Wouldn’t it be great to get off the “turnover treadmill?” If you’re serious about realizing that dream, you need to look at the totality of employee experience in your organization. You cant wait till the a new hire has been with you six months to start worrying about how long they will stay. Better to plan for longer retention before the hiring process is complete.
If you want to improve your ability to retain staff, your hiring process is the place to start. A serious candidate should leave their first interview with a clear understanding of the mission of your organization and the requirements of the job for which he/she is being considered. The applicant should know what the organization has to offer and should have a clear answer to the question…”Why would you want to work here?” All of this means that whomever is doing the interviewing needs to be prepared for this initial discussion, which should help both applicant and hiring officer get a sense of whether or not there is a “match” between the applicant and the needs, culture and characteristics of the organization. Increasingly, the hiring process includes an objective assessment of the candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, temperament and other critical factors. Sometimes organizations make productive use of multiple interviews to complete the initial assessment of the applicant, including interviews by potential colleagues. This enables the applicant to directly hear about some of the pros and cons of the work environment. All of this takes a lot of time and a willingness to pay attention to the findings and conclusions of the process. In other words, the hiring officer needs to be prepared to say “no” if the match is not strong enough, regardless of how badly the position needs to be filled.
The rush to hire is an important obstacle to good hire decisions. This panic to fill a position is especially typical of entry level vacancies in human service organizations or other situations where vacancies create real operational problems. It’s always a mistake to hire a “body” just to have the vacancy filled. You can count on starting all over again before the person finishes the first year. That truly is the “turnover treadmill”. It’s expensive financially and it’s disastrous for whatever process is being managed. So you’ll be better off by paying overtime to fill the vacancy temporarily rather than hiring someone whose qualifications are marginal or non-existent.
Author: Larry Wenger
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile device news