Stop Employee Turnover With These Smart Hiring Tips

BY Kathy Crosett
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Is one of the positions in your company getting a reputation? By reputation, I mean that nobody seems to stay in the job for long. Constant turnover means the work isn’t getting done and it’s costing the company money to continually be looking for replacement employees. Managers often get trapped in a hiring cycle that fails. Here’s why it happens and how you can improve your hiring success.

Candidate Sourcing

Jim Ludema and Amber Johnson get it right when they advise hiring managers to "find your applicants from different sources.” If your company has been using the same agency, and their candidates haven’t transformed into stellar employees, it’s time to look elsewhere. Don’t rely on one agency to be your pipeline. In fact, you should consider asking existing employees to recommend candidates, especially previous co-​workers who they consider to be superstars.

Candidate Screening

When employees leave a company, or a position in a company, after a brief tenure, it’s worth asking if your screening process needs an update. Ludema and Johnson recommend changing ‘what you request in your cover letter.’ For example, if you’re proud of your company culture that encourages everyone to volunteer at a food pantry once a month, ask candidates how they feel about that activity. The answers will tell you plenty about how they'll fit into the culture.

Your screening should also go deeper. When you use a tool like SalesFuel COACH, you can review the behavioral tendencies of candidates, especially how they will react to specific workplace conditions. At that point, you can decide if the individual will ‘fit’ into your company culture. If so, you’ll know how to coach them for successful performance. Even better, the Toxicity Indexing feature in SalesFuel COACH will help you protect yourself against the kinds of employees you never want to hire, such as “The Jungle Fighter.”

It’s important to hire for culture fit, but “that does not mean hiring for homogeneity.” Think through your hiring process before you announce your next open position. Thoughtful and deliberate steps on your part will bring the right person through your doors.


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