People & Talent Team Onboarding

Welcome to Sourcegraph - we’re VERY excited to have you on the team! This page describes the onboarding philosophy and process for new People and Talent team members, as well as what success looks like within each role at the 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year mark.

Our goal is to have all talent team members fully ramped by the end of your 4th week. During your first 4 weeks, you will complete a variety of activities intended to both introduce you to the company as a whole, as well as provide you with the knowledge, tools, and support necessary to be set up for success.

Onboarding Tooling

As a company, we use Process Street to guide each individuals’ onboarding. Your own custom onboarding plan will be provided to you prior to your first day and will serve as your guide.

Onboarding Support

Each new team member is paired with two individuals during their onboarding time. Both of these assignments will be indicated in your Process Street checklist.

  • An onboarding buddy: your onboarding buddy is assigned as part of our company-wide onboarding program. For the Talent team, this will be a peer from an adjacent team with whom you’ll work closely.
  • An onboarding mentor: your onboarding mentor will be someone from your team who will regularly check-in with you and help guide you throughout onboarding.

Talent Onboarding

Talent onboarding goals + expectations

Week 1:

  • Complete the First Day and First Week activities in Process Street
  • Complete tools/systems setup
  • Read about Sourcegraph: our values, our vision, our culture, our purpose, our product, our customers, what it means to be handbook-first, and how we operate as a business
  • Read about our strategy to understand why developers should use Sourcegraph
  • Learn about the People/Talent org: who are we and who we work with

Week 2:

  • Search the handbook for information about:
    • Our different teams
    • Our internal tooling
    • The orgs you’ll be supporting
  • Learn about the product by watching the Product Tour video and reading the first page of Sourcegraph’s user documentation
  • Schedule 1:1s with the Hiring Managers you will be supporting
  • Build out sourcing projects for your org’s high priority roles
  • Listen to assigned Brighthire recordings
  • Familiarize yourself with our Greenhouse workflows and Interview plans
  • Familiarize yourself with TopFunnel

Week 3:

  • Lead your first Recruiter Screen, with your onboarding mentor there to support you
  • Make a small (or big!) improvement to a page your team uses in the handbook. Once you identify it, make the change and assign your manager as a reviewer
  • Complete 1:1s with your Hiring Managers and schedule weekly follow-ups

Week 4:

  • Have multiple candidates in Hiring Manager screen stage (or beyond!)
  • Make more small (or big!) improvements to pages your team uses in the handbook. Assign your manager as a reviewer
  • Send weekly hiring metrics to your orgs and provide guidance: What’s working? What needs improvement?

What will success look like

We want everyone to feel certain and comfortable with where they are at currently, what’s expected of them, and what’s next. The following section details what success looks like within the first year for various roles.

Recruitment Operations Specialist

Within one month, you will…

  • Kick off 1:1s with your boss, peers, and other employees within the business.
  • Learn about the engineering and product interview process and how we hire through shadowing other team members.
  • Provide administrative and logistical support for our high-volume recruiting team, specifically our Technical Recruiters.
  • Gain strong familiarity with Greenhouse, our Applicant Tracking system; be able to successfully navigate the system, create candidate profiles, schedule interviews, and much more.
  • Schedule interviews using Google Calendar and Greenhouse, consistently ensuring an outstanding candidate experience through consistent follow-up communication.
  • Run and analyze recruiting metrics on a weekly basis.
  • Own programs related to: non-biased hiring practices, recruitment marketing, summer internship program & campus recruiting; partner with your team on existing programs and identify opportunities for improvement.
  • Organize and maintain documentation in Greenhouse, Google Drive, and our public-facing Handbook.
  • Dive into internal processes and suggest opportunities for improvement; teach us a thing or two we don’t know!
  • Continuously looking for opportunities to improve the recruiting function at Sourcegraph, with a focus on automation and scalability.

Within three months, you will…

  • Schedule interviews seamlessly, with candidate experience being at the forefront of your mind at all times.
  • Have Greenhouse optimized and functioning seamlessly.
  • Continue to identify inefficiencies and innovate/improve; you’ll never stop having the ability to influence and drive change and process improvement.

Within six months, you will…

  • Provide flawless support to the recruiting team, resulting in a continuous positive candidate experience.
  • Serve as a critical member of the recruiting team, with a deep understanding of the team’s talent needs and staying one step ahead of the growth.
  • Provide feedback to leadership and interviewers as to what’s working, what’s not, and ideas for what to change.
  • Help support the team in achieving the hiring goals; we’ll look to you to deliver month-over-month!

