Landscape Management, October 2016

business insider Dont hire the best applicants hire the best employees B efore I make a presentation retaining employees This year the three biggest challenges reported across all industries are 1 Not enough qualified applicants 2 The ability to identify the applicants becoming stars and 3 Keeping stars motivated and engaged When asked about the best sources of job applicants respondents gave the following answers They could select more than one option Its interesting to note referrals are by far the best source of job applicants across all industries and have been for the past 20 years If your challenge is a lack of qualified applicants it can be remedied by creating an employee referral reward program If you already have a program you need its probably because you defer the employees reward until the new hire has been on the job 90 days Youll get far more bang for your 104 I survey the attendees to find out their challenges when it comes to recruiting interviewing selecting and with the highest potential of and its not yielding the results buck if on the new hires first day you gather everyone for introductions and say This is our new co worker Jake and I know hes going to be a real asset to our team because he was referred by Michelle Michelle thank you Heres your new employee referral reward If you balk at this approach consider the fact that you dont pay a job board recruiter or newspaper only after your new hire has a certain tenure you pay them up front in spite of the fact that new hires from these sources are not as likely to work out well as those referred by your staff Its also of interest that in most industries re recruiting former employees is a highly effective strategy but only 8 percent of the respondents reported using it If you dont make this a practice at least try it When it comes to job board postings here are a few tips to ensure the best results 1 Make sure the headline grabs the readers attention 2 Sell the sizzle first why yours is a great place to work 3 Specify your requirement in terms of CAPS capacities physical and intellectual attitudes personality traits and skills but make it a rule to hire for attitude and train for skills whenever possible 4 If high attention to detail is required put something in the post that tells you if the applicant possesses this trait i e Respond with A9987 and your full given name in the subject line When we asked the open ended question Whats the No 1 reason a star employee would want to work LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET OctOber 2016 by Mel KleiMan for you and or your organization the reason cited most frequently was some version of our culture Whats important here is to ensure you clearly define and communicate your culture For instance it might be any of the following nurturing often expressed as we care fun work life balance growth opportunities community involvement or laid back Once youve defined your culture use the description in your recruitment ads to attract the kinds of people who would thrive in it Looking for growth opportunities AND work life balance When it comes to whats being done to keep good and great employees from leaving the most frequently cited preventive measures were open communications 72 percent flexible hours time off 59 percent and performance bonuses 56 percent Despite the fact employees most often cite a lack of recognition as a major job frustration only 28 percent of the respondents use recognition as a component of their employee retention effort When it comes to employee recruitment and selection the best way to find star employees is to be a great place for people to work and then to let it be known And the best way to keep your stars on board is a culture that supports their needs healthy doses of recognition and appreciation and the regular use of employee retention stay interviews to foster a strong positive relationship between employees and their managers BEST SOURCES OF JOB APPLICANTS 1 Referrals from employees vendors customers and or social networks 83 2 Internet job boards 59 3 Our company website 26 4 Our competition 21 5 Schools 21 6 We re recruit former star employees who left 8 7 Newspapers 6 8 Walk ins 2 9 Signage 1 10 Job fairs 1 The author is the founder of Humetrics He helps companies build high quality frontline hourly workforces Reach him at mkleiman@ humetrics com business basics PeoPle