Onboarding Checklist Builder

A phased onboarding checklist with clear ownership and 30/60/90-day success criteria that gets new hires productive faster.

Best For

•An HR manager standardizes onboarding for a new sales hire so nothing depends on which manager happens to be free that week
•A fast-growing startup builds its first structured 30/60/90 plan instead of relying on ad hoc 'shadow someone' onboarding
•A manager preparing for a remote hire's first day uses it to make sure account access and equipment arrive before day one, not after

Prompt Template

Build a comprehensive onboarding checklist for a new [ROLE, e.g., software engineer / account executive / product manager] joining [COMPANY_NAME]. Onboarding period: [ONBOARDING_DURATION, e.g., first 30/60/90 days]. Company context: [COMPANY_CONTEXT, size, stage, team structure]. Organize the checklist by timeline with these phases: (1) Before Day 1, actions for HR/manager to complete (equipment, access, welcome message), (2) Day 1, orientation priorities that help the new hire feel welcomed and oriented (meetings, accounts, tour), (3) Week 1, foundational knowledge and relationships to establish, (4) Days 8–30, deeper product/process learning and first contributions, (5) Days 31–60, increasing ownership and delivering first solo work (if [ONBOARDING_DURATION] is 60+ days), (6) Days 61–90, operating independently and setting 90-day goals (if applicable). For each item, include: the task, who owns it (new hire vs. manager vs. HR vs. buddy), and a checkbox format. Add a "Success at 30/60/90 days looks like..." section defining measurable outcomes.

Pro Tip

Assign an owner to every single checklist item, including trivial ones, since unowned onboarding tasks are the ones most likely to silently fall through the cracks.

Example Output

A sample of what this prompt produces once you fill in the placeholders.

Before Day 1: HR ships a laptop and provisions Slack and email access, owner HR. Day 1: manager gives a 30-minute team tour and shares the team charter, owner manager. Week 1: new hire shadows two client calls, owner buddy. Success at 30 days looks like: the new hire can independently run a client status update without support.