Imagine hiring a talented, motivated employee who arrives on their first day eager to contribute.
Human Resources provides the required paperwork. Information Technology establishes system access. The supervisor reviews the job description, departmental expectations, and training schedule. The employee completes required onboarding modules, learns the software, and begins working through assigned responsibilities.
Everything appears to be going according to plan.
But is the employee truly prepared to succeed?
What if some of the most important things a new employee needs to know are the very things nobody thought to include in the onboarding materials?
That question is at the heart of a new Rosenboom Workforce Institute professional development series, It's Your First Day. Now What?
And it raises another question worth considering:
How much sooner might an employee become fully effective if we deliberately taught the institutional knowledge that traditionally takes months to discover?
The Difference Between Knowing Your Job and Knowing How to Get Your Job Done
Traditional onboarding often concentrates on the formal elements of employment:
Institutional policies and procedures
Position responsibilities and performance expectations
Required compliance and regulatory training
Technology, software, and operational systems
Organizational structure and reporting relationships
All of these are essential.
But consider what happens when an employee encounters a situation that does not fit neatly within those materials.
A student has a financial aid question involving an admissions decision.
An account balance appears incorrect, but the employee does not know which department has the authority to make adjustments.
A student needs additional support, but the employee does not understand the institution's referral process.
Two departments have different understandings of who is responsible for the next step.
The employee may know the policy. They may even know the correct procedure.
What they may not know is how the institution actually gets things done.
That knowledge often exists in conversations, relationships, experience, and unwritten expectations rather than formal onboarding documents.
The Hidden Curriculum of Every Workplace
Every organization has what I would describe as a hidden curriculum.
It is the practical knowledge employees gradually acquire through experience, observation, mistakes, and conversations with colleagues.
It includes questions such as:
Who should I contact when a process crosses departmental boundaries?
What does a successful handoff actually look like?
When should I resolve something independently, and when should I escalate it?
What information does another department need from me?
Which situations require additional documentation?
How do I recognize a potential problem before it becomes a larger one?
What should I do when a policy explains the requirements but not every practical step involved?
How do experienced employees navigate situations that involve multiple departments?
These questions are not necessarily covered in an employee handbook.
Yet the answers can make an enormous difference in an employee's confidence, effectiveness, and ability to contribute.
Too often, we expect new employees to discover these answers gradually.
But why?
What If We Could Shorten the Learning Curve?
Consider two employees beginning the same position with comparable education, experience, and ability.
Both receive the same institutional onboarding materials.
The first employee learns the technical responsibilities of the job and then spends the next several months discovering unwritten operational expectations through trial and error.
The second employee receives the same technical training but also participates in structured conversations, realistic workplace scenarios, cross-departmental exercises, supervisor check-ins, and practical activities designed to reveal how the institution operates.
Which employee is more likely to develop confidence and independent judgment sooner?
Which employee is better positioned to recognize when a problem requires collaboration rather than an isolated departmental response?
Which employee might become a fully effective contributor faster?
We should not assume that any particular onboarding approach guarantees a specific productivity improvement. That would require institutional measurement.
But the question deserves serious attention.
How much faster could employees reach full effectiveness if we deliberately taught them the knowledge that traditionally takes months to discover?
And what would that improvement mean for the institution?
The $29.99 Question: What Does an Incomplete Handoff Really Cost?
Consider a hypothetical situation involving a newly hired financial aid advisor at a college.
The employee has completed institutional onboarding, understands the fundamental requirements of Title IV financial aid administration, and has been trained on the institution's student information system.
During a conversation, a student explains that they are considering withdrawing because of an unexpected financial obligation.
The advisor reviews the student's financial aid information, provides an appropriate explanation of the potential Title IV implications, and encourages the student to consider the financial consequences before making a decision.
From a regulatory and departmental standpoint, the advisor may have handled the conversation appropriately.
But something important may be missing.
What the employee has not yet learned is that the institution has an established practice of coordinating certain student financial concerns with the Business Office and Student Services, subject to institutional policy and applicable privacy requirements.
An experienced advisor might recognize that the conversation represents more than a financial aid inquiry.
It may be an opportunity for coordinated intervention before the student withdraws.
The newer employee, however, simply documents the financial aid discussion and returns to the next appointment.
No regulation has necessarily been violated. No established procedure has necessarily been ignored.
Yet an opportunity for an appropriate interdepartmental handoff has been missed.
What Might That Missed Connection Cost?
Suppose the student subsequently contacts the Business Office, repeats the entire situation, and is referred to Student Services before returning to Financial Aid for clarification.
