Gen Y Now: Millennials and the Evolution of Leadership, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER THIRTEENATTRACTING AND RETAINING THE TALENT YOU WANT

In our first edition, we detailed the steps we felt were needed to recruit and retain talent. This may be one of the areas that has changed the most, and we are not talking about the use of technology for recruiting. Finding the right folks for your business and then keeping them is a far different challenge as we move forward in the 21st century. This is true for all businesses, big or small. It is particularly true for small- to medium-sized organizations.

Most businesses, large or small, historically have thought of recruiting as one task and retention as another. These two important strategic tasks are no longer separate. Previous strategies dealt with recruiting and retention much like a relay race. Once the baton was handed off, it was someone else’s task to complete the next leg of the race. While a relay race is a team endeavor, success depends on individual performances.

Recruiting and retention in the 21st century are most certainly a team endeavor, but not a relay race. Every team member has to be involved throughout the process. Obviously, there will be degrees of involvement, but moving forward, the companies that have achieved the greatest alignment in recruiting and retention have a significant advantage in attracting the best talent.

This will be true whether a business is looking to hire one or ten thousand folks. In fact, we might argue that small- to medium-sized businesses will have an advantage ...