If you’re struggling to hire and retain good employees in 2022, this is something you’ll want to pay attention to. The past two years have opened our eyes to many things especially the things that have hindered our growth as a society and how we as business owners connect and grow our team.
I’ve talked to many of clients about the shift that many industries are experiencing and the businesses that embrace the changes will rise and the ones that continue to play the game with an old playbook will fall. And the biggest change we need to make is our perspective on how we attract, connect to and elevate our most important stakeholders, our employees, in this changing world.
And you can’t do that using old tactics and strategies for hiring your team which is what many businesses want to do today. The days of placing an employment Ad and expecting 10’s or 100’s of resumes to land on your desk are gone.
Employees and future employees are more concerned about how a business embraces life harmony and truly cares about their well-being and is their opportunity and growth within the organization. They want to be seen as a person with ideas and drive instead of just being a number and a clock puncher.
Attracting and retaining good people is more about how you align values and how you inspire them to be a part of making the purpose of the business come alive.
You’re probably wondering “so how do I find and hire the right people? I’ve done all the things; signs, billboards, Facebook Employment Ad, Ad in the Newspaper, Ad on Indeed and nothing.
Here are 3 things you can do now to help you get started:
- Hire outside of your industry. The person you need to fill a specific role doesn’t necessarily need to have worked in a specific industry or have extensive experience in it. What’s important is that they have the motivation to excel in the role they are applying for. When you hire outside of your industry you bring diversity into your business with new ideas, backgrounds and perspective. It’s okay to look outside the box.
2. Hire for human skills not learned skills. Hard skills run dry, human skills continue to grow and flourish. You can teach anyone to do any technical skill but you can’t teach work ethic, motivation and drive. If someone has the right mindset, attitude and ethics they are more willing to stay focused on learning the rest. Keep an open mind.
3. You’re being interviewed as much as you are being the interviewer. You as a business owner should be creating an environment that people want to work in. An interview is not solely about finding the right person to work for you, but getting the right person to want to work for you as well. Talk more about their values and mission of the business, ask what values are important to them and then listen. Don’t focus on selling the role but rather how you serve all of your key stakeholders: employees, vendors and your community.
Some key tips to think about before you post your next employment advertisement:
1. Who really are you looking for in the role you’re looking to fill? What values do they need to embrace and how will that align with the values of the business?
2. Don’t plan your hiring on where you are right now and NEVER hire on the fly. Plan based on where you see your business 6 months from now and the team members that you need to support your vision.
3. Think about the benefits of working for you, not just financially. What can you offer that takes total employee wellness into consideration: work from home schedule, PTO time, health insurance, retirement plan, discounts and other perks, parking
4. Where is the best place to highlight your open position based on who you want to attract? Is it an alumni career office at a college or university? Is it an Employment site? Is it an advertisement on LinkedIn or Facebook?
5. How can you connect to future employees and highlight your business in the best possible way? It could be a job fair, live video with an info session, presentation at an event or even an open house at your place of business.
6. Research and utilize an assessment such as DISC, Strengths Finder or Myers Briggs to find out more about how the person interacts with teams, how they manage projects and how can you utilize their strengths and best skills.
One last thing, you can’t scale your business if you don’t have the right people surrounding you and that you treat them well. When you find and build the right team make sure you create an environment that is inspired by your vision and creates motivation and activation.
If you found this article helpful and want to learn more about how to attract and retain great employees join me every week on the Your Next Best Step Podcast.
If you want to dig even deeper join me for a live 1:1 conversation on how to build your dream team and scale your business the right way.
