Diana Meisenhelter discusses how good retention starts with good recruiting even in times of high unemployment. She notes that while jobs may be plentiful, candidates are still seeking meaningful work, opportunities for advancement, and a stable employer. She recommends adapting to generational differences, maintaining an honest employment brand, competency-based recruiter selection and training, focusing on candidate fit, providing a positive candidate experience and onboarding, offering a competitive total package, emphasizing career growth opportunities, measuring recruiting outcomes, and prioritizing retention throughout the hiring process.

1. Good Retention Starts
with Good Recruiting
Diana Meisenhelter
Riviera Advisors, Inc.

2. Diana Meisenhelter
Riviera
Advisors
Inc.
Clients

3. Lets Talk

4. What we will discuss today
• Reality today
• Why retention is still important
• Why good retention starts with good
recruiting
• Recruiting tips that can help you with
retention
• Share some stories, tools and ideas

5. Reality today
 Not a lot of good news about
hiring today
 Uncertainty
 20 year high unemployment rate
 HR is overloaded
 Significant budget cuts
 Overwhelming volume of
candidates
 HR programs STILL being cut or
put on hold
 Some desperation – “candidates
telling you anything”

6. It Should Be Easy
 Unemployment rate is still high
 Graduating seniors from the face the worst
job market since the early 1980s; perhaps
the worst since the Great Depression for
new college graduates
 What is the problem? With so many people
on the market, is there a need for recruiting
today?
Source: NACE

7. The elephant in the room…
“If so many people are out of work,
and there are lots of people available,
why talk about retention?”

8. What a Simple Recession Can
Change
2008 Today
 Apply my strengths to stimulating  A Job
work  Job challenge and learning (Opportunity
 To be needed for advancement)
 To learn and grow  Autonomy
 To work with other great/smart  Climate of respect and trust
people  Work life “fit” (not balance anymore)
 An ethical/fair workplace  Economic (Job)security
 Job location
Source: NACE
 High starting salary

9. The Recruiting Cycle

10. What’s the big deal?
It’s not just about getting them to
the door,
you’ve got to get them to knock,
invite them in,
make them feel welcome,
and get them to stay.

11. Good Recruiting = Good Retention

12. Think about…
 The best job you ever had/best boss
 The worst job you ever had/worst boss
 Your best or worst recruiting experience as a
candidate

13. What does this mean to
recruiting?
“People leave managers, not companies.”
- The Gallup Organization

14. The war for talent is heating
up again, are you ready?
• Hiring top talent is STILL a strategic advantage
• We are quickly becoming an ‘ultra high-tech’ economy
• The “War” is really about a growing skills shortage
• 62% of US jobs are high pay/high skill, requiring 97 million
people,
of which we have 45 million qualified people
• The recession changed some plans short term, let the fun
begin again!
Source: DOL

15. What’s important to candidates
today…
This well-traveled, well-educated, ethnically diverse and
technology savvy generation, expects:
work that is fun and meaningful:

16. What’s important to candidates
today…
 A job
 A workplace with opportunity to
advance quickly
 A secure employer that fills their
insurance needs and provides the
prospect of steady compensation
 An employer they can trust not to
make them confront their personal
ethics (for the sake of the job)
Source: NACE

17. Tip
Change
and
Generational
Differences

18. Adapt to change and
generational differences
 “An Era of Change”
 Are You Changing With The Times?
 Technology Savvy Generation
- Social Networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) vs. job
boards and newspaper ads
- Texting – 76% Text
- 97% Own A Computer, 94% Own A Cell Phone
 Generation Y/The Starbucks Generation
- Overall Balance
- Social Responsibility
- Self Fulfillment
- Personal Growth
- Rewards

19. Tip
Honest
Employment
Branding

20. Honest employment branding
 The “promise of an experience”
 Tell the real story
 Position yourself as an employer-of-choice
 Ethical business practices, job security, friendly co-workers
and location (NACE Survey)
 “The neighborhood barbeque”
 Refresh Employee Referral Program and streamline
administrative process
 Did you do the layoffs right? Treat people like people?
 The internet changed everything - “Google them”
 Its not about a fancy brochure and give aways anymore

21. Tip
Recruiter
Selection
Training and
Development

22. Think about the best recruiter you
know….

23. You want the best, start with
hiring talent
SKILL PERFORMANCE
A B INVESTMENT OVER TIME
Source: Talent+

24. Recruiter selection,
training and development
 Hire the right recruiters
 Not everyone makes a good recruiter
 Human Resources discipline vs. recruiting
 Recruiting is sales
 Recruiting training required
 Invest in high potentials

