It’s becoming increasingly difficult for companies to both hire and retain top talent.

Nearly half of all employers are struggling to fill positions with candidates that have the necessary talents for the role. Which means when a talented individual does come along, they are likely to be fielding several simultaneous offers.

Given these difficult hiring conditions, how can you, as a company, stand out from the crowd to make your business the most attractive place to work?

And where can you uncover such talented candidates in the first place?

How to Discover Top Talent

 There are a variety of methods to secure the top candidates in your industry, some of which are tried and tested over the years, whereas others have developed with the emergence of Millennials and Generation Z within the US work force.

Job Fairs and Recruiting Events

 Whilst this is an old-fashioned method, it can still drive results in today’s market. The premise to these events is simple; pair active job-seekers with companies that are hiring.

These are particularly effective if you can participate in college fairs, as you can gain early access to potential employees before graduation.

The issue with these occasions is that it’s rare that truly high quality candidates show up.

You are much better served attending industry conferences, workshops and other meet ups within your sector. Here you can start to forge relationships with potential recruits that aren’t currently looking to move, or make outstanding candidates an offer too good to refuse.

Employee Referrals

 An effective employee referral program can bring in some very promising candidates. In fact, according to LinkedIn, employee referrals are one of the top sources for hiring quality candidates.

By setting up a program of this nature, you are partially handing over the recruiting process to your own employees. Oftentimes, they will have already built up industry connections and thus this is a great way to leverage their network and social reach.

However, one issue with this method is your recruitment will only be as good as your employees’ efforts.

If the rewards for referring a new candidate to your firm aren’t perceived as large enough, then your current crop of talented employees aren’t going to dedicate much time to the endeavor.

Develop Your Employer Brand

 With the rise of candidates from the technology-obsessed Millennial and Generation Z cohorts, job seekers have never been so informed about the companies they are interested in applying to.

Therefore, it is wise to devote time and resources to attracting the most talented individuals through your employer branding.

With companies such as Glassdoor providing a window into working conditions at every major company, it’s imperative that you get your house in order before you start to approach candidates.

A great way to attract candidates is by investing in social media initiatives, developing a separate company careers website, and running marketing campaigns that demonstrate what a career at your company looks like.

Use Specialized Recruiting Firms

 Despite using some or all of the above tactics, if you operate in a skilled industry, it can become progressively harder to unearth the best candidates for the positions you have available.

This is why it’s useful to work with niche recruiting firms who cultivate the very best talent for your specific industry, rather than casting a wide net over general talent.

With over 70% of employers having a tough time finding skilled workers, it’s not surprising that companies are increasingly turning to specialist providers.

By striking up relationships with specialized recruiting experts, you are always going to have a pool of prescreened talented candidates available to choose from. This both reduces the expense of a running a recruitment campaign and the length of time a position is left vacant.

Once you’ve managed to secure extremely talented candidates, the next task is keeping them at your company for the foreseeable future.

Retaining Top Talent

 A recent Deloitte study of over 10,000 Millennials in 36 countries found that nearly half of them planned to leave their current position within 2 years , and only 28% of them had plans to stay at their company for more than 5 years.

With this increasingly popular mindset shift to having a “portfolio career”, how you can ensure you keep hold of your top talent for as long as possible?

Offer Improved Compensation Packages

 Whilst this may seem obvious, paying more does help to retain your most talented employees.

In a well-compensated culture, employees are less likely to look elsewhere as they know leaving would incur an immediate pay cut.

However, the benefits don’t stop at retaining your best employees. By paying above average wages, you are indicating that you expecting an above average output of work.

When colleagues know they are getting extra money compared to their counterparts at similar companies, they tend to give more to their work to demonstrate that they deserve to be paid more.

Therefore, as a company, you reap the double benefit of increased output and reduced employee turnover.

Tailor Benefits Packages to Employee Needs

 Whilst pay is of course a consideration of any candidate, the overall benefits package is becoming more and more important.

In fact, 4 in every 5 employees would prefer an increase in benefits or perks more than a pay rise. A similar amount would leave their current role for another that offered better benefits.

Consequently, it’s crucial that you get benefits packages right. This includes offering progressive perks such as: flexible work hours, unlimited vacation, gym memberships, free food, free drinks and a commuting allowance.

Offer Continued Professional Development for Younger Employees 

The most important aspect of any employment package for those under 40 is continued professional development and training. According to a recent Gallup study, 87% of Millennials say that professional training and career growth is very important to them.https://www.gallup.com/services/192827/organization-greatest-potential-unlocked.aspx?utm_source=gbj&utm_medium=

If your workplace offers no such continued development or training, then it is likely that you will lose your top talent to competitors that do.

Help Employees with Families

For other employees, family-based perks are the most important factor.

35% of employees think their work performance has suffered through a lack of family benefits. This number rises to 41% for those with children.

Having comprehensive family perks such as fertility, infertility, pregnancy, maternity, paternity, and parental benefits will help to keep those employees with families from looking elsewhere.

Wrap Up

 Hiring top talent is not easy, and some would argue that retaining it is even harder considering the current prevailing attitudes towards the workplace.

But by investing in the right areas of your business you can still manage to track down and hire the best candidates for your positions. Once hired, you can reduce staff turnover by offering improved compensation and tailored benefits packages.

If you would like help with your candidate search, feel free to contact us at 305-910-2524 to discuss your recruiting needs.

Farley Ashby

Founder, Offer Accept

Recruiting Expert