How to Recruit and Retain Top Talent in 2024 ?

In 2024, the recruitment landscape looks very different from 40 years ago when it comes to how to attract and retain top talent. In the 70s and 80s, it was common for people to choose a profession, study or gain experience, then take a job in that industry and seek promotion after promotion until they retired. The game of ‘life' was pretty steady. This has now changed completely. The average person will change their ‘career’ between three and seven times before they retire. Also, people are generally better educated than ever before. This has led to some interesting and unique situations.

For example, the standard pre-requisite for an entry-level job used to be a BA. However, in some developed nations like France, there is such a large portion of the population with a BA that the new standard pre-requisite for an entry-level position is a Masters Degree. 

A benefit of having such a highly educated workforce, who also have a broader range of skills and experiences, is that for companies, it means the potential for recruiting the best possible person for the job is even higher.

So how do you recruit and retain the top talent in 2024? What are some strategies for attracting potential hires? How do you identify potential and lessen staff turnover? Read on to find out all this and more. 

Strategies for Attracting & Retaining Top Talent

Attracting and recruiting the best possible talent for your team has become more difficult in the past couple of years.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic changed the landscape, many developed nations were already experiencing relatively low unemployment rates. This meant it was highly likely that the best talent already had full-time employment, possibly with one of your competitors. 

Since Covid, although there might be more people looking for work than before, it’s still apparent that the talent pool available to you is tight. Covid has also led to many employees changing their priorities. Employees look more closely at the entire package on offer when considering a new role or a company switch. 

To attract and retain top talent in 2024, companies need to provide a great experience for candidates throughout the hiring process. They must also deliver on any promises of benefits, perks or raises after an applicant has been hired.

Offer Competitive Salaries

This may sound like a ‘no-brainer, but many HR managers don’t really know how to do this effectively.

In 2024, it's much more likely that potential employees will do thorough research on your company and industry before they have even submitted an application.

Employees know that the talent pool for many companies has been shrinking in recent years. As a result, job seekers have more wiggle room when it comes to potential salaries.

To attract the best employees, you need to understand that salaries are incredibly important.

It’s not just about offering a potential employee more money, it’s about being transparent.

Employees also need to know that raises are possible and that they will be paid at least the same as another person with the same skills and qualifications.

You can no longer rely on the old attitude that employees don’t talk about money amongst themselves; websites like glassdoor have changed that.

Provide Unique Benefits

To set yourself apart from the competitors, you need to offer potential hires more than just a bigger monthly pay packet. Unique benefits can range from extended paid time off, bonuses, and more access to paid parental leave.

It is important to ensure that the talent you are trying to attract understands that you value your employees. You can do this by paying attention to the type of benefits you offer.

The key is to think about things you could offer a potential hire to help them have an excellent work-life balance. For example, paying for a gym membership for employees or offering to cover some professional development costs might set you apart from another potential employer.

Focus on Diversity

Diversity in the workplace has become one of the most important topics of the past few years. The level of diversity in the workplace is undoubtedly something potential hires will pay attention to when investigating a new position. 

Companies that take the time to focus on diversity and inclusion stand to attract a more extensive range of experience and knowledge from their employees, as well as a higher level of employee satisfaction. 

Create Remote Working

The Covid-19 pandemic changed a lot about our attitudes to work. One of the most significant cultural shifts during this time was that we now look at remote work differently. 

We now know that remote working does not mean a decrease in work performance; in fact, employers have found that the ability to work from home has in many cases led to an increase in production.

Allowing remote work or even operating under a hybrid model can also mean that you aren’t limiting your potential hire pool to just one geographic location.

Remote working will enable you to employ the best talent from anywhere in the world. 

Use Social Media in Your Recruitment

Studies have recently shown that 79% of candidates use social media to search for a job.

So it makes sense that in a world where the average person spends two and a half hours a day on social media, they are also looking for employment opportunities there.

If you take the time to develop a social media strategy for finding talent, you will definitely have an overall advantage.

Where do you think an employee spends their time when they are looking for a new job?

Offer Continuous Learning

Skills, industries and practices are constantly changing and evolving, so we should be able to as well.

In many situations, employees have spent a significant amount of time, and in some cases, a large sum of money gaining education to help them enter the job market. So why should we expect people to cease their learning journey once they get a job? 

Future-proof positions are essential for companies to maintain a competitive advantage.

This requires companies to support their employees in developing their skills and expanding their knowledge.

Continuous training is a good way to attract and retain talent and ensure that your employees can evolve and change with the industry and technology.

Build an Employee-Focused Culture

If you take the time to think about the things that are important to your employees and try to address those within the workplace, you are more likely to increase employee satisfaction and retention.

Employees have always had needs and desires in relation to their workplace, but only recently have they been able to demand these from their employers. Conclusion: If you need talented employees, it’s unfortunately not really a "buyer’s market"

This doesn’t mean that employers feel powerless or have to cater to the specific needs of each individual employee. It simply means that you can increase employee retention by changing your company culture to value your employees and understand their career goals and life needs.

Happy people don’t quit their jobs, and employees who feel appreciated will consistently outperform those who don’t. 

