Recruitment of Talented Employees

Recruiting and Attracting Talent:
Using HR to Improve Company Performance
A commonly cited cliché is that an organization is as only good as its people; in other words, that talent and organizational performance go hand-in-hand. This is even truer today than it has been in past eras, as companies must strive to differentiate themselves from other organizations with a similar price point. Service is key, which demands recruiting and attracting top talent. It also means retaining such talent with the right balance of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. According to the McKinsey consulting firm’s senior partners Scott Keller and Mary Meaney, the evidence suggests that the very best people do the majority of the work at most organizations, thus hiring and keeping the right people can result in productivity gains as well as cost savings due to retention. Keller & Meaney (2017) estimate that high performers are 400% more productive than average ones.
In other words, the majority of the work at many organizations is often done only by a small handful of people. Ideally, of course, the option of choice would be to fill the organization with top performers in every position. It is also noteworthy that for some professions, at least according to Keller & Meaney (2017), finding a high-level performer is even more critical, such as in the fields of healthcare, technology, and creative occupations—in these spheres, workers are estimated as being as much as 800% productive. Knowledge-based workers drive the innovation and advancement of the organization forward by offering new ideas that are springboards for new products that can be potentially revolutionary and give a first-mover advantage to the organization.
Hiring initiatives need to be specific, targeted, and offer a genuine value proposition—not dissimilar to the effective building blocks of attracting customers to a new product. New hires are interested in salaries which support their lifestyle, are emotionally fulfilling for their needs, and have a unique compensation package with what other organizations are offering (Keller & Meaney, 2017). Awareness of how the company’s compensation and salary compare with other companies on the market are thus essential.
In fact, marketing a company’s need for new hires much like the company would launch a product is not necessarily a bad idea, particularly in regards to young employees who are regular consumers of social media. According to one HR expert, “Social media profiles have become standard tools for researching and evaluating talent. Instead of looking only at candidates’ résumés, thoroughly vet them by looking at their LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media profiles” (Fallon, 2016, par. 3-4). But the organization must be self-aware of its own social media profile. Particularly if it wishes to attract young people, it must project an innovative forward-thinking image on the major platforms, not simply sharing promotional pieces, but also sharing thoughtful content that suggests that the vision and values of the company align with those of the candidates the company is wishing to attract.
It is also important to use the correct platforms for the right industries and age demographics. Twitter is a more verbally-driven platform and may be a good place to attract more literary-oriented candidates in fields such as journalism and PR. Graphic designers and artists might be more apt to gravitate to visually-driven platforms like Instagram. LinkedIn might be preferable for more conventional occupations, but even then, advertising on professional websites specific to the profession or industry might be preferable to more general sites like LinkedIn, although these sites do have the advantage of attracting a larger range of candidates than more narrowly focused sites. On all sites, using current employees to market the company, such as via posting websites talking about their experience on the company’s website or social media platforms, creates a visual, tangible image for prospective employees of what the company is like to work at and a visual image of the workplace.
Some HR advocates using computers to filter resumes. The McKinsey leaders point to a National Bureau of Economic Research study which “pitted humans against computers for more than 300,000 hires in high-turnover jobs at 15 companies. Human experience, instinct, and judgment were soundly defeated: people picked by computers stayed far longer and performed just as well or better” (Keller & Meaney, 2017, par.26). But it should be noted this was for lower-skilled positions at the entry level, and such a tactic might not be equally useful for higher skilled positions. A rigorous audit of the needs of positions are needed to ensure there is an accurate match between talent and the demands of the company; there is evidence that companies by and large, regardless of the techniques they are currently using do not feel as if they are doing things correctly; according to a McKinsey survey 82% of organizations felt that they failed to regularly recruit talented organizations and only 7% believed that they were successful in keeping the most talented workers (Keller & Meaney, 2017).
Although companies need to be rigorous in screening employees, it is important to create a technologically focused, relatively easy method for recruits to interact with the organization, to submit their resume, and to present the company with as full a portrait of themselves, using methods other than their resumes. For example, having a company app through which candidates can conduct video interviews considerably expands the breadth of the company’s outreach, in terms of the applicant pool from which the company can solicit. Using apps also allows companies to interact with the organization, tracking their application through the hiring process in a relatively seamless fashion. It can comfort applicants to know that the company is still interested in them, even if they have not heard from them.
Once retained, the use of technology can enable employees to track their benefits and any employee. Having a sense of hands-on control of their journey throughout the organization as an employee is critical for retaining top talent, the other critical piece of the puzzle beyond pure retention. According to Williams & Scott (2012) of the Harvard Business Review, a mix of responsibility and relaxation are needed to make employees truly feel a stake in the future of the organization, and link their future to that of the future of the organization. Employees are increasingly transient but good employees will be more interested in remaining at organizations at which they feel intellectually stimulated. “If managers make it a priority to show outward respect for employees on a regular basis, it will lead to a strong and enduring workplace culture as well as positive experiences and memories that they will never forget” (Williams & Scott, 2014, par. 5).
Retention and improving the profile of the company for employees is a continual work in progress. Again taking inspiration from how companies attract customers, creating a communication feedback loop from employees about the responsibilities they desire and how the company can improve performance in key areas can be useful (Bajic, 2013). A company cannot know how to improve itself in terms of attracting talent if it does not engage with employees, and create an atmosphere where employees can be candid about their feelings and needs. Keller & Meaney (2017), in a McKinsey study found that contrary to the perception that allowing employees to criticize the company creates a negative feedback loop, when employees were asked questions about their personal priorities, which were then used to define company goals and leadership objectives, companies showed a notable spike in retention and performance. Just as employees must be willing to accept criticism, so must organizations.

References
Bajic, E. (2013). The 6 steps for retaining good employees. Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/elenabajic/2013/07/15/the-6-steps-for-retaining-good- employees/#63a92aa5721f
Fallon, N. (2016). 6 steps for learning how to recruit the best talent. Business News Daily. Retrieved from: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6252-tips-for-recruiters.html
Keller, S. & Meaney, (2017). Attracting and retaining the right talent. McKinsey. Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/attracting- and-retaining-the-right-talent
Williams, D. & Scott, M. (2012). Five ways to retain employees forever. Harvard Business Review Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2012/11/five-ways-to-retain-employees