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What Do You Do for New User Orientation?

Posted by Cliff on from the things-a-bofh-wouldn't-do dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "What do you do for new user orientation? I started at a company as part of a very small help desk / MIS department. Part of my job is to give orientation to all new computer users for the entire company (no more than 10 new users a week). Right now I have to sit with each user, go over logging in, passwords, email, outlook, Microsoft Office, and so on. This takes between 30-45 minutes. What do other IT departments do? I was thinking of a Flash presentation or website, and maybe even a short orientation movie. What ideas have you tried and how well did they work?"

2 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Swim or drown by Zombie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We give our new guys a laptop and tell them to install it. If it's not running Debian smoothly by the next day, we fire them. What they use for office, mail, web, chat - whatever, is their own business.

  2. Make them build their own desk or chair by hirschma · · Score: 3, Interesting

    New hires at my old company were given a cheapo desks and chairs that required assembly. This applied to everyone from the receptionist to my most senior hires.

    They were shown to their new spot, given the tools, and told that this was their first order of business. That was all.

    Nearby employees were told to offer any and all assistance, but only if asked.

    This worked on many levels. It was symbolic of the philosophy at the company. For some, it ended up being a "team-building" exercise, or a social ice-breaker. For others, it showed that they were clever and self reliant. Some folks couldn't get it done, and refused to ask for help. This almost always signified termination at their first opportunity. And the .com type investors loved it, too :)