Human Resource and hiring experts agree on one thing—employers need to up their game when it comes to recruiting and retaining top talent. In today’s economy, job seekers have many options to choose from and it takes a strategic approach to not only hire them but to retain them. Below are best practices to ensure your small business is proactive about future growth.
1. Build talent communities.
A talent community is a group of skilled employees engaged by relevant content appropriately peppered with the company’s brand that resonates with candidates. Waiting to recruit until the time of need is a foolish proposition. Within the high demand skill areas, such as Information Technology, this strategy fails to produce a high volume of readily available, high quality recruits.
2. Put a career site in place on your website.
Career sites are super easy and relatively inexpensive to put into place. Most Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) allow you to create custom landing pages to highlight careers on your website. Many of these systems syndicate to multiple job boards for free—increasing your exposure to qualified candidates.
3. Referral bonuses.
A referral bonus is used to incentivize employees to identify new talent by referring friends or peers within the industry to join your team. Who knows the qualifications of the job better than those who are currently in it? If a current employee refers a new employee to you that is subsequently hired (because let’s be honest, we all want to work with our friends), then provide them with a referral bonus.
4. Make sure you are spreading a consistent message.
From LinkedIn to Facebook to Instagram, every post you make should be telling the story of your brand. From employees volunteering in the community to team-building outings, everything you post is a subtle recruitment story and is the image of your environment and culture.
The above is an excerpt. To read more tips about how to retain and attract top talent, click HERE to read the full article in the Spring/Summer 2018 issue of Tools for Success magazine. You can also pick up a print copy of the magazine at a Progress Bank location near you. Click for a complete list of LOCATIONS.
Ashley and Bo Ryals are the owners of DecisiveIntel, a concierge recruitment marketing firm that targets cyber security, information technology and engineering firms in the Huntsville, Ala., area. They provide customized talent sourcing, career coaching and compliance consulting.
