Once you have found and hired the perfect candidate, the job of retaining that employee begins. TeamKC partner, Stacy Pursell, managing partner of The VET Recruiter, a division of the Pursell Group, shares the 3 must-haves to retain and keep your employee investment.

Believe it or not, there is something that’s even more important than hiring the best candidates in the marketplace. 

It’s retaining those candidates as employees once your organization has hired them.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, what’s the point of hiring the best candidates if those candidates are only going to leave eventually anyway?

I’ve blogged previously for TeamKC about what candidates want from potential employers, especially in regards to what attracts them and makes them consider an employment opportunity. So here’s the good news: much of what attracts a candidate to your organization is what will also convince them to stay.

As you might imagine, there’s can’t be a huge difference between what you “sell” to candidates and what you deliver to candidates. If you paint a rosy picture and the candidate accepts your offer of employment, but what they see when they arrive is markedly different, then you can expect that they’re already thinking about their exit plan. You absolutely have to deliver what you promise.

Below are three must-haves to retain your organization’s best employees:

#1—Career development 
Money and compensation alone do not convince the best employees to stay. Why is that? Superstars can command top money just about anywhere, that’s why. What they really want—and what convinced them to work for you in the first place—is the chance to develop and grow their careers. They want to acquire new skills. They want to stay on the cutting edge of the industry. They want access to all of the new tools and technologies. You must provide them with these things.

#2—Leadership training 
You want leaders in your organization. Not only that, but you want great leaders. How do you accomplish this? Partly by growing up leaders within the ranks. It makes sense that the best employees within your organization are either leaders or aspiring leaders. Your top employees want to become leaders, and if they’re already leaders, they want to become better leaders. Consequently, your organization should be providing opportunities for them to do just that. If not, then those employees may start looking for those opportunities elsewhere . . . including with your competition. 

#3—Social conscience and responsibility 
These days, employees do not just want to work for the company that makes the most money or is the most successful from a strictly “profit point of view.” This is especially true of the younger generation. These employees generally seek out employment with organizations that have forged a commitment to make social responsibility a part of their overall brand. In addition, they’re more likely to stay with a company that has made that commitment once they become an employee.

How would you assess your organization in each of the areas listed above? Are you doing all that you can to retain your best employees? How would you feel if some of those employees left you for a competitor?  And remember this above everything else: whatever you promise to people when they’re candidates, make sure that you deliver those things without fail once they become employees.

That’s how you retain them.  

To learn more about The VET Recruiter, a division of the Pursell Group, contact Stacy Pursell. To learn more about TeamKC, contact Jessica Nelson.