It’s no secret that hiring and retaining the right talent is critical to an organization’s success. After all, an organization is only as strong as its collective talent. In fact, studies have shown that high performers are 400% more productive than average ones.
When you attract leaders in the field, your business or organisation builds a reputation of value. In turn, you further attract talent to join your company. This logic applies to retaining talent as well. Providing a positive employee experience can help increase your company’s brand awareness and reputation.
So how do you recruit and retain the best talent in the market? Here are some top tips we have compiled for you.
Tips to attract top talents:
Improving your candidate’s journey
From hiring to onboarding, the process of attracting talent extends beyond the interview itself. We live in a world where most people like to share their experiences, especially the bad ones. It is essential to give candidates a positive view of your company throughout the process. Make sure that you have an easy and seamless application process, clear information about the job role and expectations, transparency on the end-to-end process and provide clear communication and feedback throughout the process.
Building your brand awareness
There are many innovative ways to attract talent to your organization. At the core part of it all is ensuring that you have strong branding. Leveraging social media platforms is a great way to grow brand awareness, promote your unique culture and build credibility. Ways in which you can build a strong brand presence is by hosting events, highlight employee testimonials, showcasing your company’s work culture and connecting with top talents.
Winning over the next generation of leaders
The millennial generation is entering the job market in vast numbers. Their career aspirations, attitudes about work and knowledge of new technologies will define the workplace in the 21st century. In a report conducted by PWC, 52% of millennials said career progression is one of the main attraction points in an employer, coming ahead of competitive salaries in second place (44%). Attracting the next generation of young talents is not easy. But by knowing your talent pool and their career aspiration then combining it with your organization’s key strengths, you can fine-tune your marketing efforts, job descriptions and external communications to fit your target candidate.
Tips to retain talents:
Rewards and recognitions
Building a culture of recognition is essential to retaining your top talent. In a report by TinyPulse, 79% of all employees are feeling undervalued in their job with 49% feels dissatisfied with their direct supervisors. Companies need to recognize employees when they are working hard or excelling at their current position.
Recognition and rewards can be in many forms, such as a salary raise or bonuses. However, there are also non-monetary ways to offer recognition, such as acknowledging their hard work in front of the team or an email sent to the office highlighting what makes them a great employee. Doing this can motivate other employees to improve their performance, ultimately strengthen your company's culture.
Implementing a DE&I work culture
In recent years, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) have become a hot topic. Companies are now starting to pay more attention to implementing this into their organisation's culture. DE&I will be a key consideration for the millennial and Generation Z employees who will dominate the workforce in the coming years.
In a report by PWC, Millennials are looking for strong diversity policies but feel that their employers have failed to deliver on their expectations. Over half of individuals reported that while companies talk about diversity, they did not feel that opportunities were equal for all. It’s not enough for companies to use DE&I as a marketing gimmick, it’s crucial to truly embrace and invest in DE&I culture and making sure to incorporate DE&I into your company's DNA.
Empowering employees to transform themselves
There are many reasons why an employee would resign. One common reason is wanting to seek out new opportunities. In a 2015 SHRM survey, 83% claimed that career advancement was important, but only 20% were very satisfied with how their current employers addressed their ambitions. So how can you make your employees seek opportunities within your company? Build a culture of transformation and empower your employees to transform themselves professionally. This can be done by cultivating a strong culture of learning within your organisation and building a clear career path that allows your employees to reach their full potential. You can do this by setting up workshops, mentorship programs, promotion schemes, networking sessions or even allowing your employee to set aside time in their day to learn a new skill.
The key point is to inspire your employees to achieve their career goals. To do so, your company culture needs to promote lifelong learning – “Training is transactional, but learning is transformational.”
It’s not an easy feat to attract top talents, especially seeing that we are in a talent short market. Having an effective recruitment strategy is becoming more crucial for an organisation’s success and productivity. At Monroe Consulting Group, we work with local and regional clients to address workforce challenges and provide market-responsive recruitment practices that attract the right talent. If you or your organization are looking to maximize your talent pool and enhance the success of your recruitment efforts, Monroe can help you find the best suitable candidate for your company.
Source: Herman Aguinis and Ernest O’Boyle Jr. , “The best and the rest: Revisiting the norm of normality in individual performance,” Personal Psychology.