For many people onboarding is simply a process to go through when you join a new company. Boxes to check off and steps to complete. Attend orientation, check! Meet your team, check! Get your computer, check! Make sure it works, hopefully check! But for me, onboarding is the entire reason I’m here.

I met the team at Brilliant Ink long before I called their office home. They were warm, welcoming and smart right from the get go and were obviously pros at helping companies exude those same qualities. They were masters at navigating the onboarding experience and had a passion for treating employees like humans. This dedication to the employee experience, especially for new hires who are already nervous about their decision to uproot their lives, is what set the BI team apart for me. I couldn’t wait to join their ranks.

After shameless emails and a well selected box of popcorn given to a very pregnant CEO, BI welcomed me as a new Inky. I was thrilled, ecstatic and really curious to see what magic they had hiding behind the walls of their Oakland and New York offices. How would they onboard me? Would there be a parade? Fireworks? Would there be a full mental scan charting my strengths and all the weaknesses I tried to hide during my interviews?

Turns out, they did it just right.

Naturally, they did all the basics. On my first day I had keys to the office, a working computer, printed business cards, a dedicated desk, working email, access to all the systems I needed, flowers from my new boss, and a detailed agenda for my first two days.

However, what they did best was show they genuinely cared. They were happy I joined their team and they told me that again and again. In fact, to make sure I felt like part of the team, they even ordered me a monogramed mug, matching those the rest of the team had. They welcomed me. Completely and totally, they welcomed me.

Brilliant Ink clearly practices what it preaches, but it does so humbly. Everything they did, they did without ego—constantly asking for feedback and looking for ways to improve.

For the team at BI, their commitment to the employee experience is not just lip service. They truly live it. 

I was right, there is magic at Brilliant Ink.