High Turnover? You’re Not Alone.

But the good news is: there’s a better way.

Indeed recently released a study about talent attraction. In this study, they report that 71% of people who are currently in the labor force are open to new opportunities and 65% of people who are new hires begin looking at new jobs within 91 days of getting hired. 50% of people who were earning $100-$110K started looking again within 28 days.

WOW.

One of the most common problems I hear from hiring managers is turnover: they onboard someone who said and did all the right things during the interview process, but then left quickly or turned out to be a bad fit. Obviously, this is not happy news, but the silver lining is that it’s not an isolated problem specific to only one company or one industry. It’s a problem that can be fixed.

What’s broken:

• You rely solely on job boards.

Your company still uses the “post and pray” strategy of putting a position out on Indeed or CareerBuilder and then praying the right person shows up at the right time.

• You think your LI network is enough.

Pushing a post out to your network on LinkedIn is not the same thing as performing true detective work to find the best person for the job. Any looky-loo online can see the post and start hounding you.

• Your company is running too lean.

Budgets are important and no one wants to waste money. However, if your company is pinching pennies on hiring or retaining good people, you are most definitely going to pay for it more intensely later on.

• You value quantity over quality.

You push a job order out to any contingency temp agency that will take it and hope you get 100 resumes to read through. Why have one A+ resume when you could have 100 D- resumes instead?

• Your hiring process is too long or bureaucratic.

Your corporate policy is to interview each candidate a minimum of five times. Or everyone from the CEO to the office manager has to interview a staff engineer before he gets an offer letter. If it takes weeks or months to make a decision, you’re setting yourself up for failure, especially when unemployment is low.

• You’ve given up.

You think there’s no other option. There was recently an article on Forbes in which Liz Ryan says, “Long-term employment is a thing of the past.” And then it advises people to take a job but continue looking for something better in the meantime.

Oy vey. No wonder everyone is worn out.

How to fix it:

• Step away from the job boards.

Candidates reading the job boards aren’t always serious contenders. Sometimes they’re bored or simply looking for a chance to get a counter-offer to up their current pay. Hoping that your inbox gets flooded with applicants is like having hay delivered in loose pieces instead of in a compressed bale: it flies all over the place, makes a big mess, and is of no use to anyone. Let your competitors waste their time and money sifting through masses to find someone. Your time is too valuable for that.

• Change with the times.

When unemployment is high and a lot of people are searching from work, companies (sadly) get away with bad behavior. They can drag out the interview process for long periods and comparison shop as they string candidates along. However, in a good economy when unemployment is low, great candidates will be snapped up quickly. Business owners and hiring managers must be able to quickly flex as the times change.

• Hire a professional.

The same people reading your ads on Indeed are the same people reading your cattle call posts on LinkedIn. “Hey, anybody want a job today?” Someone who is currently employed and making a lot of money for his/her company isn’t interested in going through a maze with all the other mice to get a nibble of cheese. However, these people can be receptive if they have an existing relationship with a headhunter or if they are approached in a tactful, professional manner by someone who knows how to do it. It’s important to hire someone who specializes in your industry and who has a candidate base of high caliber people. This is an excellent way for you to escape the treadmill of “hiring as usual” and the burnout that comes from going through the cycle over and over.

Are you a hiring manager in food or agriculture? Ready to get off the roller coaster of job boards and mis-hires? Please email me directly at [email protected] and I will personally respond with recommendations.