by Ken Plasz and David Portney
Stiles Associates

By now, you’ve read the headlines about “The Great Resignation” – and perhaps have experienced it yourself from either the employee or employer perspective. This means it’s more important than ever to fully understand the competitive marketplace if you’re on the hunt for top talent in your organization. Whether you partner with an executive search firm like Stile Associates, or try to go about it on your own, being prepared for the environment will give you an edge when landing the highly desirable A-players.

Each search has its own nuance, but one theme that ties the most successful searches together is the hiring authority’s ability to move quickly; companies need to have the right people in place to meet and follow up with before candidates are sought after. With the perfect candidate always just an email, phone call or LinkedIn message away – simple preparedness will allow organizations to hit the accelerator when A-players present themselves.

Once the search has launched, a common – yet understandable – trap hiring authorities fall into is waiting for more terrific candidates after highly qualified individuals have already expressed interest. While it seems perfectly reasonable to want a full pick of the litter, the current marketplace dictates you might end up empty handed or settling for a lesser candidate further down the road. Keep in mind, many A-leaders are juggling multiple offers themselves, so by the time a company circles back with them it could be too late.

Acting quickly also manifests in the interview process. After Stiles scours the marketplace and whittles down hundreds of potential candidates to the top four or five, we’ve seen clients use an efficient process to quickly present competitive offers and land their most desired candidates. How can a company like yours button up its operation to mimic that effectiveness?

First, streamline who exactly is on the interview team. Sometimes, too many conversations with too many individuals can slow the process down to a screeching halt, especially if those conversations are difficult to schedule. We’ve seen searches where members of the interview team are out of the office or simply unavailable to meet, creating significant gaps in touchpoints with the candidate. As a result, that candidate may not wait to see this process through and either accept a different offer from a company that moved quicker, or simply withdraw from consideration due to negative feelings about their potential future employer. After all, if this is a Lean role, how does it look if the interviewers don’t practice what they preach?

If earning the trust of top talent is important to you (of course it is!), honest conversations must be had with candidates about the role, compensation and any relocation / travel requirements. A hiring authority – or a recruiter for that matter – not being totally truthful for the sole purpose of keeping a top candidate engaged will only lead to greater heartache down the road. In circumstances where the ideal person is just out of reach, consider “step-up candidates” for blossoming leaders who are just one small “step up” from being the perfect match.

By simply moving quickly, planning ahead and being transparent – organizations in any sector can expect to routinely land top talent.

To learn more about Stiles Associates’ search capabilities, please contact Vice President Ken Plasz at kplasz@leanexecs.com.

Read more about things you can do to attract top manufacturing leaders.