Within one year, you will…

  • Have a growth mindset and an eye for creating scalable processes, always.
  • Play an instrumental role in scaling out our recruiting organization and be ready to step up into greater responsibilities.
  • Identify areas of growth and share them continuously in your 1:1s.

Sourcer (level 2)

Within one month, you will…

  • Kick off 1:1s with your boss, peers, and other employees within the business.
  • Learn about the interview process and how we hire through shadowing other team members.
  • Partner with Recruiters and Hiring Managers to understand & calibrate ideal profiles across multiple teams, groups, and organizations.
  • Gain strong familiarity with Greenhouse, our Applicant Tracking system; be able to successfully navigate the system, create candidate profiles, schedule interviews, and much more.
  • Schedule technical interviews using Google Calendar and Greenhouse, consistently ensuring an outstanding candidate experience through consistent follow-up communication.
  • Organize and maintain documentation in Greenhouse, Google Drive, and our public-facing Handbook.
  • Dive into internal processes and suggest opportunities for improvement; teach us a thing or two we don’t know!
  • Assist in the implementation of new tools, systems, and processes.
  • Continuously look for opportunities to improve the recruiting function at Sourcegraph, with a focus on automation and scalability.

Within three months, you will…

  • Successfully identify strong candidates using your own research, the Sourcegraph referral network, and sourcing campaigns.
  • Have a strong understanding of the talent market, the companies they employ the talent we recruit, and keep a pulse on the talent market.
  • Screen candidates to ensure their qualifications match requirements of open roles.
  • Have a strong grasp on metrics and your pipeline activity to share with stakeholders.
  • Schedule technical interviews seamlessly, with candidate experience being at the forefront of your mind at all times.
  • Have Greenhouse optimized and functioning seamlessly.
  • Continue to identify inefficiencies and innovate/improve; you’ll never stop having the ability to influence and drive change and process improvement.
  • Ensure candidates have an excellent interview experience regardless of outcome.

Within six months, you will…

  • Provide flawless support to the technical recruiting team, resulting in a continuous positive candidate experience.
  • Serve as a critical member of the recruiting team, with a deep understanding of the team’s talent needs and staying one step ahead of the growth.
  • Provide feedback to leadership and interviewers as to what’s working, what’s not, and ideas for what to change.
  • Help support the team in achieving the hiring goals; we’ll look to you to deliver month-over-month!

Within one year, you will…

  • Have a growth mindset and an eye for creating scalable processes, always.
  • Play an instrumental role in scaling out our recruiting organization and be ready to step up into greater responsibilities.
  • Identify areas of growth and share them continuously in your 1:1s.

Recruiter/Senior Recruiter

Within one month, you will…

  • Begin 1:1’s with your Manager, understand your 30-60-90 day plan, meet & shadow current members of the Sourcegraph team, and delve into your role
  • Set your priorities and goals with your manager and develop a plan to achieve them.
  • Meet key hiring managers and executive leadership you will be supporting - you will be meeting with them weekly and they will be key relationships for you throughout your role.
  • Begin recruiting on openings and become ingrained in the business with assistance from your team and the VP, Talent.

Within three months, you will…

  • Manage the influx of applicants in a timely manner, providing a top-notch candidate experience.
  • Utilize strong sourcing and recruiting methods to proactively identify and attract top-quality passive talent.
  • Have a strong understanding of the business and what makes Sourcegraph unique.
  • Begin to work autonomously through the entire candidate recruitment lifecycle (from application through offer acceptance) and have regular “update meetings” with your hiring managers.
  • Embody a growth mindset and proactively work on projects that help us process improve and develop a scalable foundation on which to grow.

Within six months, you will…

  • Be seen as a Subject Matter Expert to the business units you support, guiding hiring managers and executive leadership on selection best practices.
  • Have established relationships with your team hiring managers, and be viewed as a trusted Business Partner throughout the company.
  • Fill roles quickly with quality talent.

Within one year, you will…

  • Be considered a top-performing Recruiter on the team and a go-to resource for your hiring managers.
  • Provide a candidate experience that is considered to be the best they’ve ever had.
  • Train and develop new team members.