Consider the following illustrative administrative costs:
ActivityStaff TimeCost at $30/HourInitial financial aid conversation20 minutes$10.00Additional Business Office conversation20 minutes$10.00Student Services follow-up20 minutes$10.00Supervisor clarification and coordination30 minutes$15.00Additional follow-up and documentation30 minutes$15.00Total120 minutes$60.00
These figures are hypothetical and use a simplified, fully loaded staff cost of $30 per hour. Actual institutional costs will vary. Not all of the time represented would necessarily be avoidable.
But imagine that an employee who understood the institution's behind-the-scenes coordination practices could have identified the appropriate referral during the initial conversation.
Even avoiding 30 minutes of duplicated administrative effort would represent $15 in staff capacity.
Avoiding two such instances could represent $30.
The point is not that every workbook will generate a measurable financial return or prevent every operational problem.
The point is that the costs of missing institutional knowledge can accumulate through small, repeated inefficiencies that rarely appear in a budget report.
Now consider the implications if this happens repeatedly across Financial Aid, Admissions, the Business Office, Registrar and Student Records, and Student Services.
The consequences are no longer limited to a single employee or conversation.
They become institutional.
And What About the Student?
The administrative costs may be the easiest part to estimate.
The more significant consequences may be much harder to quantify.
What if the student's concern could have been addressed through timely coordination, but the opportunity was missed?
What if the student ultimately withdrew when an available institutional support option might have helped them remain enrolled?
The consequences could extend to student persistence, institutional revenue, and the student's educational progress.
We cannot assume that an intervention would have changed the outcome.
But institutions should recognize the value of preparing employees to identify when collaboration may be appropriate.
Sometimes the most valuable thing an employee can know is not the answer to a student's question, but who else should be part of the conversation.
What If the Employee Had Known on Day One?
Now consider that same conversation with an employee who had received not only technical training but also practical instruction about departmental relationships, escalation expectations, available student support resources, and appropriate information-sharing procedures.
The advisor recognizes the concern, explains the applicable financial aid requirements, and helps facilitate an appropriate referral or warm handoff.
The student is less likely to navigate multiple offices independently, and colleagues receive the information they need within authorized institutional procedures.
This is the kind of practical knowledge that experienced employees often acquire over months or years.
But should it take that long?
Why not deliberately incorporate this knowledge into the first 30, 60, and 90 days of employment?
A $29.99 professional development workbook may represent a modest investment compared with the time and resources institutions devote to recruiting, hiring, and training employees.
The question is not whether $29.99 guarantees a particular financial return.
The more meaningful question is whether institutions can afford to leave important operational knowledge to chance.
And we should remember that not every benefit of effective onboarding can, or should, be reduced to a financial calculation.
Employee confidence, professional relationships, collaboration, institutional trust, and a supportive student experience have value beyond what appears on an income statement.
Onboarding Should Be a Partnership, Not a Checklist
One of the greatest opportunities for improvement is reconsidering the supervisor's role.
A completed onboarding checklist confirms that an employee received information.
It does not necessarily demonstrate that the employee understands how to apply that information in a complex workplace.
A more developmental approach invites supervisors and employees to work through real situations together.
During the first 30 days, conversations might focus on understanding departmental responsibilities, identifying key relationships, and recognizing when assistance is needed.
By 60 days, the employee could be exploring more complex situations, practicing interdepartmental handoffs, and learning to exercise judgment within established policies.
By 90 days, the emphasis might shift toward increasing independence, identifying process improvements, and evaluating what additional support would help the employee succeed.
These milestones should be adapted to the position, the individual, and the institution.
The objective is not simply to complete 90 days of employment.
It is to make those 90 days more meaningful.
Why I Developed It's Your First Day. Now What?
The Rosenboom Workforce Institute's It's Your First Day. Now What? series was developed around a straightforward premise:
New employees deserve more than instructions about what their jobs require. They deserve practical guidance about how to become successful members of their institutions.
The series is designed for individual higher education departments, recognizing that employees in Financial Aid, Admissions, Academic Affairs, Registrar and Student Records, Business Office operations, and Student Services encounter different responsibilities, challenges, and relationships.
Rather than attempting to replace an institution's existing onboarding program, the workbooks are intended to complement it.
They incorporate department-specific instruction, realistic situations, applied exercises, guided reflection, supervisor discussions, and structured 30/60/90-day development activities.
The intention is to help employees explore both the formal requirements of their positions and the less visible knowledge that experienced colleagues sometimes take for granted.
Equally important, the workbooks encourage conversation.
An institution's practices, culture, policies, and regulatory responsibilities will differ from those of another institution.
