Higher ed marketing turnover is at an all-time high, with more than 66% of MarComm leaders actively looking for their next job. With that much movement, it’s only a matter of time before you’re filling a vacancy on your own team — and the hire is just the first step. Getting a new employee acclimated to the role, the campus culture, and the pace of higher ed takes much longer. I use a 30/60/90-day roadmap to make that transition easier, especially for hires coming from outside the industry.
Four of my last five hires have come from outside higher education, with all previously having careers in corporate, nonprofit, or media.
For each, the hardest part wasn’t learning the job, it was adjusting to the industry. With more outside employees coming to the profession, our role as leaders is to help ensure these employees have a positive onboarding experience and want to stay in our industry.
My Story
I came to higher education after a career in news, followed by a stint in graduate school. My position as the assistant director of new media was brand new, and there was no training document. The agency that built our news website gave me one day of training on it..
That was one part of my job. The rest I got to create. Looking back, this was incredibly beneficial because I learned so much about developing policies, building buy-in, and creating a vision. However, for a new employee, it was tough. I was used to a culture where things were wrapped up by the end of the day, and you were reacting to news. Both were skills that didn’t translate to higher education.
Thankfully, I had a boss who helped me understand the pace of higher education and helped me to embrace the idea of creating my own plan for my work. It turned out to be perfect for me.
That said, I think about the discomfort I initially felt every time I hire a new employee. I want to minimize that feeling for them and help them to quickly acclimate to their work and the university.
One way I try to do that is through a 30/60/90-day roadmap aimed at helping the new employee experience the current work, develop ideas to improve it, and then implement those ideas.
I’ll describe the process below, beginning with the signed offer letter.
Before a New Hire Starts
Once the offer letter is signed, the real work of onboarding begins. Usually, the person must provide their current employer a notice, so I take the week after their signed letter to intentionally think through everything they will need to know.
I write down notes about things like:
- Regular tasks they’ll oversee
- Projects they’ll be responsible for leading
- Processes I want them to create
- Big tasks that need to be revisited
- Key relationships they’ll need to cultivate
- Notes about the staff members who will report to them
This list gets long, and that’s the point. It serves as the basis for their 30/60/90-day plan. In week two before their arrival, I take this list of things and build out their entire 30/60/90-day plan. I break each 30 days into two parts: projects and processes.
Projects are specific tasks they need to complete within the timeline. For example, projects might be getting all ads in our task management system or writing a particular news story. Processes are the procedures I want them to review (or create). For example, how are new creative projects onboarded, or how does the team decide who writes a particular article?
Thirty Days
The first 30 days help new hires acclimate to campus and observe the current environment. In some instances, there are tasks needed right away, but for the most part, the focus of the first 30 days is observation. This gives new hires a chance to focus on learning the culture of the university, building camaraderie with the team, and observing how things are currently done – without the pressure of having to execute.
Sample Projects:
- Complete all Human Resources onboarding tasks
- Complete the CASE Intro to Integrated Advancement (it’s a great primer for anyone coming from outside higher education)
- Participate in role-specific training and professional development
- Establish meetings with supervisor
- Establish regular meetings with direct reports
- Gain access to the software and tools needed to perform the role
Sample Processes:
- Observe regular team meetings and planning discussions
- Learn how work is assigned, prioritized, and completed
- Review organizational priorities, messaging, and guiding documents
- Become familiar with key metrics, reporting, and performance measures
- Review current initiatives, projects, and communications
- Identify key stakeholders and begin understanding their roles and priorities
“The roadmap gave me permission to slow down and learn first. Coming from outside higher education, there were so many relationships, traditions, and processes that weren’t obvious on day one. Having those first 30 days focused on observation helped me build confidence instead of feeling like I had to have all the answers immediately.”
– Sadie Rylander, director of creative services and new hire
Sixty Days
In the next 30 days, the new hire has observed enough to make suggestions on improvement. During this time, the new hire shifts from observation to recommending changes to improve the work. It’s also important for the new hire to begin making campus connections and building partnerships outside the department.
Sample Projects:
- Build relationships with key stakeholders across the organization
- Begin identifying opportunities to improve team performance and collaboration
- Take ownership of core responsibilities and strategic initiatives
- Develop recommendations for improving workflows, communication, or decision-making
- Establish a regular cadence for sharing updates, priorities, and progress with leadership
Sample Processes:
- Assess current processes and identify opportunities for improvement
- Understand how work moves across the team and identify gaps
- Evaluate current priorities and their alignment with organizational goals
- Begin contributing ideas during planning and strategy discussions
- Document recommendations for improving existing processes
- Develop draft processes for areas where greater clarity, consistency, or efficiency is needed
- Validate proposed changes by gathering feedback from team members and key stakeholders
“Around the second month, I started seeing where there were opportunities to strengthen our work. Because I’d spent time listening first, I could make recommendations that were based on what my team actually needed, instead of what I assumed they needed.”
– Sadie Rylander, director of creative services
Ninety Days
During the final 30 days, the new hire focuses on ownership and implementation of new ideas and approaches. By this time, the new hire understands the campus and department culture enough to begin executing strategic shifts that may be needed. The focus of the final 30 days is implementing the work identified in the first 60 days.
Sample Projects:
- Implement at least one process improvement identified during the first 60 days
- Lead a cross-functional initiative from planning through execution
- Establish a regular planning cadence for the team
- Launch a new workflow, tool, or reporting process
- Develop a six- to twelve-month operational roadmap
- Create a professional development plan for individual team members and the team as a whole
Sample Processes:
- Lead recurring planning and prioritization meetings
- Monitor progress using established metrics and reporting
- Create regular feedback loops with team members and key stakeholders
- Document standard operating procedures and best practices
- Evaluate outcomes and adjust processes based on results
- Identify the next round of improvements to support continuous growth
“The biggest difference at ninety days was that I had moved from making recommendations to putting them into practice. We had a plan, the team understood the direction, and we could start focusing on execution instead of discovery.”
– Sadie Rylander, director of creative services
After 90 Days
After the conclusion of the 90-day roadmap, I like to visit with new hires to set their goals for the year. They usually align with the 30/60/90 approach, but I like to wait until the end of the 90 days. This allows me to see where projects and processes stand, while creating space to incorporate new opportunities.
Closing Thoughts
MarComm professionals aren’t leaving higher ed because the work isn’t meaningful; they’re leaving because too many of them are left to figure it out alone. A 30/60/90-day plan won’t fix every retention problem, but it tells a new hire, from day one, that someone thought about how they’d succeed here. That’s a cheap investment against the cost of doing this search again in a year.