People Onboarding

People Team onboarding goals + expectations

Week 1 Goals:

  • Complete the First Day and First Week activities in Process Street
  • Complete tools/systems setup
  • Read about Sourcegraph: our values, our vision, our culture, our purpose, our product, our customers, what it means to be handbook-first, and how we operate as a business
  • Read about our strategy to understand why developers should use Sourcegraph
  • Learn about the People/Talent org: who are we and who we work with

Week 2 Goals:

  • Search the handbook for information about:
    • Our different teams
    • Our internal tooling
    • The orgs you’ll be supporting
  • Learn about the product by watching the Product Tour video and reading the first page of Sourcegraph’s user documentation
  • Schedule 1:1s with teammates cross-funtional stakeholders you will be supporting
  • Have a first glimps of the projects we are working on

Week 3 Goals:

  • Make a small (or big!) improvement to a page your team uses in the handbook. Once you identify it, make the change and assign your manager as a reviewer
  • Complete 1:1s with your teammates and stakeholders
  • Understand the tools we use as a team, what we use them for and how

Week 4 Goals:

  • Make more small (or big!) improvements to pages your team uses in the handbook. Assign your manager as a reviewer
  • Start actively giving your feedback and input on what we should improve and pitch ideas to the team.

What will success look like

We want everyone to feel certain and comfortable with where they are at currently, what’s expected of them, and what’s next. The following section details what success looks like within the first year for various roles.

People Operations Generalist

Within one month, you will…

  • Start building a trusting relationship with your team and other teammates
  • Understand the what, why, and how of the projects that your team is working on and how those projects contribute to our company goals
  • Experience our robust onboarding process first-hand, not only for your own development, but to understand how onboarding works within a company like Sourcegraph
  • Begin completing tasks that give you exposure to the operations of a People team

Within three months, you will…

  • Own various tasks that are critical to our operations, such as offboarding, critical training and checks
  • Handle questions related to our operations and benefits with confidence and speed
  • Have gained exposure to, and had an opportunity to contribute to, the thinking and implementation of those initiatives and learnt from the outcomes

Within six months, you will…

  • Understand how a People team is structured to support a scaling tech company and how it prioritizes initiatives
  • Make suggestions for how to improve various aspects of our People operations as you see the opportunities to automate and improve our ways of working to be more compliant and respond more effectively
  • Handle questions related to our operations and benefits with confidence and speed, but also acting on trends for common questions, and recommending ways to improve communication and/or access to information
  • Have gained exposure to, and had an opportunity to contribute to, the thinking and implementation of other initiatives in the team

Within one year, you will…

  • Have had robust exposure to all aspects of People Operations and made a significant contribution to how we scale the team and provide a great experience to our teammates
  • Understand more about what aspects of the People function allow you to apply your strengths, and where you want to learn more, and have the opportunity to expand as the team grows

People Partner

We believe our purpose as a People team is to enable Sourcegraph to attract and retain the best talent, and we’re building the team out to support the various things that influence that.

Although this will likely evolve as you input your own indicators of success, a quick reminder of why we decided to add a People Partner to the team:

  • To coach and guide our managers in their thinking on all things people-related: how they structure their teams, how they measure the impact of and therefore compensate, their team members, how they develop their team members, how they look after their team’s wellbeing, and what they do when something isn’t working or a team member isn’t making the impact required.
  • To bring strategic insights from your adventures in supporting our managers, back to the team to guide the initiatives and support we provide and help us ensure we’re working on the right things.

Within one month, you will…

  • Have completed the onboarding process yourself, and understand what it looks like for other parts of the business
  • Build relationships with each member of the team and understand how the team supports the company and works together
  • Understand the team’s quarterly objectives and get an idea of how you contribute to the team
  • Connected with each of the managers in the business to build a relationship and begin to understand their needs
  • Get up to speed with all our guidelines, benefits and ways of working.

Within three months, you will…

  • Have a clear sense of how you contribute to the success of the team and the bigger company
  • Have a solid understanding of all our systems and how they work together
  • Be autonomously helping managers with day-to-day guidance and coaching on their people strategies and initiatives, as well as providing effective coaching and HR support around challenging situations and people dynamics
  • Start contributing new insights to inform People team initiatives, and taking the lead if appropriate

Within six months, you will…

  • Be a trusted advisor to your teams, informing their people strategies and connecting this to team initiatives with ease and flow, helping the People team offer an exceptional service to the business.
  • Be leading our in-house manager training and liaising with our L&D function to help ensure that our opportunities touch the right things.