Key in 3 months: onboarding design for Indian graduates
The biggest factor influencing the success and retention of new Indian graduates is "the first three months after joining." Depending on the design of this period, growth rate and turnover rate can vary greatly. Here's a summary of successful companies' mechanisms.
Contents
The reason why Indian graduates are said to 'determine their fate in three months'
Indian new graduates are quick learners, and if onboarding is well-designed, they can become valuable in a short time. However, conversely, if they stumble in these three months, anxiety, isolation, and mismatches accumulate, drastically increasing the risk of resignation.
The reasons why this period is important are as follows:
The first opportunity to get used to the culture and work style of Japanese companies
The first time career expectation gaps become apparent
Once small anxieties pile up, it becomes difficult to recover later
On the contrary, experiencing initial success makes long-term retention easier
In other words, being able to provide "psychological safety" and "practical skills" together in the first three months determines success or failure.
First week, culture and technical foundation, dual design
What is especially important when hiring Indians is the design of the first week.
If the understanding of the company, culture, and duties is vague here, all subsequent learning will be unstable.
The items that must be included in the first week are as follows.
Japanese company manners and the basics of communication
The flow of projects (requirements → development → testing → release)
Technical environment setup
Shadowing senior employees
Meeting with a mentor
Explanation of team culture (meetings, decision-making, review flow)
What is especially important is to clearly identify the “person you can ask anything.”
If this is vague, it becomes easy to accumulate stress without being able to ask questions.
In the first month, conduct 'technical tasks × Japanese × aligning career expectations.'
The first month is a phase where building the basics of practical work and adapting to the culture progress simultaneously.
There are three things to do:
・Technical tasks: Accumulate small success experiences
Small-scale bug fixes
Reading existing functions
Receive code reviews from seniors
Experience Git operational rules
The presence or absence of success experience greatly influences psychological safety.
・Japanese: Focus on areas needed for work
Rather than "casual talk",
Reporting
Explanation of evidence
Specification confirmation
It is more effective to prioritize these Japanese skills.
・Aligning career expectations: Do not leave gaps be
Indian talents have high awareness of their career, and ambiguity leads to anxiety.
In the first month,
This term's roles
Skills to aim for six months later
Career plans three years later
It is important to clarify them.
In 2-3 months, 'Expansion of discretion × Increased feedback density' is crucial
The most effective thing in the 2-3 months when you are getting somewhat used to it is to gradually hand over responsible tasks.
The measures to implement in this phase are as follows:
- Broaden the scope of responsibility slightly
In charge of small new features
Participate in specification discussions
Observe technical selection meetings
As discretion increases, engagement also grows.
- Increase feedback density
A frequent failure in the 2-3 months is,
"Thinking you're familiar and reducing feedback frequency."
If left unattended here, doubts and anxieties accumulate.
At minimum, the following frequency is required:
Weekly technical review
1-2 short 1on1s per week
Monthly career review
This allows for quick course corrections.
“3 elements of retention” must be arranged within the first 3 months
Whether new Indian graduates work long-term or not is almost determined by whether the following three are fulfilled within three months of joining.
・Role clarity: A state of understanding what is expected
・Feeling of growth: A state where skills feel like they are improving
・Psychological safety: A state where questions and consultations can be done easily
These three elements have been confirmed as the most influential factors in retention rate data across multiple companies.
Particularly, Indian talent has
high growth ambition
fast learning speed
strong career advancement desire
Therefore, meeting these three points directly leads to long-term retention.
Summary
The retention and empowerment of new Indian graduates greatly depend on the onboarding design during the first 3 months after joining. By carefully organizing cultural understanding, technical basics, Japanese language, and career expectations, it is possible to remove anxiety and create a state of rapid growth.
At Phinx, we provide support to optimize the onboarding during the first 3 months after joining for each company individually, which includes Japanese language learning support, cultural training, mentor design, career path clarification, and technical screening. Companies that wish to strengthen the retention and empowerment of new Indian graduates are encouraged to consult with us.
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