How to Better Hire and Retain Top Talent

How to Better Hire and Retain Top Talent
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Top Companies Must Excel at How to Hire and Retain Top Talent
Hiring and retaining top talent, especially in the technology sector, have been challenging. The combination of the COVID pandemic, the Great Resignation, hiring freezes, layoffs, and reduced valuations have challenged talent management strategies. According to recent PwC research:

  • more than 50% of all US companies are planning to lay off employees in the next twelve months
  • 52% of companies have already enacted hiring freezes
  • 4 out of 10 companies have rescinded job offers or signing bonuses for new hires 

How to Hire and Retain Top Talent During Uncertainty
To hire and retain top talent during uncertainty, leading companies must thoughtfully assess their current staffing levels while hiring and promoting strategically — especially for high stakes roles. There is good and bad news for those companies looking to hire, develop, and retain top talent.

The Good and Bad News
The good news for companies looking to grow or upgrade their workforce is that previously unavailable and competent talent may now be within reach. The bad news is that the more companies brace for an economic downturn, the more leaders must make do with the talent they have while asking already stressed employees to do more with less.  

4 Proven Ways to Hire and Retain Top Talent During Uncertainty

  1. Invest in Getting Better at Consistently Hiring Top Talent
    Hiring new talent that does not fit and perform is a culture, cost, and productivity killer. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and cloud technology, leadership simulation assessments for high stakes roles can drastically eliminate bias, reduce guesswork, align competencies across teams, create targeted individual development and coaching plans, and minimize costs associated with hiring the best people based on objective data.

    Done right, companies can better identify top talent using objective assessments while setting the stage to continuously monitor data-based progress and potential to keep employees engaged, motivated, and on track.
  1. Do More Than Standalone Personality Assessments
    While personality tests provide a scalable, low-cost solution for organizations with high-volume recruitment needs, there are pitfalls to be aware of if used as a standalone assessment during the employee selection or succession processes.

    When it comes to hiring, succession planning, and employee development, personality results do not always tell the whole story. Research-backed simulation assessment centers combined with personality assessments consistently provide a more accurate method for measuring an applicant’s true capabilities while better predicting future performance.
  1. Be More Strategic about Promoting and Developing Current Employees
    Now, more than ever, companies need leaders and teams who are ready and willing to deliver high performance results in a way that aligns with the company strategy and culture. Therefore, predicting and nurturing key leadership potential is critical.

    If you are like most of our clients, new hires must have a high speed to productivity, and current individual contributors have probably been promoted into people management roles sooner than anticipated without the required EQ to lead effectively. Accurately predicting and developing leadership potential with research-backed leadership assessments and corresponding development plans can save money and time while creating a measurable advantage through people.
  2. Ensure Compliance with DEI Initiatives During Layoffs, Promotions, and Hiring
    Unconscious biases have real-world impacts. For example, our current research study found that, on average, managers are three times more likely to select men as having potential for leadership than women. And when it comes to race, managers are two times more likely to choose white men as having leadership potential than black men.?

    Given that an overwhelming majority of organizations rely solely on subjective decisions made by management to select future leaders, it is vital to utilize objective tools and assessments to identify high-potential candidates.

    This is not just a diversity issue but a business imperative to put the most capable people in leadership positions where they can have the most significant impact on the business AND the people

The Bottom Line
Behavioral interviews, succession plans, and targeted training with robust follow through are all essential elements of a solid talent management strategy. If you need to better hire, promote and retain top talent, take advantage of innovative and research-backed simulation assessments to raise the bar.

To learn more about how to hire and retain top talent, download The 3 Surprising Ingredients for Talent Management Success

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