Types of Orientation and Onboarding

Career-counseling expert John Holland says that personality (including values, motives, and needs) is one career choice determinant. For example, a person with a strong social orientation might be attracted to careers that entail interpersonal rather than intellectual or physical activities and to occupations such as social work.

Based on research with his Vocational Preference Test (VPT), Holland found six basic types of orientations.

1. Realistic Orientation

These people are attracted to occupations that involve physical activities requiring skill, strength, and cooperation. Examples include forestry, farming, and agriculture.

2. Investigative Orientation

Investigative people are attracted to careers that involve cognitive activities (thinking, organizing, and understanding) rather than affecting activities (feeling, acting or interpersonal and emotional tasks). Examples include biologist, chemist and college professor.

3. Social Orientation

These people are attracted to careers that involve interpersonal rather than intellectual or physical activities. Examples include clinical psychology, foreign Service and social work.

4. Conventional Orientation

A conventional orientation favors careers that involve structured, rule-regulated activities as well as careers in which it is expected that the employee subordinates his or her personal needs to those of the organization. Examples include accountants and bankers.

5. Enterprising Orientation

Verbal activities aimed at influencing others characterize enterprising personalities. Examples include managers, lawyers, and public relations executives.

6. Artistic Orientation

People here are attracted to careers that involve self-expression, artistic creation, expression of emotions and individualistic activities. Examples include artists, advertising executives, and musicians.

Most people have more than one occupational orientation (they might be realistic, social and investigative) and Holland believes that the more similar or compatible these orientations are, the less internal conflict or indecision a person will face in making a career choice.

Types of Onboarding

There are many different types of onboarding programs which are implemented by different organizations to accomplish the same goal to introduce a new employee to the organization concerned to prepare him/her for a constructive role in realizing the organizational goals.

The most common type of program includes a brief orientation session where a new hire completes necessary paperwork and receives relevant handouts that explain the company’s mission, policies, and expectations. Other programs include formal training sessions, mentorship programs, leadership involvement, and other similar initiatives aimed at involving successful, senior-level employees in the orientation process.

Usually, smaller companies do not have the necessary resources to implement an effective and formal onboarding program. Therefore, new hires are often given a brief introduction to the company and then expected to learn through the well-known trialand- error process.

As there are different types of employee onboarding, there are also various faces of onboarding. Let us understand in detail about various faces of employee onboarding.

1. Regular Employee Onboarding

Often referred to as organizational socialization, employee onboarding refers to the process through which new employees gather the necessary knowledge, skills and behavior to become an efficient part of the existing team.

With the human resource market estimating that 50% of hiring failures occur within 18 months on the job for positions other than the senior level, companies big and small, are making sure their employees aren’t one of the 25% of the population that looks for career transitions every year.

2. User / Consumer Onboarding

The onboarding process used to increase the likelihood of a new user successfully adopting your product/ service after purchase is known as user onboarding. The primary reason behind businesses making it a vital part of their marketing strategy is retention.

User retention is important today because almost each product/ service out there has at least a hundred alternatives with competitive offerings and prices. Most businesses lose out on their users in the first two months of the purchase either because the post sales experience was disappointing for the consumer or the consumer simply didn’t understand how to make the most out of his or her purchase.

3. Client Onboarding

One of the most critical functions for B2C as well as B2B companies, client onboarding directly impacts the client experience, servicing, and relationships leading to increased acceptance. Every client has different expectations, goals, objectives and grasp of the product or service you are offering; making it a must to include a self-introduction while onboarding them.