Hiring and Retaining for the Long Term

In a tight labor market hiring someone with a pulse and respiration may seem like a success, but smart companies always keep the big picture in mind. How a company hires and how they retain employees can be radically different, but they shouldn’t be.

In over sixteen years of recruiting, I’ve run across a lot of different approaches companies take in these two areas.

Some points to consider when hiring:

• Develop a thorough plan.
• Review your plan periodically to reflect societal and economic changes.
• Know your candidates will have other options.
• Be proactive.
• Keep your hiring cycle relatively short.
• Understand the marketplace and your competition.
• Be competitive with salary and benefits.
• Make sure your interviewing skills are sharp and your team knows their roles in the process.
• Don’t view your candidates as being lucky to have the chance to interview with you.
• Mutual respect goes a long way.
• Make sure your company’s cultural comes across during all interviews.
• Be positive and upbeat.

After you’ve found the right candidate, make sure your onboarding process is professional and effective.

• Follow a checklist.
• On the very first day, make sure this new employee feels welcome. This is particularly important and very challenging if the onboarding is being done remotely. Having “break out” video chats between the new employee and her/his associates works very well.
• If the role requires company-supplied items from a laptop to a uniform, make sure everything is ready on day one.
• Confirm the new employee has access to all software required for the job.
• Frequently ask for feedback.
• Make sure the new employee has a roadmap to follow.
• Assign a mentor to help shepherd the employee through the process and beyond.

The aforementioned points are just a shortlist of what companies need to do to attract and retain topnotch employees. While all seem quite obvious, many organizations miss several of them.

Interested in learning more on how to identify top talent in any market conditions? Click the contact button to start a conversation.