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7 keys to attracting, retaining talent

Cape Town - There are seven keys to attracting and retaining talent, according to the latest research by ManpowerGroup Solutions, an international company offering outsourcing services for large-scale recruiting and workforce-intensive initiatives.

The seven keys are:

Be candidate driven

Effective recruiting in a global environment means tailoring the message by country and customising the technology to the generation.

Improve on-boarding for Gen Y hires

If companies want to retain the Gen Y hires, employers must improve the on-boarding process. Normally reactive managers, focused on filling empty positions, need to properly get the new hires up to speed, set the expectations and clearly identify the path for advancement.

Otherwise, capable new hires may defect to companies promising a shorter, clearer pathway or higher compensation levels. Gen Y is a generation that will not stick around to receive a gold watch at their 20th anniversary.

Good recruiting practices outweigh self-reliance

Candidates will respond to recruiters if the opportunities are customised and tailored to their interests. Good recruiting practices include broad data mining to identify candidates with the right skills, yet there is no substitute for doing one’s homework.

Good recruiters quickly become experts in the specifics and nuances of their industries, then they leverage personal phone outreach and network through industry bodies.

Do not abandon traditional outreach strategies

Although job boards are prevalent and widely used, do not abandon traditional outreach strategies — especially in rural areas or for high-volume roles like call centres and manufacturing.

In a recent effort to recruit correctional officers in Australia, employers found that a two-pronged approach yielded the best results. Posting to seek and social media was effective in urban areas, but newspaper ads, flyers and radio spots were far more effective in rural locations.

Build a talent pipeline

While a talent pool can be stagnant, a talent pipeline is fluid and active. A pipeline is a conduit to an ever-changing mix of qualified potential hires.

Employers need talent pipelines that engage with tens of thousands of candidates on a continuous basis. Some companies are creating them on their own. Others are combining forces with industry competitors. Employers need to consider which of these options will work best for their organisation.

Be transparent about compensation

Few companies use compensation as a means of differentiating them from their competition for talent. Employers can level the playing field by increasing transparency about compensation and highlighting other important motivators like type of work, opportunity for advancement, schedule flexibility, geographic location and brand reputation to differentiate one company’s employer value proposition from the next.

Be cognisant of new technology

Many articles have been written about the use of video technologies or smartphone apps to make the recruitment process more efficient. ManpowerGroup Solutions research shows candidate usage and preferences for these technologies lags behind the industry buzz - largely because of generational comfort levels and the perception that they benefit the employers more than the prospective employees.

Even today, many company websites are not yet mobile friendly. But the usage of apps for application submission is bound to evolve as Gen Y becomes more dominant in the workforce.


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