recruitment
used to be that people were loyal to an employer and generally
felt their employment was a lifelong commitment. Today’s talent
is loyal to their sense of self and to the power to actively build the
lives they want.
These changes can feel intimidating to companies. Losing talent
repetitively costs money. It also disrupts knowledge capital
within companies. But there are upsides. The rate of innovation
demands fresh insight, and the continual influx of new people
serves this well. Joining and leaving teams repetitively creates
LOSING TALENT
REPETITIVELY COSTS
MONEY. IT ALSO DISRUPTS
KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL
WITHIN COMPANIES. BUT
THERE ARE UPSIDES.
agile people who are good at adapting to new situations and contributing
their expertise.
BsWei/Shutterstock.com
HOW CAN COMPANIES LEVERAGE THIS?
First, accept that this is the new norm and it’s here to stay. Take a
hard look at how this impacts your business. Then evaluate where
your current HR mindset and processes support or detract your
ability to attract and retain the talent you need. Your employee value
proposition may need to be overhauled.
Figure out what you have to sell a candidate that matters to
them right now. For many, this could come down to better pay
and more flexibility. Once you’ve achieved a value proposition that
talent will notice, look at how you can create ways to keep that
momentum going. If you have talent that you don’t want to lose in
three years (or less), how can you reshape what you offer so that
you can compete with “the next best thing”?
It’s also critical not to undervalue the strength of relationships.
People may leave jobs for more money and better opportunities,
but they stay because they love their boss and their teammates.
Pay close attention to the quality and personalities of the managers
in your company.
From a procedural recruiting standpoint, move quickly and
aggressively to secure talent. Top candidates are in demand,
coming on and off the market quickly, almost always receiving
multiple offers. If you waste time in your hiring process, you will
lose them. In a competitive market, the quality of the opportunity
and fit are very important, but no matter how fantastic your
offer, you can’t play hard to get. Sell your opportunity and ability
to give candidates what matters to them. Make this about
how you have what they need to build this next chapter in their
career story. If you do that, you’ll keep a continual flow of top
talent that will power your company to high performance in a
competitive market.
By defining and selling a winning employee value proposition,
working hard to build an outstanding culture and building
an efficient and aggressive recruiting process, you will attract
and retain top talent, even in a fluid and highly competitive
environment. ■
Greg Karr is a recruiting expert and EVP at Seven Step RPO.
44 ❚ SEPTEMBER 2016 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL