits both the new hire and the firm. The hire quickly
becomes part of the firm—comfortable, motivated and pro-
ductive—and the firm can look forward to both reduced HR
expenditures and an increased ROI for new employees. ;

Richard Lee is a partner and Sara Arnstein is a manager in
Deloitte’s Human Capital practice, based in Toronto. Deloitte’s
Human Capital practice helps organizations develop and imple-
ment effective talent management strategies.

The end goal of the onboarding
process is to successfully
assimilate and integrate the new
hire as a productive contributor
to the organization, to reduce
the time this process takes and
to avoid having to refill the pos-
ition six months later. There are
a number of specific actions
firms can take to develop an
effective onboarding process:
1. Don’t place too much empha-
sis on charm or good marks.
Conduct thorough interviews to
assess whether the candidate is a
long-term fit with the firm.
2. Provide a formal orientation
program to help acclimatize
people to the firm and encour-
age new hires to connect with
each other.
3. Offer a “boot camp” or inter-
active component in the orienta-
tion program so new hires can
“practice” with real cases.
4. Pair new hires with an
experienced buddy to help ori-
ent them and provide support; a
buddy is an effective “go-to”
person for simple questions.
5. Invite new hires to firm
events prior to their start date.
It is a great way to introduce
them to the firm and make them
feel welcome.
6. Provide new hires with
coaches and/or mentors to
keep them on track and aligned
with their career objectives and
goals.
7. Clearly articulate expecta-
tions from the start, e.g., “what
does it mean to be a successful
associate?”
8. Make sure it is not just
about HR , as onboarding is a
new hire’s first impression of the
firm, social interactions should be
included in the process.
9. Solicit feedback about the
onboarding process and aim to
improve it.
Practice Management
Canada’s legal online job board.