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Crandall Associates, Inc Recruiting Direct Marketers for more than 30 years How To Keep Top Talent Never Hire Anyone Who Doesn't Wear A Watch Avoid Paper Tigers Don't Let The Good Ones Get Away 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 | >> © Copyright Crandall Associates, Inc., 2007. All Rights Reserved.