25. Hire the right recruiters
Create your Recruiter competencies based on
The AIRS Recruiting Competency Model
Drive for Results
Inquisitiveness
Sales and Service Orientation
Relationship Builder
Assess Core Recruiting Performance
Flexibility
Profile and Plan Skills Traits
Passion
Source and Contact
Present and Close
Executive Search and
Partnership Competencies Market Intelligence
Business Savvy
Organizational Management
Candidate Management
Network Building

26. Tip
Candidate Fit

27. Are we hiring talent today?
Percent of senior managers who
strongly agree that their company:
19%
Brings in highly talented people
8%
Retains almost all their high performers
McKinsey’s “War for Talent” research (12,860 respondents)

28. “Good retention starts from
hiring the right person to
begin with.”

29. Candidate Assessments -
predicting performance
Motivation Cultural Fit
Abilities Engagement
Personality Experience
Knowledge
& Performance Judgment
Skills

30. You make a difference, really…
You Impact:
 The business
 The culture
 Your company’s future
 One hire at a time

31. The Selection Funnel
Assessment
Phone Interview
Interview
TALENT

32. How do you know?
The “right person” has more to do
with character traits and innate
abilities than specific knowledge,
background, or skills.
Jim Collins
“Good To Great”

33. Tip
The
Candidate
Experience

35. The candidate experience
Best in class candidate experiences:
 Treat candidates like “rock stars”
 Be honest – “lifestyle is our biggest issue”
 Celebrate the offer
 Post offer “WOW”
 Follow up
 Why you didn't get the job
 Candidate surveys work

36. Candidate Surveys
Three Surveys Category of Questions
 Candidates hired  Recruiting process
 Candidate not hired  Pre-interview arrangements
 Candidates who  On-site interviews
declined the offer
 Overall process
 Offer process
 Decision to accept position
 Career decisions

37. Good Recruiting
is
All About Relationships

38. Tip
On-Boarding

39. On-boarding
 On-boarding starts from point of
contact – not first day on the job
 The candidate “WOW”
 The offer
 The post offer “silent period”
 The first day
 Think retention all the time
 A smooth application process
 Sponsors

40. Tip
The
“Total
Package”

41. “The Total Package”
 Candidates still want:
- Enjoying work
- Opportunity for advancement
- Good insurance (US)
- Competitive starting salary
 Conduct annual wage, salary and communication surveys
 Communicate what you find out
 Right Pay – Top performers know they can go anywhere
 Is this changing with the current economic challenges?

42. Tip
Opportunity

43. Opportunity
 Your employees between the age of 22-
27 will change jobs every 18 months.
 75 million Millennials entering today’s
workforce
 Internal transfer/promotion process
 Succession planning/internal pipeline
 Career pathing (even before they start)
 Career development plans
 Invest in top performers
 Executive coaching and mentoring

44. Tip
Measure
What
You
Do

45. Measure what you do
 What you don’t measure, you can’t
improve on
 Measure what is important
- To the business
- To recruiting
- Source and process effectiveness
 Look at what’s working, what’s not
working
 Are you hiring the “right” people
and are they staying?

46. Planning for Recovery
 Most employers are unprepared for what’s next (We
hope what is next is recovery).
 The recovery will bring a new set of challenges for
employers.
 We will need more skilled workers or will need now to
begin to upskill their current staffs, including HR.
 Are you communicating constantly and paying attention
to the survivors?

47. “An Era of Change”….
Our world moves fast, are you ready for what’s
next?
Technology is moving at the speed of light – who knows
what someone is creating right now that will change our
way of working next week. Keep learning, growing, asking
questions.

48. Summary
 Adapt to change and generational differences
 Maintain honest employment branding
 Support competency-based recruiter selection/training
and development
 Hold out for talent and candidate fit
 Create a “WOW” candidate experience
 Practice good on-boarding from point of contact
 Provide a desirable total job package
 Create real opportunities for advancement
 Measure what you do
 Think retention all the time, especially now

49. Q&A
Diana M. Meisenhelter
Riviera Advisors, Inc.
Dallas, Texas USA
Diana@RivieraAdvisors.com
Phone: 972-307-5637
Thank you