This post is born from my experience here in Australia with Australian companies especially over the past few years and predominantly, as my experience would suggest within the Engineering sector. The message of this post will also I think transfer across and into other sectors, and touches on the challenges presented in not only identifying and securing talent but I hope it will also highlight some challenges that you may face too in retaining your existing staff.
Don’t get me wrong there are companies out there that I’ve worked with who have great employee programs in place and that are assertive in attracting, interacting and engaging talent from throughout the globe, unfortunately though they only represent a small percentage of the companies that are actually out there. Many companies still believe that that highly coveted professional is lurking just around the corner of their building, begging to be given the opportunity to prove themselves to them; oh and that they’ll bring all of those highly valued client relationships with them, their current employer isn’t going to be working extra hard to retain this highly coveted professional … peace of cake.
So, what’s the problem with this thought process? Well, talent is now a global economy, so many skilled engineers now seek out and are offered better opportunities abroad, attracted by the ex-pat lifestyle and in some instances lower tax brackets offered by many countries. Australia for instance can no longer market it’s beautiful beaches along with a free and easy lifestyle; there was a time though when we could. We are not alone out there and both advanced and developing countries are offering terrific salaries, exciting and iconic projects plus the enticement of working in another country, experiencing another culture. It’s a brief and quite simple view of the Australian dilemma in retaining professionals and why so many talented professionals head overseas but if you add to this, securing professionals to fill the gaps from abroad. As Australia’s Tourism industry has discovered we are no longer the first choice for many travellers and lets be honest we are remote, a large island thousands of kilometres from anywhere. Also, for professionals that have families or that are considering starting a family there are much closer, cheaper and more viable alternatives now available and that’s the thing; there are so many choices out there now. An experienced professional with good working experience and a few decent projects that can communicate well is sought after, they can almost pick a country and be assured of work, recruitment firms have also spread out into a host of growing countries, making this transition even easier then it was perhaps 5-10 years ago.
The hunt for talent is global. With the influx of Social Media to our culture so has a variety of mediums which now make it possible to post your professional experience and to be not only seen but also actively engaged with by prospective employers throughout the world. There are a multitude of sites that do this: LinkedIn, Naymz, XING to name only a few
Note: I’ve left FaceBook off. It’s and obvious omission, I personally view it more as a social rather then professional platform although it is used in “search” as a possible resource quite often.
However, it is not only these sites but every bit of marketing, or project information that is put out there on the web can now be carefully scrutinised and fed through various software packages to find who is who and often detailed contact information which will help a consultant (such as myself) take the first step in identifying and engaging with that particular person on behalf of their client. You have to consider though that this is happening in a number of agencies and search firms throughout the world, this technology and method of sourcing talent isn’t by any means “new” with advancements technology it’s certainly made it easier and you no longer have to filter through dozens of search results across a variety of different search engines but it has been around for awhile, and it’s only going to become more and more common. Such methods are easily accessible to most search firms and even your garden variety recruitment agency will have some knowledge of accessing what we call a “passive” pool of talent through Social Media, some will delve into Boolean search strings, others will mine groups and company information including company websites for contacts and professionals of interest.
If you’re an employer I would recommend just as much for you to be focussing on retaining your existing staff and talent, as being seen being proactive in engaging with and attracting the best talent that you can after all “talent attracts talent”.
Many managers are reluctant to be involved in the hiring process, preferring to delegate it to the Human Resources and Recruitment professionals within the business. Think, how would you like to be engaged as a professional? I’ve seen offer letters that have taken weeks going on months to be generated and interview feedback that’s also taken weeks to be relayed back to the professional; if relayed at all. I doubt that anyone reading this would like to be engaged in this way as a professional and just think what this also portrays in so far as your companies brand to the industry; brand image is crucial in attracting quality professionals, be decisive and be transparent. Also, if you are using recruiters or search consultants take the time out to meet with them or to chat with them on the phone. It’s tempting to keep them at a distance but these people will be communicating the most with the professional that you are perhaps looking to hire, believe it or not “you” offer an important insight into the culture of the business and may also help quell concerns; should a project be running late and is reported as having problems which in turn effects the company, or should there have been exodus of professionals from the business two years ago. More often then not professionals will talk amongst themselves regarding a business, and as with everything the negative points are the most commonly raised. This presents a golden opportunity for you step in and put those little spot fires out, that is of course if you’re “engaged” in the process, else you can stand on the sideline and let the dice role … personally Id rather be engaged and taking some control of the information provided and the image of the business that’s portrayed.
In getting out of your comfort zone, start thinking outside of the box when interacting and engaging with talent; does every interview have to be in an office, why not a coffee downstairs, a more relaxed setting, grab breakfast or lunch? If you’re interested in hiring someone, don’t wait until they start in the office; go out to lunch or dinner with the you and a few of the team members, engage with them at the personal level, don’t even wait for the offer letter and ink to dry, do it before … it might make the difference between your offer of employment and that of your competitors. Think “what would make me feel wanted, and valued as a prospective employee“ and leading into my next post … this doesn’t stop once the hiring is over.
The next post will touch on retaining your existing staff …
