Brief an Onboarding Buddy
When to use it
Turn 'can you be their buddy?' into a clear, small job that someone can do well alongside their own work.
The prompt
Write a short brief for {{Buddy Name}}, who will be the onboarding buddy for {{New Hire Name}}, joining as {{Job Title}} on {{start date}}. THE BUDDY'S OWN ROLE AND WORKLOAD: {{...}} WORK MODEL FOR BOTH OF THEM: {{same office, hybrid on different days, remote}} WHAT THE MANAGER IS ALREADY COVERING: {{goals, reviews, first tasks}} WHAT NEW JOINERS HERE USUALLY STRUGGLE WITH: {{e.g. access, unwritten rules, finding the right person to ask}} HOW LONG THE BUDDY ROLE LASTS: {{e.g. the first six weeks}} Give me: 1. What the buddy is for, in two sentences, and what they are not for: they aren't the manager and don't assess performance. 2. A week-by-week checklist for the buddy, about 30 minutes of effort a week. 3. Five things to show or explain in the first week that no document covers, chosen for this team and work model. 4. How to check in without hovering, with three questions that get honest answers. 5. When to bring in the manager or HR, and how. 6. A two-line message the buddy can send the new hire before their first day. Keep the brief to one page.
Tip
Choose a buddy close to the new hire's level rather than a senior lead. New joiners ask a peer the small questions they'd never ask someone senior.
How to use it
Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or whichever assistant you use, then replace every {{bracketed}} part with your own detail. The more specific and messier your input, the better the output — a model given raw notes has more to work with than one given a tidy summary you wrote first.
More Onboarding prompts
Open the full tool for all 93 prompts, the glossary, and the JD decoder.