From offer to a great first week.

Two teams, one new hire. At a growing insurtech in Berlin, Talent Acquisition brought people in and HR Operations welcomed them. The handover in between was still taking shape.

So I asked the people it mattered to most. Over coffee in their first six weeks, new hires told me how their start had felt. I took what they said to HR Operations, and we worked out a smoother handover together.

• No clear line. Talent Acquisition stayed responsible for a new hire long after the offer.
• Hiring managers had no set part. There was a team lunch, but nothing that made sure someone was there to welcome the new hire.
• No regular time to talk. The two teams met when something came up.

I put together a short presentation and a first draft of the onboarding flow for both teams. In it I proposed:

• A clear handover point. Once the new hire confirms their draft contract, HR Operations takes over and answers their questions.
• A part for hiring managers. Each team names someone to be there on the first day, and prepares an onboarding plan for the new hire.
• A template with dates and owners. HR Operations requests the laptop, runs the HR onboarding and collects the documents for payroll and insurance.

• We set up a monthly sync between Talent Acquisition and HR Operations to talk through what was happening and fix issues early. It kept running.
• Hiring managers became part of onboarding, with a named person for the first day.
• Talent Acquisition had a clear point where its part ended.
• The template grew as the teams used it.
• HR Operations told my manager I came very well prepared and that they were impressed.