Ensuring Highly-Skilled Staff Actually Want To Work For Your Firm

Perhaps one of the great mistakes any boss can make is that of entitlement. They might feel that just because they have positions open, that people must be clamoring for them. They feel that day after day, the ability to work at their firm is a privilege. Of course, it’s not a right, but you have to create that privilege and desirable quality first before people believe in it.
Potential employees aren’t stupid. They will apply for your position due to circumstance, desire or referral. However, in highly-skilled job openings, the pickings could be more slim than you might imagine. Of course, in silicon valley, a tech firm is likely filled with applications from talented coders in the area. But you might not be in the hotspot. Your firm might not be as well known as others. Does that mean you need highly-skilled employees less? Of course not. Ensuring highly-skilled staff actually want to work for your from is the first, extremely important step to get right here.
You can do so through the following methods:
Train Them
Highly-skilled staff are often well-trained. They might be well qualified in their industry, or they might have a range of experience under their belt. But these people know more than anyone that training and skill-refinement is never a task that is ‘completed.’ It must follow them throughout their whole career. For this reason, you must ensure they can follow future training patterns well, and potentially see themselves rising in your firm due to that.
But this isn’t the same as offering basic support courses for new staff. Of course, you will need to train them for the economy of your workplace, but that’s hardly the end of the pursuit. Ensuring that they are trained for positions above their station, or they are continually updated with the shifting tides of your industry can help them stay at the cutting edge. To put it simply, no highly-skilled employee should feel like they are doing you a favor by joining your firm and giving you their skill-base. They should feel among equals, and potentially find themselves room to grow. After all, there is always a bigger fish, and always a bigger pond.
Ensure The Fundamentals
A new employee with little skill but the willingness to learn will often make up for the difficulties of a particular job with their own enthusiasm. For example, heading to an office that is old and outdated might not be the worst thing in the world, because this is where they are to receive their training and develop themselves appropriately. But a highly-skilled employee will expect that as a default. They will want to feel pride coming into your workplace, greeted with a beautiful, organized, well presented office or other form of working environment. This should be the bare minimum of what they are presented with. For example, let’s say you run a relatively small but exciting and cutting-edge tech firm. Why should an extremely desirable programmer work for you, when there’s potentially a job at Google for them? It’s the little things that will make the difference, such as the working environment, the chance to be part of the underdog that still knows how to fill the boots it might currently be too small for.
This means your office interior design, maintenance and atmosphere must all be top-notch, and regularly maintained. It must be a place that you are proud to tour with your interview applications, instead of hiding it away and scheduling that appointment somewhere else. It must be a place that celebrates your firm, keeps your employees motivated, and equips them correctly. Then, the highly-skilled employee might see your workspace as a real contender. Remember, they have to potentially spend thousands of hours here.
A Comprehensive Vision
You might have excellent staff working for you. You might have had success in your product launches or service maintenance. You might seemingly have an endless supply of well-wishing clients who hope to interface with your firm in the best manner possible. But if you lack a comprehensive vision and a plan for the future, who knows how long all of this will last? A highly-skilled employee will want to know where the future of the company is headed, so they know how to contribute their skills to that. Highly-skilled employees have often proven themselves before. They’re not looking for that. Instead, they’re looking for the work they do to be thoroughly meaningful. They wish to impart themselves to something they can look back on with pride.
Of course, you needn’t give them a step-by-step guide to your ten-year upcoming plan during the interview. But you must show them, in broad terms, what you hope to achieve, what direction you’re headed in, and generally what they can expect to be working on. In a firm that has one eye on the future they will feel most at home.
Solid Interview Conduct
Highly-skilled employees know they are desirable. They might have many companies contacting them on LinkedIn in the morning before they arrive at your doors for an interview. But this can be boring to someone who has already proven themselves. If they’re at your interview, they are obviously interested in the position you are promoting, and potentially working for your business. So don’t give them all the power. Too often are desirable employees handed everything on a silver platter. That’s not challenging. It shows a firm with limited self-esteem.
Vet them. Ask them their skills. Ask them for proof. Make them work to communicate why they should work for you. Show them that the respect goes two ways. This sounds like the use of reverse-psychology, but it really isn’t. It’s simply showing that you care about your firm, and regardless of their excellent skillset, you want to know how they would fit into your firm. This shows that your firm has big plans and ambitions. With this little decision, you can change how they view your firm from the offset.
With these tips, highly-skilled candidates should be falling over themselves to come and apply for your firm. Good luck.