How to hire and keep the best staff

Let’s say you’ve found a candidate that ticks all the boxes when looking at their skill set. Regardless of what industry or department your new hire will be working in, regardless what sector your business operates in, you will be able to relate to the fact that it takes more than “the skills to do the job” for someone to fit in with the team and to stick around too.

You want to add someone to the team that fits in culturally.

Why? Obviously, bad hires come with financial implications: cost of time invested during the hiring process, time wasted on training the person and time and benefits lost a good hire could have contributed to your business growth. And let’s not forget the energy wasted and disruption to your team.    

How to find a fit? 

How to ensure that your new hire will work harmoniously with those around them, happily and for the long term? Here is the system what works for us:

We recruit against behaviours. While ensuring that individuals remain individuals with their own unique personality of course, we look at the behaviours and values underneath – we ask, do they share ours?

For us, at the base of everything we do are our key behaviours and values of importance. We are: Honest, Knowledgeable, Straightforward, Progressive and Committed.

What we do and what might work for you too is to ask the candidate outright to share their values, their ambitions and what behaviours they feel are important to achieve these. If your people’s behaviours mirror your business’ behaviours, you are onto a winning combination.

How to hold onto them

You want to retain those that you’ve carefully selected of course. Those that have the skills and are a good cultural fit. You will want to hold onto them. Tightly. 

You’ve found a winner, they accepted your offer, start date is in the diary and you’ve kept regular contact before they start. The first step is making sure they are settling in ok. You now need to ensure that they feel welcome and settle quickly into the team.

Some really simple things that make a big difference. Make sure they know if there is any way they can come in prepared, think “reading to get a head start”, blogs to familiarise themselves with etc – this gives them confidence from day one. Make sure their desk is set up and ready for them. If you can, make their first day a special one for them. They will most likely be nervous – take them out for lunch or arrange a welcome cake in the office. Most importantly, check up on them. In those first few weeks daily catch ups are vital to make sure they are happy, feel part of the team and have everything they need.

Regular and consistent catch ups/reviews should then be a key part of their ongoing time with you. If you ensure regular 1-2-1 catch ups, you will remain in sync with your team, understand their challenges and what development is needed to ensure they keep growing in their role.You will have more chance of knowing what personal challenges they face – which you may be able to help with; just as important is spotting successes – some that are celebration worthy or deserving of an official pat on the back.

Are they happy with their career progression? This includes salary. Do they feel challenged enough? Are they coping ok with the workload and do they feel like part of the team? Do they feel secure in their job?

Our research shows that within the sectors we specialise in, Marketing, Digital, Creative, UX, Technology and eCommerce, the above are all common factors that make employees consider moving jobs when the right thing comes along or actively seeking something new. You should know all these things about every single member of your team. Be transparent and keep the conversation and your door open – All this is key when it comes to ensuring that you hold onto your top talent.

Steve Kay is head of recruitment at ADLIB