Risk & Business Magazine General Insurance Services Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 10

PEOPLE PUZZLE
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BY: KATHLEEN QUINN VOTAW,
CEO OF TALENTRUST
Solve Your People Puzzle
Treat Recruitment Like An Ongoing, Strategic Sales Process
U
.S. unemployment is below
5 percent. And three in
four employed workers are
actively seeking or open
to new job opportunities.
This “churn” in the labor market is a great
indicator of sustained economic recovery
and overall consumer confidence, however
it’s not a great indicator for executives
who are growing their companies!
TALENT SHORTAGES AND EMPLOYEE
TURNOVER ARE SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
As a business leader, you must focus on
both recruiting the most talented people
for your open positions and on retaining
the top players who are already on your
team. If you don’t, your company’s growth
will be limited. If you continue with the
status quo and don’t innovate your talent
strategy—likely treating your people as
an afterthought and taking a tactical
approach—you’ll struggle to get ahead
and meet your revenue goals.
IT’S AS SIMPLE AS ABC
If you can forecast your revenues for the
next few years and plan for them, you
can also forecast your people needs for
10
the same time period and plan for them.
Think of recruitment as an ongoing,
strategic sales process. Sales pipelines and
candidate pipelines are very similar. It’s as
simple as ABC - “always be cultivating” for
the right people. You’re always cultivating
for new customers, right? (See Figure 1
& 2)
You must spend time and energy on
employee attraction, just as you do on
customer attraction. Establishing and
maintaining a strategic and ongoing
recruitment process ensures you’ll
find and keep talented individuals to
fit your unique culture and help drive
your company’s growth. You’ll address
immediate hiring needs and have a
pipeline of candidates available when you
need them. This process will force you
to be proactive, vs. reactive. It will allow
you to uncover the most talented people,
likely passive candidates who are too
busy helping another company succeed to
actively seek new opportunities.
ASSESS, ENHANCE AND LEVERAGE
YOUR EMPLOYMENT BRAND
It’s an employee’s market, and employees
want much more than a job. They want
an experience, in order to work for
you and stay engaged. Evaluate your
company culture and understand how
employees view you as an employer. Use
strength in these areas to differentiate
from other employers and offer current
and prospective employees the most
compelling value proposition.
THE BENEFITS OF AN ONGOING
RECRUITMENT PROCESS
1. Attract more qualified candidates that
fit your culture
2. Engage with passive candidates who are
succeeding elsewhere and likely unaware
of your company
3. Experience candidate choice, to address
both short-term and long-term needs
4. Compare multiple candidates for each
open position, instead of evaluating one
candidate in isolation
5. Look beyond your immediate needs and
consider opportunistic hiring of game
changers and A-players
6. Address turnover with a “bench” of
available candidates