Last time I had a group of (5) newbies, I made them all roll level zero villagers. Just pick background, race/species, and roll attributes. That’s it.
…and I’m *never* going back. That is plenty of decisions for a beginner (not to mention where to write it on that intimidating sheet) and you have a built-in Session One: go to X and get trained in your class.
A caveat: most players will have an idea of a class. That’s good! That’ll give them an idea of where to put which attributes.