Starting a new job is always a mix of excitement and confusion—especially when you’re remote. If you’re tasked with onboarding new hires, you want them to feel welcome, clear on what they need to do, and not buried under a dozen pointless calls. This guide is for managers, HR, or team leads who want onboarding sessions to be useful, not just another calendar invite. We’ll walk through running effective onboarding sessions using Vowel—a video meeting tool built for clarity, not chaos.
No hand-waving. No long-winded theory. Just practical steps, honest advice, and a few things you can safely skip.
Step 1: Get Your Basics Right Before the Call
Before you even schedule an onboarding session, do a pulse check:
- What actually needs to happen live? Don’t default to a meeting for everything—some info is better in a doc or short video.
- What do new hires really need to know up front? Focus on first-week essentials, not your entire company history.
- Who needs to be in the room? Only invite people who will speak or who the new hire must meet.
Pro tip: Over-inviting wastes everyone’s time. Keep it small, especially for early sessions.
Step 2: Set Up Your Vowel Workspace for Onboarding
Vowel’s claim to fame is making meetings more organized and searchable. Here’s how to prep:
- Create a dedicated onboarding meeting template. Vowel lets you build templates with agenda items, topics, and time allocations. Use it.
- Pre-load resources. Drop links to the employee handbook, team directory, and key tools right into your agenda.
- Assign roles. Decide who’ll cover each topic (e.g., benefits, team intro, tech setup). Put that in the agenda so everyone’s clear.
Why bother with templates? Because winging it leads to “oh, I forgot to mention…” moments. Templates help you keep the basics consistent and cut down on filler.
Step 3: Schedule the Session—Thoughtfully
Don’t just send a random invite.
- Ask the new hire about time zones and preferences. Feels obvious, but it gets missed.
- Bundle, don’t scatter. If you can, group intro sessions together—avoid making them hop into five separate calls their first day.
- Send the agenda ahead of time. Vowel makes this easy. Sharing the agenda helps people show up prepared (or opt out if they’re not needed).
Honest take: There’s no prize for the longest onboarding call. Keep the first one to 45 minutes or less unless there’s a real reason to go longer.
Step 4: Run the Session—Make It Human, Not a Lecture
Here’s where a lot of onboarding goes off the rails. Don’t make your new hire sit through an hour of PowerPoint.
- Start with quick intros. Make it human—just names, roles, and a tidbit about what folks actually do.
- Stick to the agenda. But be flexible if the new hire has questions—Vowel’s shared notes make it easy to capture these.
- Share your screen sparingly. Only show what’s actually useful (e.g., org chart, key tools).
- Encourage questions. Vowel’s live chat and reactions let people ask without interrupting.
- Take live notes. Vowel’s shared notes feature means everyone sees the same info, and the new hire can refer back later.
What to skip: Don’t walk through every single company policy. Point them to a doc and highlight “read this today” vs. “skim when you have time.”
Step 5: Use Vowel’s Features to Make Onboarding Stick
Here’s where Vowel earns its keep—don’t just use it as a basic video call.
- Record the session (with consent). That way, the new hire can replay anything they missed. Vowel’s recordings are searchable—huge for “wait, what did they say about payroll?”
- Timestamped notes. Capture key moments and link them to the video. This is more useful than just dumping a recording in their inbox.
- Action items. Assign follow-ups right in the Vowel meeting. “Set up 2FA,” “Read team wiki,” etc.—so nothing gets lost.
- Shared agenda for follow-ups. Copy the template forward for future check-ins, so the new hire knows what’s coming next.
Skeptical take: Yes, Vowel’s features are nice, but don’t let the tech be the star. Use just what helps—skip the bells and whistles if they confuse people.
Step 6: After the Session—Follow Up Fast
The onboarding session isn’t over when the call ends.
- Send the recording and notes right away. Vowel makes this a one-click job.
- Highlight top priorities. Don’t just say “let us know if you have questions.” Be specific: “Here’s what to do today, tomorrow, this week.”
- Schedule a short follow-up. No one absorbs everything in one go. Book a 15-minute check-in for day 3 or 4.
What not to do: Don’t drop the new hire into Slack and disappear. A little structure goes a long way.
Step 7: Keep Improving Your Onboarding Sessions
Even the best onboarding process gets stale. Every few months:
- Ask new hires what worked (and what didn’t). Don’t just rely on your own gut.
- Update your Vowel templates. Add FAQs, prune dead links, keep things fresh.
- Review recordings. Notice people always ask the same questions? Add that info up front next time.
Skip: Don’t obsess over making onboarding “perfect.” Focus on clear, friendly, and useful—then iterate.
What Works—and What You Can Ignore
Works: - Tight agendas and small groups. - Action items and clear next steps. - Letting people replay or search the session later.
Doesn’t work: - Overloading new hires with info they won’t need for weeks. - Having too many people on the call “just in case.” - Chasing shiny features you don’t understand.
Ignore: - Fancy icebreakers that make people cringe. - Long PowerPoint decks about company history (save that for a doc).
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Onboarding isn’t about showing off your tech stack or overwhelming people. Using Vowel can help you keep sessions clear, organized, and actually useful—but only if you focus on what new hires truly need. Start small, improve with each round, and don’t be afraid to cut what doesn’t work.
People remember how you made them feel on day one—not how many tabs you had open. Keep it friendly, focused, and low on ceremony. You’ll do just fine.