Recruitment and retention are equally important when it comes to organisations being able to maintain productivity and growth.
Having an excellent recruitment strategy without a focus on retention can be counterproductive. The same is true the other way around too.
To successfully achieve business goals and the ongoing success of a business, it’s important to have clear strategies for both recruitment and retention.
An organisation with a good staff retention rate will find it much easier to recruit. Let’s face it, why would candidates want to join an organisation where long-standing employees are suddenly leaving?
Recruitment strategies should focus on identifying suitable job candidates and future employees. Then engaging them in the recruitment process. Having a smooth recruitment process is crucial to get the buy-in from the candidates.
Top tips for your recruitment strategy
Produce interesting and informative job adverts.
To attract those in the job market the advert should have information about the role itself, the organisation and the benefits package. For tips on writing effective job adverts, click here.
Incorporate a careers page on your website.
This should include current openings, benefits of working for the organisation, culture, values and where possible testimonials from existing employees.
Interview process.
Make sure you have a plan for the interview so that you are inviting the candidate to showcase their skills, knowledge and experience during the conversation. It’s also important to interview promptly. Treat your candidate like a client and make them feel special. Especially when they are actively seeking a new role as they are likely to be interviewing elsewhere too.
Offer stage.
If you really like the candidate don’t wait around. Show them how much you value them from the start. If you’ve already talked about money and the salary is reasonable, then make the offer you know they are likely to accept. If you think the salary requirements are too high then clearly explain and discuss what they would need to do to achieve their salary goals if they join the firm.
Retention strategies should be geared towards making sure that your existing team don’t leave once they have joined. This starts at the very beginning – their first day – leaving no doubt in their mind that they have joined a fantastic firm.
Top Tips for Retention Strategies
Onboarding
Ensure there is a robust and engaging onboarding process where the new employee feels valued from the start.
Remuneration
Offer market-leading and competitive salaries. We can help with benchmarking salaries in the legal and financial sectors.
Benefits
Regularly review employee benefits against your direct competitors. It’s even better to ask your employees for feedback when reviewing your benefits package to understand what your team truly value in their package.
Culture
Promote a positive culture within your organisation. Company values should underpin the culture and if you don’t have specific values already, engage the team in this to come up with them together. Don’t forget to shout about them and discuss them when interviewing new candidates.
Flexibility
Where possible offer your employees flexibility with regard to where and when they work. This isn’t always possible but when it is it demonstrates trust, enhancing employee relations.
Happy employees are less likely to leave, and providing a positive working environment can help to keep job satisfaction high.
Practical examples of how retention and recruitment go hand-in-hand
When you have a high staff retention rate, you can use it to your advantage when you are recruiting. For example, you can:
- Get your team involved in your recruitment process. You could introduce your top candidates to members of the department that they would be working in.
- Ask them to advocate for your business. For example, add employee testimonials to the careers page of your website.
- Introduce an employee referral scheme. This is a great initiative for when you have a positive and supportive company culture. If your employees feel that your company is a great place to work, they will want to recommend the company to others. By introducing a referral scheme, it is an extra incentive for them to do so.
- Exhibit at and attend careers fairs. You and your employees can represent your business at a careers fair, where you can speak to students / graduates. Allowing you to build connections with the next generation of the workforce.
In summary, your recruitment and retention strategies should be aligned. Additionally, retaining your employees is as important as attracting new people. High retention indicates a happy team that other professionals will be keen to join. Having a strong recruitment strategy demonstrates your commitment to hiring the right people for your organisation and provides new employees with confidence in your organisation as an employer.
Get support with your recruitment and retention strategies
If you are hiring in the legal or financial services sectors in England, Wales or Ireland we have a team of dedicated and professional consultants to support your recruitment strategy. We fully understand our clients’ culture and offerings so that we genuinely feel like an extension of your firm when approaching candidates you’d like to meet.
Furthermore, we can advise on your retention strategy. Annually, we conduct a survey to find out the latest employment trends and what employees are looking for from their employer. To download our latest report, please click here.
Written by Nikki Phillips, Senior Recruitment Consultant covering all Legal roles across North West England and Wales.
