What is your approach to Talent Acquisition, Management & Development:
Ready Aim Shoot…or Ready Shoot Aim?
In today’s competitive talent pool if a company is looking to acquire and retain the best talent it must realize that it’s not the same as it was when our parents and even grandparents were in the work-a-day world. Once upon a time, business organizations were much like sports franchises, made up of “franchise players” that made outstanding contributions, would never think about leaving and retired from the organization they were with for many years. In the sports world, their uniform jerseys and numbers would be enshrined and in the business world the employee would be celebrated with a dinner and a gold watch. It certainly isn’t the same today!
Today’s business world is much like the sports world… “Free Agency”. Statistically, employees today are far less likely to retire from the same organization they began their adult careers with. Employees are looking for better career growth opportunities, vibrant organizational cultures and not necessarily more money. Organizations are looking for the best talent and “talent-value”.
So, the question is… “How do we acquire & retain the best talent”?
There is an interdependence between your culture and how you approach recruiting, development and retention. Today, more and more people are making their job decisions based upon an organization’s culture.
Have you defined your organization’s culture?
Recruiting Talent:
Your hiring decisions will impact your culture. You will either have a… “culture by design or a culture by default” based upon your talent management decisions. Does the candidate possess the hard skills and the soft skills that “fit your culture” and will they be a long-term solution to your current and future needs, and your organization’s strategy?
Note: The person that you hire will do one of the following to your organization:
1. Strengthen your organization
2. Maintain the status quo
3. Weaken your organization.
Establish a written benchmark or profile for the position that needs to be filled including: education, experience, hard skills and soft skills necessary to effectively perform the job.
Resumes and references can provide perspective of a person’s education and experience. Assessments can also be useful tools to get a glimpse of a potential recruit’s behavioral style, values, thinking style and behavioral attitudes to name a few. These assessments may also provide a view of what may be “hidden under the surface” that are not easily observable from a resume or work history. Profile Assessments can also be time and cost-effective, especially when a benchmark of the behaviors, values, attitudes etc. are used to filter candidates.
Design a very intentional interview process that will not only test a candidates IQ and technical knowledge but also their EQ.
In today’s world, a person with just the technical know-how is not enough. A person must be able to communicate, cooperate and collaborate. Emotional Intelligence is being recognized more and more as an essential trait necessary for consideration.
Retaining Talent…
Engagement should be a primary emphasis in retaining good talent. Engagement reflects the level or intensity of an employees enthusiasm and commitment alignment with the vision, mission
The first question that needs to be asked is…”How important are my employees to me and the organization”? The second question is…”
There are some job sectors today such as the education and medical fields that have more positions than there are people to fit those positions. In a recent conversation with a county school superintendent, he told me that he practically must hire everyone that applies just to fill teaching positions. He’s challenged by the fact that he superintendent of a rural and lower income school district. Plus, there aren’t all the social, cultural, entertainment and community opportunities that many young people out of college are beating down the doors to move to for the rest of their careers. Thus, they take the job for a year or so, get some experience and then move on to a “better position”.
In the auto industry, the NADA came out with a report a couple of year ago, that