The Importance of Effectively Communicating Your Company’s Missions and Values

Before you post a job listing, it’s essential to map out your workplace’s most integral skills and core values.

Define the missions and values of your company and then aim to fill any available positions around these instead of just finding one employee to replace another. 

If you can effectively communicate your core needs and values when hiring, you’re more likely to attract talent who align perfectly with your company.

When employees are more aligned with the company’s core values, they are far more likely to thrive.

Always remember that when you are recruiting for your company, you’re selling your company to potential employees. The more transparent you are about your needs and values, the better.

Why You Should Involve Employees in Recruitment

When employees are engaged and satisfied, not only do they tend to stay with a company longer, they can also help to recruit new talent. 

It is often said that it is much easier to fill a position from within your own ranks than to do so externally, but when you involve employees in the recruitment process, you also have access to their social and professional environment.

Some companies use recruitment incentives to attract the best talent.

The basic principle: if a position becomes vacant and someone from the company recommends a candidate who gets the job, they receive a financial bonus.

A big advantage is that your employees know what kind of person is suitable for certain positions in the company. This can also help to improve the feeling of teamwork in the office.

How to Identify Top Talent

It’s one thing to make sure you have all the necessary things in place to attract and retain top talent, but what can you do as a recruiter to spot it in the first place? 

Identifying Employee Potential

High potential employees are precious to businesses. When it comes to performance and cost-saving, they are about 91% more valuable than non-high potential employees.

They usually increase productivity in teams simply by just being there.

Generally speaking, having just one high potential employee on a team can boost productivity in other team members by up to 15%.

However, there is a difference between a high performing employee and an employee with high potential.

The trick to get the most out of a high potential worker is to identify strengths, attributes, or values they haven’t fully developed yet and nurture those through experience and professional development. 

If you take the time to invest in your employees, you will reap the rewards. 

Spotting High-Resilience Individuals

High-resilient individuals are basically like the ‘old buildings’ of a workplace. You know the kind of building I mean. It’s been through earthquakes, floods and hurricanes and is still standing all these years later. 

They don’t tend to crack under pressure. They are resourceful, adaptable and rarely take things personally. High-resilience workers are basically the swiss army knives of employees. 

This doesn’t mean they are machines, quite the opposite, in fact.

Most often, high-resilience workers have an exceptional degree of emotional empathy and intelligence. 

They are able to separate themselves emotionally from stressful situations and see that the pressure is just temporary. This typically allows them to operate with a sense of clarity that others cannot achieve because their judgement is too clouded by anxiety. 

There’s no definite way to assess the resilience of a potential employee, but you can include some questions when you interview them to get a bit of insight on the matter.

Questions you could ask: 

• Are you a good listener?
• How empathetic are you with other people?
• Do you have a good sense of intuition, and how often do you trust it?
• How good are you at reading people and situations?
• Are you able to take a negative experience and find something positive about it?
• Have difficult experiences in your life helped make you a stronger person?
• Do you tend to see problems as just temporary?
• Can you improvise when something doesn’t work out the way you planned?
• Would you say you are pretty self-confident?

Assessing Work Culture Compatibility

This is about determining if the current culture of your workplace is compatible with the needs of a potential employee. You might have found the perfect candidate, but if you’re not on the same page when it comes to work culture, they might not stay with you for long. 

For example, if your potential hire is looking for a role that provides a great work-life balance, and your company is filled with people who regularly work overtime and never ask for compensation; either the culture of your workplace will need to change, or you need to look for an employee who fits with the one you already have. 

Assessing Relevant Credentials

That sounds pretty simple. You state in the job advertisement that the applicant must have a certain level of education and experience. However, if you really want to find the best talent for the job, it’s important to check the qualifications you are asking for.

You might be looking for someone to join your marketing team. You need them to have a BA and three years of experience in the industry, but it’s also worth checking if those three years of experience genuinely place them ahead of someone who just graduated last summer. 

They might have worked in a marketing position for the past three years, but were they continuing to learn about marketing trends or just writing ad copy?

Assessing relevant credentials is also about trusting that if you have employed someone as a specialist in a particular department, it’s ok that they know more about it than you.

Many highly skilled workers leave positions because their supervisor cannot put their ego aside and acknowledge that someone they have employed to do a specific task can actually do that task better than them.

How Swapp Agency Can Help You Recruit and Retain Top Talent

At every step of your recruitment process, Swapp Agency can offer tips, expertise and invaluable connections. Think of Swapp Agency as an incredibly well-connected friend who just happens to know everyone you might want to work for you. 

Founded in 2016, the Swapp Agency mission was based initially on the concept of being a bridge between the incredible talent available in Iceland with the rest of the world. Swapp Agency is connected to some of the most skilled workers and experts in a myriad of industries. 

So if you are looking for some skilled employees, would like to benefit from the booming gig economy or investigate expanding your business into Iceland, Swapp Agency has the connections and knows how to get you off to a flying start. 

Conclusion

We are currently living in exciting times for both employers and employees. Cultures are shifting and technologies are changing the way we work and succeed. It’s also an incredibly competitive time for the business world.

Those who understand that a company is only as good as its people will always stand out from the rest.