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Here at Morgan McKinley we have recently launched our internal ‘Buddy Scheme’ which grants all new starters a ‘Buddy’, an existing employee who will ideally be from a similar background and similar level as the new starter.

Having a ‘Buddy’ can make a big difference to the speed at which new starters settle into the business, as well as making them feel more comfortable in their new career. This also gives new starters the chance to make friends with people outside of their own team as well as mingle with people in the other Morgan McKinley offices.

The new starters ‘Buddy’ will act as an informal friend, initially introducing themselves during our 2 day ‘Get OnBoard’ induction by taking them out for a coffee, and then becoming a support network and resource there to answer tricky questions; to make introductions and ensure that the individual is receiving the adequate support and advice they may require. We have found that this new scheme is especially useful for those who are less experienced in the field of recruitment – for example, fresh graduates who are not used to the corporate office environment with everything being completely new and nothing like what they have been used to. Having someone there who they can see has been through the same experience themselves with starting a new job; feeling completely out of their comfort zone and coming out the other side, doing well in the business, is a massive help and big motivation for new starters in that position.

For the ‘Buddy Scheme’ to be a success both the employee and the buddy needs to demonstrate enthusiasm and a real commitment to the program. While the time commitment may vary between each individual pairing, the buddy scheme need only last for up to three months, depending on the individual time constraints and working arrangements. After this 3 months, we anticipate there will be a natural ongoing relationship between the buddies rather than a planned commitment, which in itself is adding support for both colleagues.

It isn’t just the new starters which this new ‘Buddy Scheme’ is useful for – it also helps with the natural progression and development of those individuals in the company who volunteer to be a ‘Buddy’ for new starters, developing their own career and brand within Morgan McKinley. You will have the opportunity to share your own experience with new starters, as well as greater personal development, presence and networking within the offices and the development of new perspectives and working practices.

The Morgan McKinley ‘Buddy Scheme’ has been a huge success, having received great feedback from both new starters as well as current employees – we’ve had individuals come to us on a number of occasions about concerns from new starters which we were able to solve quickly and smoothly, if the Buddy Scheme had not been in place we would not have heard about these issues. New starters have been excited at the thought of having a Buddy and getting to know more people in the business, it offers more support on individuals joining us, therefore becoming more embedded within the organisation from day 1.