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Want to attract and retain top talent? Here's where to start
Matt Goddard • March 28, 2019
If I had a dollar for every time a client of mine has called me last minute
to book an A-grade candidate in for some work... I’d be a very rich man.
Here's why that can be a problem:
In helping employers profile their perfect “A-grade” candidate, we hear plenty of phrases like: “I need someone experienced, reliable, punctual, who’s a good communicator, has a can-do attitude, is safety-minded, etc.”
But the most common trait employers request in their ideal candidates? Being proactive, aka “I need someone who doesn’t wait around to be told what to do, they just get on with it!”
Yet proactivity is the reason why your ideal candidates are not available last minute. The moment they know they’re not working the next day / week, they will almost certainly seek work themselves.
At this point you, as the employer, have to settle on a less qualified or capable candidate to do the job because you've placed the call out far too late.
It’s a common struggle for employers to attract and retain top candidates, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to be engaging and retaining the best of the best for ongoing/full time assignments, follow these three simple tips on how to do exactly that:
Plan your workforce requirements as far in advance as possible.
The more days or even weeks in advance you book your workforce requirements, the more time that we as your recruitment partner can spend promoting the opportunity to your ideal candidate or creating recruitment campaigns to attract the right candidate(s).
This in turn will lead to a better selection process that delivers the best long term outcome for you, as the host employer, and for the candidate.
However, if you did need someone just for a day here and there, to cover holidays or sickness, that's fine also... contingency workforce planning is what we do best!
But do remember that forward planning will get you the best candidates, or you will risk ending up with those left at the bottom of the list.
Make the candidate’s first day / induction really count.
First impressions count…we all know this!
This includes the impression you need to serve as a host employer, if you’ve hired an exceptional candidate that you want to stick around.
One common misconception a host employer can have is to think “well we have the work, so people must want to work for us!”
Wrong... Remember it’s the little 1%ers that mean the most.
On your candidate’s first day induction, introduce them to your operations team (with a smile of course) and spend a few extra minutes getting to know your candidate. I guarantee this will give them the confidence that you are a good host employer.
Don’t skip over the extra touches that can reinforce this point. We have clients who offer uniforms to labour hire candidates, knowing that they want the candidate long term. Others hold breakfast BBQs to welcome new staff, or give their candidates feedback forms. Any of these simple steps are easy to implement and show that you care about your workforce.
Follow up at the end of their first day.
This task may seem like a challenge since you might start or finish at different times to the candidate, but that doesn’t mean you should just leave it be.
Checking in with your new team member not only shows that you care about and listen to your workforce, but it also rounds off a great first day for a new casual (or even full time) employee.
Plan in advance and utilise your team leaders, supervisors or managers to ask that simple question of “How was your first day?” You’ll be amazed at the candidate’s response!
In Summary
Sourcing professional and proactive candidates is what we do everyday at JV. And what we’ve learned along the way is that it’s the simple things host employers can do to make a huge difference for candidates to take their experience from an ok first day, to an excellent first day. And the difference between ok and excellent is what will keep the proactive workforce working for you long term.
While you may always need ad hoc staffing requirements, you must plan ahead to keep the proactive workers engaged and available. This will have a huge impact on your business.
If you’d like to discuss what the JV Logistics team can do in supporting, sourcing and keeping the proactive team you want and need, get in touch on drivers@jvrecruitment.com.au
To learn more about attracting top performers, check out our eBook "How to Attract and Retain Top Talent to Your Business" from our Resources
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