Recruiting engineers, scientists, research and development (R&D), information technology (IT) and other technical talent has become increasingly more difficult over the past 18 months. We find this to be the case because most technology candidates are both in high demand as well as short supply. Additionally, retaining key R&D, IT, scientific and engineering talent has become a herculean task!
Recruitment Proof From Both Labor Department and Recruiters
Last month’s U.S. Labor Department job figures displayed the 106th straight month of jobs creation with another 164,000 new jobs created. This was yet another new job record!
Additionally, we have surveyed many recruitment professionals who complain about a lack of candidates to fill their staffing needs. This has caused client job openings to remain open for longer periods of time, which results in lower overall productivity.
Recruiting Key Talent Requires Creative Staffing
You need to be very creative in order to attract significant numbers of engineers, scientists and other technical talent to your organization in today’s work environment. One way is to undertake a greater effort and formulate more effective recruitment programs as well as better ways to retain your brightest talent.
We devised the 12 Commandments of Recruiting to enable you to increase your recruitment prowess. An example is the 12th recruiting commandment: Be Realistic!
Unfortunately, many companies demand unrealistic employment requirements. As a result, positions go unfilled for longer periods of time!
I instead recommend having your staffing managers focus only on the two to three most important job criteria. This will help fill your jobs more quickly during these tough recruiting times. Remember to be realistic in your staffing process.
Recruitment Not Enough | Better Talent Retention Required
Another way to be more creative is in doing your research. These means determining both: a) what your employees find desirable in their work environment as well as b) what your competitors are offering. I have three retention suggestions.
One key retention suggestion is regular satisfaction surveys. Proactively try to uncover both: a) what your employees want and b) what is lacking in your work environment. Then implement the top strategies before your competitors steal your key talent!
Another suggestion is to check out your competitors’ job listings, mission statements and online reviews. Try to interview former employees to determine their likes and dislikes in their work history.
Finally, a third suggestion is to review Glassdoor reviews. Review both your own company and your competitors. Try to uncover flaws and address them. This will provide you a leg up on your competition in attracting and retaining your key talent. Remember we are in a War for Talent for key workers.
Our Recruiting And Staffing Consulting Team Can Help
Strategic Search Corporation can help you recruit key talent for your staffing needs. Our vast experience helps you uncover the best engineer, scientist, R&D, technical, IT and manufacturing candidates for your recruiting needs. We also ensure the candidates we present will provide you more useful information during your job interviews due to our trademarked interview preparation process.
Additionally, we can help you on a consulting basis to devise better ways to retain key talent. This comes from our over 30 years of recruitment experience combined with being recognized as a regular contributor to several media outlets including WGN and CBS Radio.
Call me today at 312-944-4000 to discuss how we can assist with your engineering recruiting and staffing needs. Or click here for my full contact information.
9 Responses
Great tips for retaining top talent. Surveys demonstrate that your organisation values the employees input, and that they have something useful to say.
The most important aspect however, is showing that you are really listening – by doing something with their points of view.
Wayne,
I greatly appreciate your comments on my recent blog on recruiting and retaining key talent for your open jobs.
Thanks again,
-Scott
What can people do to hire the best tech people?
– Treat candidates like customers, not cattle. I know that the employer is in the driver’s seat. That is no excuse to treat people without dignity
– Communicate with candidates
– Make the hiring process a priority and do it expeditiously. If you take 6 or even 4 months to complete your hiring process, good candidates will find something else.
– Let them know if they are not chosen
– Consider hiring people from outside your industry who have the right character. Technical people are problem solvers. They can learn your industry. All businesses have inputs, processes that operate on those inputs and produce outputs.
– If a candidate has 8 or 9 of the 10 things you believe you have to have, but has the right character and is a fit for your organization, don’t reject them because they are not 10 of 10. Organizations will say, “we get plenty of candidates who are 10 of 10.” How many have the right character and are a great fit for your organization?
– Be willing to hire character and train skills
– Be willing to look at transferable skills
How to Keep Your Best Tech People
– Don’t overwork them. We all know that for IT the demand is 30 and the supply is 10. Implement governance so your most in-demand resources are working on the things that are most important to the company vision and your customers. Ensure this governance process quantifiably measures projects contribution to growing revenue, adding profit, and ensuring your ability to deliver your goods or services to your customers. Revenue-generating business unit owners should agree on these priorities.. Have business owners make the decision on priorities within the capacity you have or be willing to add capacity.
– Beware the term “Stretch.” This often equates to working your best people too much. Work within the capacity you can afford.
– Take care of your tech people. If they have to work a weekend to do an upgrade, patching, or get a product complete, make sure they get equal time off to compensate. The number one problem in healthcare is Physician Burnout.
– Reward your tech people publicly. Sales people all have a President’s Club, where the top sales people spend a week on a 5-Star vacation. When was the last time a company sent an engineer, a sys admin, or a programmer to 5-Star resort for a week on the company dime?
– Preserve training budget. Many tech people would rather receive training than money. Make sure your tech people can go to the training they want…but then put cuffs on them to make sure they stay…golden ones are best.
– Maintain your systems. Don’t hold on to systems held together with chewing gum and bailing wire just because they are still running. Keep things current. Invest in the right number of people and tools to do this. It makes your tech people’s life so much better. Prioritize these actions in the governance process as a must do to ensure you delivery the best services to your customers.
Jonathan,
It was great speaking with you today. I really appreciate all your insights on my recent job recruiting and retention blog post. I hope my top 12 jobs hunting tips can help. Especially remember to network.
Thanks again,
-Scott
Great insight and tips from someone who is very experienced in the industry. Appreciate you sharing your wisdom.
Great article from an industry expert. Appreciate you sharing tips and your wisdom.
Jason,
I greatly appreciate your comments on my recent blog on jobs recruiting and retention. Both went through. I just need to approve all job posts first.
Thanks again,
-Scott
Great Article! I particularly like: Realistic Job Descriptions: Don’t write a job description so long that it will take 3 people to do the work! Or, if you do, note that actual activities done will vary over time based on priority. This may be implied … but it it makes it clear that a person will not be asked to do so many thiings it will be difficult to do any of them well.
Mike,
I really appreciate your insightful comments on my job recruiting blog.
Thanks again,
-Scott
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