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F R O M T H E F O U N D E R
You can win the talent war
Here are 12 things you can actually change in your business that will help you win the talent war.
E veryone is talking about the talent war in our industry these days, and it seems to me too many companies act as if there is little to nothing they can do to win. The conclusion so many have come to is that our colleges and universities aren’t turning out enough graduates who have the desire and capabilities to enter and succeed in our industry, and therefore they will be unable to hire the people they need to grow. While that may in fact be the case, it doesn’t mean any one firm necessarily has to struggle with finding truly outstanding people.
Mark Zweig
If you want to succeed in recruiting and retaining the best possible talent, you cannot do things like you have always done them. Here is what I would be doing to win this war: 1) Be super-aggressive with your recruiting efforts. Post every job online. Go out to your employees first so they can be considered. Use every social media channel. Spend money consistently on recruitment advertising. Hire an in-house recruiter. Get an outside recruiter on contract. Talk about recruiting with your people. Track and report your numbers and results. 2) Make good employment offers. I just had a discussion with someone who is trying to fill a key job with an architecture firm. The firm supposedly REALLY wanted to hire a specific individual but
would only pay a base salary about $50,000 less than the person was already making. Why make an offer then? Face the reality that if you want to hire someone who has skills and backgrounds you don’t currently have, you could very well have to pay more than you are paying your existing people. Get over it. 3) Ramp up your co-op and intern programs. Nothing is better than witnessing how people perform in your company over time, which is why you should consistently staff with as many co-ops and interns as you can afford. It also helps to teach at your local university where you can identify the best talent. On top of that, people who co-oped or interned with companies and who go to work there
See MARK ZWEIG, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER MAY 31, 2021, ISSUE 1394
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