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Reevaluate and revamp your recruiting strategies.
Employees are quitting in droves, physically and emotionally, with no remedy in sight to stop them. One of the greatest challenges of the past two years is the fast-paced talent turnover many businesses are struggling with. If you are too, here are some thoughts and observations I have collected over the years.
I’ve quit emotionally several times in the past—that is, until I started my own business. Now, it’s a little harder; actually, impossible and above all, not even necessary as I love what I’m doing, and I see a lot of purpose in what I’m doing.
Why did I quit emotionally in the past?
A simple explanation: The job was interesting when I started but changed for reasons out of my control and without my consent. Basically, it’s what everyone has in their job contract. Your employer may change your job based on business/team requirements. You sign it thinking, why would they? And after a while, you feel like you need the money, but the job isn’t really what you want anymore. Your manager may—or in many cases, may not—be interested in listening to you and your complaints, and you start to gradually check out, emotionally and eventually physically.
Personally, I have identified three main reasons outside the above:
- My job became sort of a routine; same, same every day.
- My employer didn’t see the necessity in investing in up- and cross-skilling me or his team.
- My career had reached its limits with my current employer.
Most industries require certain skill sets specific to the industry or vertical market. Some are more obvious than others, and for some, the prerequisites are more clearly defined than others. A lawyer can’t be a lawyer without a law degree and a particular specialization. A doctor must have a medical education, and, like the lawyer, in most cases, a specialization. The list of jobs that require a university or college degree is long but not endless, and many jobs require skills nobody will teach you in school. However, nurturing and refining, for example, your interpersonal skills, your negotiation skills, your ability to listen, and many more may give you that little extra that makes you better than anyone else in your position. In other words, don’t underestimate the person behind the job title.
How will this enlightened insight help you find qualified staff? Am I recommending ditching the CV? Almost. When I started out in the printing industry, I didn’t know anything about printing, but I did know a lot about how to explain complex content to different types of audiences so they would buy it. And because the manager who hired me understood that this skill is the key to marketing/communication (not the technical skills listed in the job advert), he gave me a chance. That was long before automated CV-scanning systems checked for how many keywords an applicant matches. Who knows whether I’d still have a chance today?
Fast forward to 2022. Hiring processes remain stuck in the early 2000s and before. Perks have long stopped working, and both HR assistants and HR software solutions are still checking for keywords matching the poorly written lists of candidate requirements. Usually, job requirements and job adverts are put together by different people. One knows exactly what they technically need; the other one knows how to write a catchy job advert to attract talent. But who knows what character traits the candidate should have? How do you uncover hidden gems during the preselection process? And how can you make sure the newbies fit in your company culture? The onboarding process may just be one step too late to find out.
Talk to an expert to upgrade your hiring process or consider using assessment tools like those offered by Arctic Shores.
My hiring process is complicated and simple at the same time. The ideal candidates must have five main skills/traits:
- Curiosity
- Be a fast learner
- Good general education
- Excellent computer skills
- Exceptional interpersonal skills
Everything else is a nice-to-have, and I’m happy to train them during the onboarding period, so they can live up to and exceed our customers’ expectations.
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