In today’s ever-changing world, people are switching jobs now more than ever before. Regardless of generation, 2.7 million workers voluntarily left their jobs at the end of June 2015, a 25% increase from 2013.
While some generations of folks seem to be switching jobs more than others, in many cases it’s hard to blame people for doing so. Numerous surveys have indicated that many of today’s workers are unmotivated, unrecognized and in jobs for which they are simply a bad fit. The combination of those three factors leaves a lot of people unhappy and constantly searching for a job that they feel is going to be fulfilling.
- Lack of motivation: According to a Gallup poll, only two in 10 workers believe their manager is doing a good job of encouraging them to do their best work.
- Lack of recognition: Nearly 86% of companies with employee recognition programs cite an increase in worker happiness.
- Bad Fit: A recent survey by Robert Half showed that more than a third of 1,400 executives felt the top factor leading to a failed hire, aside from performance issues, is a poor skills match. The second most common reason (30%) was unclear performance objectives.
Whatever the reason, employees leaving their jobs in such great numbers leaves companies with lots of spaces to fill and not always the best candidates to fill them.
Hiring the right people with the right attitude and skill set can cut down on continuous job openings and help companies retain more long term employees. That’s where an executive search firm comes in. Going through a search firm—whether it’s an HR executive search firm or an outside consulting company–can help ensure that companies get workers who will be around for the long haul. Benefits of using executive search consultants include:
- Screening: Getting a couple hundred resumes from a job posting seems like a great thing, but executive search consultants will screen that list down to the top three, four or five candidates who fit the bill of what a company is looking for in an employee. That may when a manager or a CEO is looking to fill a vacancy, they’ve got the best candidates to pick from and a lot less stress.
- Solutions: By screening for the top candidates, a company knows all of them are qualified. But job consulting firms will ask a company the important questions. What goals does a company have? What goals do they have for their new employee? What kinds of skills or talents is a company looking for in a candidate? The answers a company gives will give the search firm the answers they need to effectively screen for the right candidates. If there’s a couple of specific traits or qualities a company is looking for, an executive search firm can find those people
- Getting good talent: Rather than just picking from whoever responded to a job posting, executive search firms make sure that companies are getting the absolutely best candidates for jobs. Poor skills match has already been cited as a big reason for failed hires and executive search consultants can make sure companies are getting people that have long term potential.
- Job hunters: Good executive search firms will “recruit” top talent. Rather than posting jobs, a search firm will engage candidates who fit a company’s mold and then present those folks to a hiring board.
- Perspective: The whole point of a job search is to fill job openings, but an executive search firm can make it meaningful. A search firm can offer a fresh take on a job search and can offer help in finding the best candidates. Companies are always challenging their employees to think outside the box and executive search firms can do that with hiring too.
When it comes to job openings, companies are looking for the right people—folks with the right skills and temperament who mesh with their ideals and values. Using the right executive search firms can take all the guesswork out of hiring and give companies the quality employees they need to have working for them.