Blog
It’s true: people are rethinking their priorities when it comes to work
Much has been said about the potential causes of the talent shortages employers are facing in 2021. But what I haven’t seen many people saying is what seems obvious to us and many of our clients at RainmakerThinking: priorities are changing. In the wake of a global pandemic, everyone, including the most dedicated and hard-working…
Finding fit when hiring or promoting from within
If you want to improve your hiring, retention, and talent development efforts, you’ve got to think about fit. The number one cause of success or failure in a new hire or promotion is NOT skills, not work ethic, and not attitude; it is ‘fit.’ Peter Drucker famously said, “culture eats strategy for lunch.” Fit is…
3 tools to help identify hidden talent in your organization
Employers everywhere are scrambling to adjust to the talent shortages they are facing in 2021. Some are realizing the solution to filling open positions is to tap the incredible amount of hidden talent already working for them. When we identify hidden talent in organizations—whether that means at the lower-level, among mid-level managers, or at the…
How to identify the right people for talent development
When we go in to help organizations make the most of their available talent, one of the first things we do is identify the right people for development opportunities. These are people at the second, third, and fourth levels down in an organization—underutilized talent in lower-level positions with a whole lot more to offer. Time…
How to Retain Top Talent: The Prestige Factor
In today’s talent wars, where employees have more negotiating power and are releasing pent up departure demand in droves, how do you gain control of turnover? The problem with entering a bidding war for talent is, in the long-term, it simply isn’t sustainable. Money and other such incentives are simply too efficient—there will always be…
Every manager is a Chief Retention Officer
When people leave their jobs voluntarily it is almost always—at least in part—directly attributable to their relationship (or lack thereof) with their immediate leader, manager, or supervisor: Their manager fails to regularly keep track of what’s going on, but still makes important or sweeping decisions which affect everyone on the team. Their manager fails…
How to structure new employee on-boarding for day one, week one, and the first three months
New hires almost always walk in the door with a spark of excitement. The question is: do you pour water on that spark, or gasoline? If you want to ignite the spark, focus on them from the moment they walk in the door. Day one is the most important day. Then week one. Then months…
Stay in close dialogue between hiring and day one
If there is lag between hiring and day one for a new hire, it is important to keep that person engaged in the meantime and set them up for a solid start. Maintain a high level of communication during the intervening time, not just from Human Resources or some other anonymous corporate office, but from…
When hiring, try to scare the best candidates away
When hiring in a highly competitive environment, it is critical to try to scare the best candidates away. Yes, you read that right. Let me explain why. The biggest mistake hiring managers make, particularly when hiring in the midst of a talent shortage, is continuing the ‘attraction campaign’ until the candidate has accepted the job,…
How to build and diversify your staffing supply chain
If step one to gaining a strategic hiring advantage in 2021 is to define your employer value proposition, step two is to build and diversify your staffing supply chain. Depending on your optimal staffing mix, you may build your staffing supply chain using a mix of internal professionals, expert external partners, and technology. Questions…