Unless you haven’t logged onto LinkedIn at all during the last three years, you’re probably aware that the world is in the midst of a hiring kerfuffle. Recruiting and retaining top talent has never been so challenging — or important.
Already high resignation rates skyrocketed in the wake of the global pandemic and forced remote work–challenged companies to adopt flex work environments. In short, employees’ notions of work-life balance have been forever altered.
In this blog we’ll break down the current climate for marketing recruiting and retention and provide some recommendations for adapting your hiring strategy.
The Current Climate for Marketing Recruiting & Retention
If we had to sum up the recruiting and retention climate in one word, it would be challenging.
For employees, finding the right fit post-pandemic can be confusing and overwhelming. Indeed, 41% of employees are considering resigning their current role, and 36% of those who resign do so without having their next job lined up.
In addition, remote and hybrid work isn’t going anywhere, and companies have had to find the right mix for their organization when it comes to satisfying employees’ needs and their business interests.
Finally, the question of compensation is key. Despite the labor shortage, hourly wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, with consumer prices increasing 7.5% year over year but hourly wages only increasing 4.7%.
This presents the question: How can employers find the right employees in the first place and then encourage them to stay? The answer is to find the right mix of meeting employees in the middle.
A 2021 report by the Achievers Workforce Institute found that the top reasons employees stay in their job are:
- Work-life balance (23%)
- Recognition (21%)
- Compensation (19%)
- Satisfactory manager relationship (19%)
TLDR: workers everywhere are reassessing what’s important to them. Likewise, corporations have had to do the same. In order to meet employees in the middle, employers need to consider the new balance of priorities for candidates to be competitive.
What to Know About Talent Recruiting
A whopping 76% of hiring managers say recruiting the right job candidates is their top challenge. There’s no question that there are many talented folks looking for jobs right now, but how do you attract the right ones to your organization?
The answer is both more simple and more complex than you might think. Like many things in marketing, it comes down to successful planning and strategy. Just like an annual plan points the marketing department in the right direction, a talent strategy that outlines processes and priorities is key for letting the right people sort through it.
Having a talent strategy also allows you to build in the human processes behind hiring. After all, employees want to:
- Feel valued
- Have a sense of belonging with caring colleagues they trust
- See their growth potential
- Have flexibility with work/life balance
If you’re serious about attracting the right marketers, your talent strategy should include (but not be limited to) the following:
- Avoid cookie cutter approaches and instead decide on your branded, specific approach.
- Be strategic from day one of the recruiting process through onboarding and beyond.
- Have interview processes that are successful in affirming candidates have the right experience, setting clear expectations, and uncovering any hidden information (both to the candidate about the company and about the candidate to your company).
- Establish a culture that helps employees feel heard (their manager has time for them), provides room to grow, and is clear about expectations and culture.
Ultimately, your employees are your greatest resource when it comes to recruiting. If your people are happy, thriving, and have room for growth, then you’ll be able to put your money where your mouth is (metaphorically) when attracting new talent.
How to Retain Top Talent
When remote workers can take a recruiter call from their home office at the drop of a hat, what will make your top employees decide to stay — despite outreach from other companies who might entice them elsewhere?
Again, the answer is more about intentionally creating a meaningful work environment than implementing tips and tricks (like just increasing compensation). Rather, it’s a mix of many things. For example, a well-designed onboarding process alone can increase new-hire retention by 50%.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to retention:
- Make work fulfilling by ensuring it’s challenging enough, clear, and works for a greater purpose (even if that’s just executing a successful marketing campaign).
- Provide training and development resources so employees can continue to grow.
- Be transparent about compensation and discuss it often.
Ultimately, people want to be in an environment where they can learn, make an impact or contribution, and also earn their fair share of wages. The right retention strategy holds all of those things in a balance.
At Inverta, we have some of the best talent in the business so we can better serve our clients. Learn more about what we do here.
