The Proof is in the Pudding…

If we want to have any hope of capturing the profit that’s so often killed in the recruiting process and build a strong recruiting pipeline, we’ll definitely need intentional involvement from leadership at all levels of our organizations in order to cast of clear vision of where great candidates can see themselves in the future, but we better be prepared to back any of our talk with action! Far too often, I’ve seen organizations tout catchy phrases or throw around the latest buzzwords in the recruiting process but never make good on it once someone accepts a position. Many times, all the promises come from the best of intentions but the urgency in the day to day takes precedence over the importance of following through on those commitments. Occasionally though, the time spent telling a candidate how much will be invested into their growth and development is more than the time that company will ever allow for that at any point moving forward - and the person making the promises up front knows it… Either way, the actions that follow will tell the real story. The proof really is in the pudding!

An article on Recruiter.com called ‘Where Do You See Me in Five Years’: Job Seekers are Turning the Tables on Professional Development shared this, emphasizing that developing our team members is a NECESSITY:

Increasingly, candidates are weighing professional development opportunities in the same way they would benefits like health insurance and 401(k)s. A Gallup study found that today’s job seekers care deeply about development opportunities when looking for jobs, and 87 percent of millennials say career growth is an important factor in the job search.

Employers need to provide these opportunities in a real, actionable way; they can’t just pay lip service to the idea. As the economy recovers post-pandemic, employers can look to professional development as a way to differentiate their companies and improve recruitment efforts.

An article from the Society for Human Resource Management called Employees Want Additional Opportunities for Career, Skills Development quoted Joe Dusing, senior director of learning and development for Paylocity, as saying it this way:

"You shouldn't be doing anything about the Great Resignation. You should be doing something about employee experience. Every potential employee wants to know two things: 'What are the skills that I need?' and 'What are the programs that you have in place to support me?' If you don't have answers, they likely won't want to work for your company.”

When we cast a vision for the potential a candidate has to growth within our organization, we certainly can attract some great people - but we’d better be prepared to provide them with the tools they’ll need to move into bigger and better roles or all that time we’ve put into bringing them onto the team will soon be repeated to bring someone else on the team. And sooner or later (usually sooner), the reputation we’ve earned for providing (or not providing) those developmental opportunities will play a key role in our overall recruiting process!

Make no mistake here; I’m absolutely not suggesting that we throw money blindly at any kind of training we see or hear about. We need to be just as intentional about that as we would any other investment we make with our business capital - and EXPECT that investment to produce a measurable return. Otherwise, that training could turn into just as big of a profitability killer as an ongoing recruiting process! We’ll look at that more specifically soon enough. For now, I’d challenge you to consider how you can implement something we’ve covered here to capture the profit so many companies lose in the recruiting process, or how you can in the immediate future!