There are two parts to successful workforce management. The first part is hiring the best candidates. The second part is retaining those candidates after they become employees.
A company or organization needs to be proficient with both in order to ultimately enjoy successful workforce management. If not, then it can lead to the following situations:
- A company or organization is able to hire the best candidates, but not able to retain them as employees. As a result, their hiring process and workforce management efforts are akin to a hamster on wheel. In other words, there’s plenty of action, but not forward motion.
- A company or organization is not able to hire the best candidates, but is able to effectively retain them. All that means is that it’s hiring B-level and C-level candidates and holding onto them.
- A company or organization is neither able to hire the best candidates nor retain the candidates it does hire when they become employees. This is truly the worst-case scenario. The employer is hiring B-level and C-level candidates and is not even able to hold onto them.
Retention is essential for successful workforce management. And it’s your job as a search consultant to help your clients enjoy such success. However, there are plenty of obstacles, some of which hiring authorities may not even be aware.
Below are four big reasons why your clients are not retaining their employees:
#1—The clients have a poor onboarding process . . . or none at all.
Onboarding is crucial. And onboarding starts as soon as the candidate accepts the offer. It does NOT start on the first official day of work. Organizations find that out the hard way when a candidate decides not to show up for their first day of work.
The purpose of an effective onboarding process is to not only prepare the soon-to-be-candidate, but to keep them engaged. Just because they accepted the offer does not mean they’re going to show up. They could “ghost” the organization. Or they could start work, but leave for another opportunity shortly thereafter.
#2—The candidate did not fit into the company culture.
Culture is a huge consideration these days. So when we say that “the candidate did not fit into the company culture,” what we really mean is “The candidate thought the culture was one thing, but it turned out to be another.” Today’s top candidates do NOT tolerate a culture that they do not like. They rarely “tough it out,” and considering the fact we’re in a candidates’ market, they rarely have to.
#3—There is no clear career path at the organization.
Employees want to know that they have a future with the company. In addition, they want to be able to see that future and plot it out. They don’t want to have to guess or just assume that there is one.
That’s one reason why it’s incumbent upon management to discuss each employee’s future with them. This includes discussing their career and what role the organization plays in that career. If your clients aren’t thinking about their employees’ future at the company, then the employees will not be thinking about their future at the company.
#4—There are no opportunities for training and/or skills advancement.
Top employees want to advance their career and their skills, not necessarily in that order. If there are not opportunities for them to do both, then they will see their job as stagnant. More to the point, they will see it as essentially a dead-end job and they will automatically look for another opportunity.
As a search consultant, you can consult your clients regarding all of these points. You can help them to improve these areas, and by extension, improve their retention. Then they’ll look to you not just when they need candidates, but also when they need advice and marketplace intelligence.
Then you’ll be one step closer to positioning yourself as a search consultant with your clients.
Another way to add more value as a search consultant is to earn the Certified Employee Retention Specialist (CERS) certification through the National Association of Personnel Services. There are only a handful of individuals in the recruiting profession that hold this certification. As a result, earning it will clearly set you apart from your competition.
Click here for more information about the CERS certification program.