A growing number of Americans left a job in 2021, including a record 4.43 million in September alone, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The quit rate as a percentage of the labor force rose to 3%, also a record.
What’s driving this change? It’s being called “The Great Resignation.”
We are amid a new era for recruiting talent. Old rules and old ways will no longer work to attract and retain new team members for your company.
For the first time in our business lives, we need people more than they need our jobs. We need to market to talent using the same principles we use to sell our products and services.
Most importantly, our goal is no longer to sell the job, but to sell the opportunity to have the first conversation. By rethinking your approach to match what’s happening today, you can win the talent war.
Tactics to Win
Chris Czarnik, author of “Winning the War for Talent,” offers an excellent blueprint for firms struggling with staffing shortages.
Using his tactics, we’ve been able to stay on track with our 2021 growth plans and will more than double our workforce over the next 18 months.
But you must think and act differently.
For example, instead of “Experience Preferred,” hire “No Experience Preferred.”
Today, you should focus your search on underemployed people. Someone who is working part-time at McDonald’s and doesn’t want to be there, or a high school graduate without training who believes their only choice is to flip burgers.
You need to think differently, Czarnik suggests, by not only thinking outside the box, but also looking outside the box. For example, real estate tech firms should target “at-risk” programs in high schools filled with bored, mechanically inclined students.
Offer More Than Money
Far too often, firms focus on financial-based incentives to recruit and retain talent, but research says most people are motivated by more than money. Because of how the pandemic has altered the workplace, that is truer today than ever before.
Incentives that deliver emotional rewards are paramount, so you need to go beyond things like employee recognition programs. You need to provide the kind of incentives that offer either immediate or intrinsic satisfaction.
People want autonomy, to learn and improve, and to feel they are contributing to something bigger than themselves. And they value time more than money.
According to Czarnik, you will spend 40% of an employee’s annual salary on replacing them, yet vacation is a no-cost benefit for a salaried employee. Today, people are less likely to leave a job that offers more vacation time than one that offers more money.
These approaches are just a few of the ways you can win the war for talent.
Michael Minard is CEO and owner of Delta Media Group, a leading and trusted technology partner for many of real estate’s top brands and 100% family-owned and operated. Learn more at deltamediagroup.com.
