5 Ways to Attract and Retain Top Talent

As a startup CEO, attracting and retaining top talent can be one of the biggest struggles that you face. If your business is brand new, you may wonder what you can offer in order to get and keep the very best talent in your field. Here are a few ways to set yourself apart from other companies in the market for those great employees.

Expect to recruit the best employees

Once you’re the best and the brightest, you can expect great employees to come to you. When you’re still brand new, you will need to reach out to the places your ideal employee hangs out, and you will need to sell them on your company. For example, if you know you want to find a content writer or marketer who believes in Seth Godin’s approaches to marketing and thought leadership, you would want to frequent both Godin’s blog directly, and then blogs and communities that discuss his writings. You would talk about your company, your culture, and then start to talk to content writers who engage with you. This way, you know that you’re approaching people who are already on the same page with you in terms of approach.

When you’re recruiting on the Internet, though, remember that if you’re looking for someone to fill an in the office position, you may be looking at paying moving expenses. Offering that up front is a big deal to many potential employees.

Offer great parental leave policies

Maternal and paternal leave is an active talking point in the modern economic sphere. As more and more research is done on how women are more likely to return to their jobs after longer, more generous parental leave times, and men perform better when they have time to spend with their families and bond with their new babies, it is becoming more and more obvious that companies who want to attract and keep the best people need to offer great parental leave. Studies show that paid maternity leave also helps business growth.

And remember that parental leave at the very best companies is offered to families who are created through all methods, from birth to adoption to assuming custody of relatives or children.

Engage and empower employees

The very best employees are the ones who challenge your company to do better and motivation plays a significant role. They bring in fresh ideas and new concepts, and aren’t satisfied with the status quo. Their ability to look at problems and come up with brand new solutions are a big part of why you’re trying to recruit them, instead of opting for the person who is just going to come to work and check things off their list until it’s time to go home.

But the challenge of hiring the best and brightest is that you need to give them room to experiment, to try out different options for success, and even to fail. If you hiring an idea person because you need to revolutionize their department, but you then chain them down with endless reporting, busy work, and a refusal to try something new, you’re not going to be able to keep them. If you need someone who’s all about checking off the to do list – and sometimes, that really is the person you need, and that’s okay – than hire that person, and be clear about your needs.

Broadcast your culture as an employee benefit

For many of the youngest workers, employee culture is a huge part of how they choose where they work. Every employee has individual needs and wants for their workspace, and a big part of retaining employees is being honest about your employee culture up front. You may find that an otherwise awesome person doesn’t get along with the culture of your business, and there may not be much you can do about that. Some elements are flexible, while others are not. But by weeding out the people whose culture doesn’t align with yours during interviewing, you reduce the time and money that you spend on recruitment and training.

Pay for relocation expenses

If an employee moves more than 50 miles to continue to work in the same field, their moving expenses are generally tax deductible. Make sure they know this – but also go a step above and beyond and offer to cover moving expenses for employees who are relocating to join your company, or to go to a different branch of the company.

What have you done to attract and keep top talent?

Featured photo credit: Cabinet Office via flickr.com

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