Employees and supervisors should adapt the activities to their own settings rather than treat any workbook as a universal operating manual.
The objective is not to prescribe one perfect way to onboard an employee.
It is to help institutions ask better questions, share institutional knowledge more intentionally, and support new employees more effectively.
More Than a Workbook: An Invitation to Connect and Learn Together
There is another aspect of this series that I believe is important to explain.
When someone purchases one of my workbooks, they are purchasing a professional development resource built upon years of practical experience, academic study, research, and lessons learned while working in higher education.
But I also recognize that professional development does not end when someone closes a book.
Questions arise. Unusual situations develop. Employees encounter challenges that cannot always be anticipated in a printed resource.
That is why I welcome readers to connect with me personally through LinkedIn.
I am not looking to charge an additional fee simply because someone has a question, wants to discuss an idea presented in a workbook, or would benefit from a conversation with someone who has worked through similar challenges.
In that sense, I am happy to serve as an informal mentor and professional resource.
I do not pretend to have every answer, and my experience does not mean that my approach will be appropriate for every institution.
But if my experience can help someone think through a situation, develop confidence, explore an alternative approach, or avoid a mistake I may have encountered during my own career, I consider that a worthwhile conversation.
There is a distinction, of course, between informal professional mentoring and formal institutional consulting, compliance reviews, or contracted advisory services.
My invitation to connect is not intended to replace those professional services.
It is simply a reflection of something I believe strongly:
Professional knowledge becomes more valuable when we are willing to share it.
I also welcome suggestions for future workbook titles and topics.
If there is an area of higher education employment where new professionals routinely struggle, or an institutional process that deserves more attention, I would genuinely welcome that conversation.
The workbooks are intended to be practical, collaborative resources, and feedback from professionals doing this work every day can help make future publications even more useful.
Introducing the First 90 Days Initiative
At the Rosenboom Workforce Institute, I believe we have an opportunity to rethink how we prepare new higher education professionals for success.
We routinely invest considerable resources in recruiting, hiring, and training employees.
Yet how often do we provide structured guidance about the unwritten processes, departmental relationships, and practical judgment that employees need to become truly effective?
What if a relatively modest investment could help shorten that learning curve?
The It's Your First Day. Now What? series is intended to complement institutional onboarding with structured activities, realistic scenarios, guided supervisor conversations, and practical instruction tailored to individual higher education departments.
Individual workbooks are available for $29.99.
They are designed for new employees, supervisors, department leaders, and institutions interested in making the first 90 days more intentional and productive.
I invite higher education leaders to consider a simple question:
What would it mean for your department if your newest employee developed confidence and independence even a few weeks sooner?
How much supervisor time might be saved?
How many unnecessary handoff delays might be prevented?
How much sooner might that employee begin making meaningful contributions to student service?
The benefits will differ among institutions, but the opportunity is worth exploring.
A Question Worth Asking
Think about your own first 90 days in a new position.
What did you eventually learn that you wish someone had explained during your first week?
Was it knowing whom to call?
Understanding an unwritten process?
Recognizing when a routine situation was actually more complicated?
Discovering how different departments depended on one another?
Or simply gaining the confidence to ask questions without feeling that you should already know the answers?
Now imagine what might happen if the next employee did not have to discover those things by accident.
Imagine the potential impact on employee confidence, productivity, collaboration, job satisfaction, and ultimately student service.
We invest considerable resources in recruiting talented employees.
Shouldn't we be equally intentional about helping them become successful once they arrive?
Perhaps the most important onboarding question isn’t whether employees have received all the required information.
Perhaps it is whether we have prepared them for the realities of the work they are about to perform.
And perhaps the greatest opportunity is found in teaching all those important things that traditionally fall between the pages of the employee handbook.
The goal should not be simply to help someone survive their first 90 days. It should be to help them thrive.
Explore the Workbook Series and Continue the Conversation
The It's Your First Day. Now What? series is part of the growing Rosenboom Workforce Institute collection of practical professional development resources for higher education employees and institutional leaders.
Individual workbooks are available for $29.99 through the Rosenboom Workforce Institute bookstore on Lulu.
Explore the collection:
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rosenboomworkforceinstitute
I also invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn. Whether you have a question about one of the workbooks, would appreciate informal professional guidance, or have an idea for a future publication, I welcome the opportunity to exchange ideas.
What was missing from your own onboarding experience, and what could we do differently for the next generation of higher education professionals?
Dr. Matthew Rosenboom
Rosenboom Workforce Institute
Rosenboom Tax & Advisory LLC