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How to Hire the Best Talent in a Tight Jobs Market

Guest: Megan Couch, the Chief Experience Officer at Integrity Staffing Solutions.

Overview: The millions of jobs lost to the COVID-19 pandemic have created a problem that many companies weren’t anticipating: as the world begins reopening, the absolute best displaced workers have lots of options. Your total value proposition has to encompass culture, leadership opportunities, hybrid work models, and, yes, a competitive comp structure if you want to attract top talent.

Megan Couch on hiring in a tight labor market:

“Job openings are actually at a two-year high. Which means job seekers can really be selective. So this is resulting in talent shortages, and it’s really having a significant impact on a lot of different industries. Whether it’s sub $20 an hour pay rates or salary or even technical positions all the way up to mid-level management, it’s impacting all of those areas.

“Total value proposition. I can’t say how important it is. Traditionally, you get hired, you have your compensation package, you have your benefits, you might have a 401(k), you might have flex spending. That’s not necessarily enough anymore. It’s, what can you add on top of it? Are you offering paid time off for volunteer hours? What are your social causes? Are there benefits to being an employee at this organization that provide discounts? Structure, whether it’s remote or if it’s certain shifts or how they’re able to form their lives with it. And that comes much more into play now than it ever did before.

“Of course, there’s a lot of folks that were furloughed or laid off. Folks are very cognizant of the fact that they don’t want that to happen again, even if there’s not a pandemic. So give them a line of sight on how they’re going to be able to be developed. And if it’s a small organization and you’re thinking, we don’t have a lot of room for upward growth right now, I think you can be honest about that, especially startups. Say, this is where we’re trying to get to and have that conversation with the person while they’re being onboarded — which may have happened, historically, after they’re hired, but that’s expensive. And it’s not worth it for anyone.”

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Megan’s podcast, HR Liftoff Podcast, is focused on best practices for recruiting and managing workforces in a complex labor market.

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