Onboarding at J-PAL North America is a broad process that begins when someone accepts a position and continues through their first weeks and months at the organization. The main broad goals of onboarding include:
Equipping new staff with the information and skills that they need to effectively carry out their job responsibilities in a timely manner (i.e. reducing steepness of learning curve for their particular role as much as possible)
Providing new staff to J-PAL with a foundational understanding of our work beyond the more limited scope of their specific job responsibilities (e.g. what each of the verticals does, what our initiatives are, what our history is, etc.)
Integrating new staff with the current staff in an inclusive way that reflects our values and allows those new staff to optimally contribute to J-PAL (e.g. getting to know many current staff as soon as possible)
The staff onboarding process is coordinated by the Onboarding Working Group, in consultation with the manager and vertical lead for the new hire. The Onboarding Working Group is managed by Isaak Kifle and includes representation across J-PAL's three verticals; current members include Sara van Nes (Policy), Laura Ruiz-Gaona (Research) and Haley Packard (Finance & Operations). Vertical-specific onboarding questions can be directed to the applicable group member, while general onboarding questions can be directed to Isaak.