Client Growth Consultants

“RETAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES BEFORE YOU HIRE THEM”

I’ll bet most of you are thinking to yourselves, “…What did he just say?”  It is important to recognize that the most critical step in retaining employees comes before the hire itself!

Good leaders commonly state that they surround themselves with the best people.  In turn, high-performing business cultures are fueled by employees who deliver productivity, innovation and profitability.  But first, an organization needs to view and understand its job candidates as individuals, rather than as simple resumes.

A recent survey claims that ONLY 20% of companies are taking proactive measures to ensure that their best people stay put.  The alternative is high turnover which costs an estimated 1.5 times the salary of each employee who has to be replaced.  As an example, if a manager was making $70,000 plus an additional $25,000 in benefits (which is industry standard) it would cost approximately $142,500 to replace!  This is staggering!

Resumes represent a static list of skills and job duties, but cannot speak to how well the person performs unsupervised or on a tight deadline.  Reference checks can also be tricky for various reasons.

To begin with I highly recommend that you stay away from questions that encourage “smooth-talking” (i.e. “where do you see yourself in 5 years) instead of a candid self-critical evaluation questioning.  Ask questions regarding the prospect’s essential nature, and the preferences and attitudes that make him/her an individual.  These types of questions predict job performance and satisfaction.  The more job performance-relevant information employers have, the greater the likelihood of building, and retaining, and engaged, productive worker.

Employers need to be clear about their needs and expectations for any given position up front – before the hiring process begins.  Put a variety of measurements together to create a good hire.  We offer to our clients a professional online assessment to maximize person-job fit so that the individual hired is CAPABLE of doing AND is WILLING to do the best job possible.  And I do recommend utilizing a professional assessment ONLY as an additional tool in the hiring process.

I could easily spend hours writing pages on the subject of retention.  It continues to be the number one topic of questions from you the readers of our weekly newsletter.  Hopefully this small tidbit of information will be of assistance to you.  If not, call or write and I will respond immediately!

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC
President
Client Growth Consultants