|
Don't Let The
Good Ones Get Away:
How to Keep Top
Talent!
Direct Marketing prospers. Despite such concerns
as postal increases, higher paper cost and
increased overhead, the industry forges ahead.
Along with this prosperity comes a major challenge:
Personnel and holding on to your greatest
achievers.
I am sure you will agree that top-notch personnel
comprise the most important ingredient of a
successful Direct Marketing operation.
Almost anyone can have an office stuffed with
up-to-date equipment. Many people have good
products.
But good management is what makes the company
successful.
I'm continually reminded of the president of an
highly successful advertising agency, who said: "At
5 o'clock, my inventory enters the elevator."
The Rule of
Inertia
What do we know about people and their jobs? In
almost all cases, employees do not want to leave
their job. As recruiters, we call it the "Rule of
Inertia".
A study by Psychologist Robert Kahn of the
University of Michigan's Institute for Social
Research concludes we often limit our decisions by
surrendering to the fear of the unpredictable. We
would rather wallow in known miseries than venture
towards uncertain prospects. We are terrified of
changing our familiar environment into an
unpredictable one. Even when the new is highly
attractive.
We all know the rule of inertia another way:
"Better the devil we know than the devil we don't".
The greatest challenge
. . . overcoming inertia
For recruiters as well as for employers,
the greatest challenge is not identifying good
candidates. We know who they are, and we, know
where to find them. Our greatest challenge as
recruiters is in developing the prospective
candidate's perception of the benefits of the
proposed opportunity and overcoming the candidate's
perception of the benefits of the proposed
opportunity and overcoming the candidate's inertia.
That's where skill and experience play a
significant role in making a successful match.
Over extraordinary candidate was offered seven
jobs out of eight interviews before he finally
accepted a position (this is a true story - our
company only submitted the candidate to two
companies but he was extremely aggressive and
worked through several job search channels.
He had reasons for rejecting so many offers.
Either the job was inadequate, or for some other
reason he was intent on rationalizing his need to
reject these perfectly fine offers. During our many
lengthy discussions with this individual we began
to realize inertia was really what was holding him
back. Once we understood what we were dealing with,
we were able to tailor our approach in working with
this candidate, resulting in a successful
placement.
1 | 2
| 3 |
>>
|