5 Tips for Hiring and Managing Great New Talent
Your company will only go as far as your employees take it. You may have wonderful ideas and a ton of energy focused on your business, but you must have the right people on your side.
But knowing you need great talent and actually having it are two separate things. And in an increasingly competitive job market, one in which there’s a shortage of qualified workers, your ability to recruit, hire and retain top talent will be a major factor for both the short- and long-term health of your company.
Here are five tips to help you develop the right approach to recruiting and talent management.
Look Beyond Experience
When considering candidates, it’s easy to get drawn towards those who have the most appealing experience and qualifications. It’s obviously helpful to see evidence a person can fulfill the role, but if you want to succeed in not only finding, but also hiring the best, then don’t limit your search with this criteria.
Most people nowadays consider cultural fit a factor in deciding where to work. If someone can sense that changing jobs will bring more meaning and purpose to their lives, then they will not only be easier to negotiate with, but you’ll be giving them a way to tap into their intrinsic motivation, a far more effective driver of productivity than extrinsic rewards, such as higher salaries and bonuses.
The interview process is critical for this part of the process. Take this time to get to know people, to find out why they want to work for you, to learn about their values, and to understand how they would fit into the company. Here are some topics to ask about to help you do this:
- Hobbies, interests, background, etc.
- Their ideal company culture
- Issues in the news connected to your business
Having conversations about these topics in your interviews will help you better identify when someone will mesh well with company culture and help transform it into a tool for company growth.
Less is More
As your company grows, the urge to grow it will also intensify. It’s easy to want to ride a wave of success. But when you add lots of people all at once, it’s a shock to your business’ system.
Focus on hiring the right people, which might mean stretching the search process out a little longer. It’s better to take four months to hire the right person than to have to hire twice in a year because of haste. Being patient also gives you the chance to correctly design the roles you’re creating. This way, when people come to work for you, their expectations of the job become reality.
Gradually expanding the workforce is going to keep people more focused and productive, which produces better work experience, increasing engagement and employee retention rates.
Offer More
Some 75 percent of workers consider themselves to be “passive job seekers,” meaning they are currently employed but are open to being recruited for a better position. So, to find and hire top talent, you need to be a proactive recruiter. And since we know salary is no longer the only motivating factor in a job seeker’s search, it’s important to offer competitive benefits packages
These could include the opportunity to work remotely, a retirement savings plan, insurance, flexible scheduling, PTO, etc. And, of course, non-tangible factors such as a company’s social mission and/or culture are important as well. Do your best to devise a package that meets or exceeds those of your competitors so that more people will be drawn to apply for your positions.
However, it’s true that putting together this benefits package is a tough task, especially when resources are limited. But a good way to still make your positions attractive without having to manage everything yourself is to hire a professional employer organization (PEO). These firms help you optimize your entire HR operation so that it can be of more use to current and prospective employees.
Allow Room to Grow
Job seekers nowadays don’t want “just a job.” They want a meaningful, rewarding and long-lasting career. And if your company can’t provide that, then they’ll move on to someone who can.
As a result, it’s important to plan ahead for professional development. Investing in educational resources such as eLearning platforms and other training programs or offering tuition assistance for graduate programs at certain schools, demonstrates to people your despite to help them grow. And by giving them this chance, you’ve given them a great reason to stick around and help the company grow a bit, too.
Be Flexible
Remote work is fast becoming the norm. People value the flexibility it offers, and they cherish the opportunity it provides to build a strong work-life balance. But “be flexible” also means to not place overly-rigid expectations on yourself at the beginning of the job search process. As we mentioned earlier, it’s better to take longer but to get it right than to rush things and get them wrong.
Communicate with your regular employees that help is on the way and be thankful for their extra work while you look to bring in some new people. But it’s your best interest to promote flexibility and to take your time finding the right person, as this will make everyone much happier in the end.
Recruiting and retaining top talent is an inexact science. After all, we’re talking about human beings. But use these tips to start mapping out your strategy so that you can bring in the people that will help make your company grow.
About the Author: Jock is the founder of Digital Exits, an online brokerage service specializing in the buying/selling and appraisal of online businesses. He’s been an entrepreneur nearly his whole career, running educated-related and cyber-security businesses. In a fast-moving world, he understands the need to be vigilant of all the latest trends, so he contributes frequently to publications around the web. He has been featured in Forbes, CNBC, Entrepreneur and Business Insider.