Thermoforming Report

How to Compete for Today’s Talent

Low unemployment and new employee expectations continue to fuel a tight labor market that has many hiring managers feeling frustrated over rising wages and talent shortages. Despite signs that the economy may be slowing, manufacturing continues to be strong – and so is the need for talent. According to a recent report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in the U.S. alone, there are approximately five million more jobs than workers to fill them, or nearly two jobs for every employee. 

The reality of today’s economy is that people with transferable skills can largely work for anyone. Whereas competition used to be confined to a single city, market, or industry, employers are now competing across all industries and geographies. With so much demand, it’s important to approach your recruiting and retention efforts strategically.   

At Siena Group, we work very closely with our clients and candidates to present the realities of the market and develop proactive solutions to help you succeed. Read on for tips to improve your recruiting and retention results, and contact us for specialized insights and solutions tailored to your business.  

Evolve Your Mindset

From the pandemic to the Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting, and Quick Quitting, it’s no surprise that employers face new challenges every day!

When talent is scarce, there are a number of levers that you can pull to make your workplace more attractive.

The first step is a willingness to change.   

Adopting a fresh perspective and examining your workplace and hiring experience from the candidate’s perspective can help you to succeed and retain employees long term. 

Curious about putting a positive spin on organization-wide change? Read through the Harvard Business Review article entitled “Getting Employee Buy-In for Organizational Change”, located to the right under Trending Topics.

Be proactive in your hiring and constantly scan the horizon for new trends and factors to consider.

While it may be tempting to revert to old thinking or old rules, you can expand your talent pool significantly by simply innovating your approach. 

Here’s a suggestion: walk in their shoes. Be a candidate and work through your own process to see how streamlined – or painful – it really is! It will definitely affect how you approach hiring and retention!!

Understand & Deliver What Employees Want

Employees today seek competitive compensation, enhanced well-being, the opportunity to do meaningful work, and increased stability – but that is what they have always wanted!

The difference today is that they have options. 

The items below should serve as fundamentals in your recruiting and retention strategies.  

• Compensation. There’s no doubt that wages are rising and pay raises for job hoppers are enticing to employees who are seeking rapid advancement. With this in mind, you’ll want to structure your compensation to reflect current market and economic conditions, while avoiding “outlier” wages and benefits that will cause you to cut ties with employees should your business experience a downswing.  If your current employees are below market, acknowledge that fact and be proactive in bringing their compensation and benefits up. If this simply isn’t feasible right now, look to other incentives such as more time off, hybrid working arrangements, or opportunities to build new skills and rewarding work experiences. [Need more ideas? Have a look at the Trending Topics article to the right from Forbes entitled “Five Ways Manufacturers Can Provide Flexibility”.]
• A Strong Hiring Brand. Candidates want to see that you prioritize their well-being and that they will enjoy working at your company. Be sure to craft a compelling hiring brand to set yourself apart from your competition. More than window dressing, your hiring brand should be an honest reflection of what you stand for as a company, your value proposition, your culture, and your team.  
• A Great Place to Work. For current employees and new recruits, consider what people want, and why people quit. “Quiet quitting” often stems from feeling undervalued or a desire to mitigate work stress. “Quick quitting,” on the other hand, is a way to earn more money, build new skills and experiences quickly, and build extensive networks through job hopping. How can your organization deliver on these goals? Consider every aspect of your recruiting and employee experience to create an environment that’s truly a great place to work.  

Improve Your Results with Networking

Networking really isn’t anything new. But seeing the data & statistics surrounding it definitely reminds you of its significant impact on helping you find your next job, growing your business, and helping your organization connect with the right customers and suppliers.

Over fifteen years ago, during a coaching and networking session after being “reorg’d out”, it was strongly recommended to “network, then network again, then network some more!” and “70-80% of every job is filled via networking.”  As you see in the graphic below (from the aforementioned article), those numbers hold true today as well, with 73% of survey participants citing being hired due to networking and a recent (2021) Forbes survey determining that 85% of jobs are filled in this same manner. 

What is remarkable is that even though this is a well-known fact, only 25% of professionals actually network, and 41% would like to do more but are too busy. No surprise – we’ve all been there, done that. And, though the article didn’t highlight a number, I would take a guess that companies’ effort to tap into their employee networks as a recruiting strategy is in the single digits! 

One more gem that needs mentioning is the power of ‘acquaintances’ and ‘referral hires’. Widening your networking to acquaintances creates an exponential boost in your visibility, generating more referrals, which results in a shorter hiring process, greater job satisfaction, and a longer employment length!

Wrapping It Up

In this market, we all must adapt and change to land and retain the best talent.  Everything from the compensation package, to relocation strategies & approach, to brand-building, and culture development – it all matters and will make a difference in your hiring successes.  Lastly, remember to network: create a strategy to leverage your current top people – having them help bring other great people into your organization. 

Invest the time in the tried and true, but be willing to take a hard look at your processes and make the necessary adjustments. 

Doing nothing is going backward in a hurry in this war on talent!