How to find and keep great employees.

Finding and keeping great people is difficult, made even more difficult at the moment with with low unemployment in a tight job market.

Whether it’s tied to a feeling that the younger generation just don’t have the work ethic “like they used to” or the anguish of watching a great hire, crash and burn, getting and keeping great people for your company is usually one of the top frustrations we hear about from business owners.
We’re sorry to say that it may not be economic conditions or the educational system – it may be you. The good news is, this is a huge issue in most companies, so you’re not alone – and it can be fixed!

Okay, how?

Well, it starts with understanding your business better, first and foremost – its culture, its strategy and its people.

Start by having a process to recruit, hire, and develop your employees. This will force you and your leadership team to get clear about what’s working and what isn’t.

Included in that process is your company’s culture. What are the core values – or the core principles or standards – that guide the way you do business. Be clear about this in your recruitment process – it will attract the right type of people or scare potential employees off if they don’t love your values. If they won’t love working with you, you won’t get what you want out of them.

Your people’s performance and that of the business are intertwined – it comes from being on the same page and not having to fight about what is important.

Ditto for your company’s strategy. What’s your vision? Where are you going? How do you plan to get there? And the most important question, what do you expect from your people to achieve that vision? Define roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. Be absolutely clear when recruiting people what is expected of them.
Once expectations are clear, energy is unleashed. Those who don’t have the capacity or desire for their roles will be flushed out, before they get hired.

Finally, once it comes to your existing people – understand “What Great Looks Like” – what sort of people thrive in your business in different roles, given your business’ own unique culture and strategy?

When you look at what great looks like, you need to think about the complete individual, not just their skills but their wider characteristics – their values, motivations and behaviours – those things that make them right for your culture and will be up for playing their part in delivering your business’ strategy.

It takes guts to think about your recruitment differently, but only by doing things different will you get different and better results – through finding and keeping great employees.

It’s an approach that we believe in at Anderson Scott and what makes us a different kind of recruiter.
Understand your culture, strategy and people first then devise a recruitment process around it. If you do, your best people will thrive, your business will thrive and your dreams will become a reality.