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How to attract and retain the best talent

Written by: Hazel Mason
Published on: 29 May 2019
Category:

It’s the age old question for recruiters: how can you attract, and more importantly retain, the best talent for your organisation?

How to attract and retain talent

Many organisations are struggling to attract quality candidates to their roles. Whether this is due to individuals not having the correct skills or simply a decreased volume of applications, it’s a challenge that many recruiters would like to overcome.

Similarly, once an employer has found the perfect candidate, all too often that person leaves after a year and they have to start the whole process again. A high-turnover is not good for business and can damage a company’s reputation. Therefore, you need to focus on ensuring your external image is attractive to candidates, and continue to impress and nurture them once they’re through the door.

Here are some tips on how you can attract and retain the best talent:

Develop a digital presence

How candidates find new roles has changed. The days of circling job ads in the newspaper are long gone, with the introduction of online applications, email and job boards paving the way. But, the technological evolution of job advertising hasn’t stopped there, and many are turning to social media to find their next job. So, having an online presence certainly helps toward finding the best talent.

However, it’s not just about finding where your audience is and spamming them with jobs. The key to success is keeping people connected to your employer brand through shared ideas, news and relevant content on social media and your website. Posting regular updates on what your company is doing and how it’s a great place to work, will make your brand look more attractive and compelling to potential candidates.

Building your employer brand will help you attract the right people for your company culture as well as the roles. Get in touch to discuss your hiring needs with People Management Jobs here.

It’s all about the candidate

User experience is important. People expect a certain level of sophistication and speed in your processes or they begin to switch off, which is why you need to be quick to respond and have a hiring process that is easy to follow. 

Whilst it’s important to be thorough in your choice of employee, you run the risk of them finding another job or deciding against working for you if your hiring process is too long-winded. Swiftly moving them through each stage and maintaining communication at all times can help to ensure a candidate doesn’t lose interest.

Drop the 9-5

According to a Center for American Progress survey, 75 percent of adult respondents said they’d like their workplaces to offer more flexibility in their working day. This infers that the majority of employees are looking for organisations which enable them to take control of their own work schedule, including choosing their start and end times and having the option to work from home or remotely. 

The focus has shifted from rigid set working hours to a more malleable working day, which allows employees to fit their other commitments around their job. With a greater emphasis now being put on productivity and performance, employees feel valued and respected without sacrificing the company’s bottom line. Therefore, offering flexible working will make you more attractive to potential candidates and help retain your existing employees.

Say thank you

Sometimes a simple “thank you” or “good job” can go a long way to keeping your staff happy and motivated to continue working hard. Recognition is important when it comes to staff satisfaction, and ultimately retention, because giving rewards where they are due is a great way to show that you care about and are engaged in your employees’ development.

Give regular feedback

Following on from recognition is feedback. As you know, only offering praise is often a recipe for disaster. Giving regular useful, constructive feedback to employees alongside recognising their hard work will help them to develop and grow within your team. 

Don’t leave it until the annual review, employees want to know how they’re doing and regular feedback gives them the opportunity to address any concerns and grow their strengths. Honest and thoughtful feedback helps people know where to improve and positive feedback motivates people to do even more.

Invest in training

Training has been known to improve staff satisfaction and retention as employees feel valued and as though you are investing in their future at the company. Plus, training will also greatly benefit the team and company as a whole as your trained employees bring their new skills and ideas back to their work and share with their colleagues.

Investing in training will generate highly-qualified expert employees who are motivated to work hard and loyal to your organisation because of the opportunities you have given them. This also means they’re more likely to recommend you as an employer to their social circle.

Furthermore, certainly amongst younger generations, opportunities for training are very important when looking for a new job. Being an employer who invests in the training of your staff, will make you very attractive to future employees.

Hire high-quality qualified candidates through the official job board of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), find out more.

Manage your managers

Proper training for your managers is also very important when retaining your staff. It is often said that you don’t quit a company, you quit a bad manager, which means that ensuring these individuals are the best they can be will significantly impact your staff turnover.

For a long time, managers have been promoted because they’re very good at their job but not necessarily at managing people. This phenomenon, referred to as accidental managers, has led to a lot of individuals being in senior roles without the necessary skills to be a good manager. That’s not to say that every manager who hasn’t had any management training is bad, but that this training could help bad managers become good managers.

As you would expect, a bad manager can lead to a negative atmosphere and unhappy employees, which contributes to high turnover and low productivity rates. Investing in your managers so that they can become leaders who are respected and trusted by their subordinates is key to job satisfaction and retention.

Build your employer brand

Key to attracting the best talent, building your employer brand is a great tool to improve your talent strategy. 90% of jobseekers would consider an employer’s brand before applying for a role, with a significant proportion stating they wouldn’t apply for a role at a company with a bad reputation.

Therefore, how you present yourself to the outside world will impact your time to hire and retention stats. Building an image of an inclusive, flexible, good employer will significantly help you to recruit top talent and improve your recruitment strategy.

Our Wonderful Workplaces agency have a vast array of recruitment marketing solutions to help you to highlight why you are such a great employer to work for. From jobseeker surveys to whitepapers, content pieces to live events, our team of dedicated recruitment experts will help you to find the best solution to your recruitment needs. Get in touch for more information.

If you’re looking to recruit high-quality HR and L&D professionals into your organisation, find your ideal candidate with the official job board for CIPD, People Management Jobs.

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