One of these weekends im planning to take my friends through the beginner game (EotE).

They are all new to RPGs and even though they really enjoy RPGish boardgames that tells individual stories (arkham/eldritch horror and the likes) its still unclear if they will actually enjoy roleplaying. So the beginner game seems like a perfect start to help them get into RPGs, and also help me get back into GMing. We can sit down, go through the basic rules, read up on the characters and play through the entire adventure in a single sitting!

My concerns is where to go after the beginner game.

I will let them create their own characters to ease them into roleplaying, it lets them design characters they feel most comfortable with.

I wont press them for background or personality traits from the start and will allow this to be fleshed out as we go along, this also because I feel it will be intimidating for a new player to have to start coming up with stories and information on the get-go.

The main idea of their adventure(s) to come will be as a pirate/bounty hunter crew trying to make a living and paying off debts as they roam around the outer rim. I would eventually want it to be much of a sandbox campaign, offering the players lots of freedom in where to go and what to do but needless to say they will eventually be drawn into the civil war and will sooner or later have to decide if the rebels or the empire is where their allegience belongs.

For starters though, I will put them instantly into the culmination of a heist gone wrong, to get them into adventure without the need for player initiatives and get them going.

I only have an overarcing idea here, nothing fancy or even original at all, but for whatever reason their latest obtained cargo has attracted way too much attention from empire and rogues alike and this will send them first into a struggle to flee and avoid and go incognito, perhaps forced to scrap the ship and somehow aquire a new one.

Then their main "goal" will likely be to try and find out what about their cargo is so special and later what to do with it.

This is where their allegience will come in firsthand since this cargo will be of great importance to both the empire and rebels.

Whatever they to at that point will basically set the path for them the rest of the campaign.

There is a free PDF follow up adventure on the beginner game support site. It's built more like a normal adventure, with less hand-holding, but still lots of advice. If the players are new to RPGs, having a few extra sessions to understand how the game works can be useful before they start creating their own characters.

I wont press them for background or personality traits from the start and will allow this to be fleshed out as we go along, this also because I feel it will be intimidating for a new player to have to start coming up with stories and information on the get-go.

I'd disagree somewhat. They don't need to have their backgrounds fleshed out, but having some sense of their background can be helpful. Even just picking an Obligation category, like Oath or Criminal or Blackmail, without any details, can get the creative juices flowing in subsequent sessions. Personally I don't use Obligation much after chargen, but it can be useful to refer to when introducing story elements (locations, NPCs, etc)

Since you say they're new to the RPG structure, for the first few original adventures, borrow from stories you know they like. For example, if they're Firefly fans, borrow elements from an episode or two, but change it up enough to open the ending. That way, they're starting off with stories they're familiar enough with to know the direction and flavor, but your alterations lead them away from them just blindly following the path of the existing story.

As for their character generation, I'm finding this to be a help with the players in my upcoming campaign creating a bit of a background and in letting me know what kind of adventures to plan for them. http://journeymangm.com/2012/01/07/the-quick-and-easy-character-background/

I wont press them for background or personality traits from the start and will allow this to be fleshed out as we go along, this also because I feel it will be intimidating for a new player to have to start coming up with stories and information on the get-go.

I'd disagree somewhat. They don't need to have their backgrounds fleshed out, but having some sense of their background can be helpful. Even just picking an Obligation category, like Oath or Criminal or Blackmail, without any details, can get the creative juices flowing in subsequent sessions. Personally I don't use Obligation much after chargen, but it can be useful to refer to when introducing story elements (locations, NPCs, etc)

To be honest, I do agree with your view here. And I will absolutely let my players know that having at least a basic concept about a their characters background/personality will help them greatly to find their way into the game (as well as help me build stories around them). But I wont force them into it from the beginning. And it also opens up a nice way to build story as we go along since I can lead them into small bits of their characters backgrounds as we go along.

"Okay so you DO find someone in town that knows where to find a fairly decent speeder. Tell me, is this someone you know from previously, someone who owes you a favour?"

It also offers players a certain freedom to come up with story elements themselves as the game goes on.

"Oh but wait, perhaps my character knows an old contact in town who used to deal with vehicles?"

"Well I dunno, maybe if you tell me who this contact is and where you know him from!"

And after they tell the story about how they know this contact, a quick roll might tell us how this contact feels about the player character and what they may expect if they visit.