Talent Tips: Organizational Success
Talent Tip #73: Turnover Turnaround: How To Keep Your Best Employees
November 17, 2015
Talent Tip #73: Turnover Turnaround: How To Keep Your Best Employees
Last month we talked about the six most common reasons for staff turnover in the free-market nonprofit movement. Apparently, we struck a root.
My inbox was deluged with responses such as “Your list was spot on. I recently left my job for reason #4.” and “My best friend just quit his job for reasons 1, 2, and 5.”
While it was disheartening to read some of the emails, I…
Read MoreTalent Tip #72: Employee Turnover: Why Good People Leave
October 20, 2015
Talent Tip #72: Employee Turnover: Why Good People Leave
Last month at the always-amazing State Policy Network Annual Meeting, I had the pleasure of connecting with nonprofit CEOs about some of the common reasons employees leave and strategies for preventing turnover.
It was a daunting task — to stand before a room of accomplished CEOs and tell them what they might be doing wrong. I had nightmares of being pelted with rotten fruit or heckled (remember the
Read MoreTalent Tip #67: The Key to Employee Retention: Convoluted Algorithms or Simple Communication?
May 22, 2015
Talent Tip #67: The Key to Employee Retention: Convoluted Algorithms or Simple Communication?
The Wall Street Journal recently featured an interesting article about predicting impending employee departures based on complicated algorithms.
It turns out some large companies such as Wal-Mart and Credit Suisse are hiring human resources analytics firms to develop intricate formulas that identify which employees might be getting antsy. These company-specific formulas involve a variety of data points, including “job tenure, geography, performance…
Read MoreTalent Tip #68: Ask the Magic 8 Ball: Why do Employees Leave?
March 20, 2015
Talent Tip #68: Ask the Magic 8 Ball: Why do Employees Leave?
Do you remember those Magic 8 Balls? You pose a yes/no question and then turn it over to reveal the answer. My childhood friend and I used to ask the Magic 8 Ball whether the handsome and oh-so popular neighbor boy would ever give us the time of day. We would turn that puppy over 100 times until it told us what we wanted to hear: “All…
Read MoreTalent Tip #66: Hotel California: Stuck in the Big City, Declining Mobility, and a Reminder to Consider Hiring Virtually
March 17, 2015
It turns out many young adults are sticking around the big cities longer than before. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, young folks have historically descended upon the country’s largest metropolitan areas “to build careers before taking their talent and spending power elsewhere to raise families.” Now, thanks to an overreaching government induced recession, that trend is slowing dramatically and many people are “stuck” in the big cities.
As one Los Angeles writer put it,…
Read MoreTalent Tip #65: Roll Tide: What We Can Learn About Recruiting Talent from Nick Saban
February 17, 2015
Roll Tide.
I can’t believe I just typed that. I might break out into hives. As an Ohio native (Go Bucks!) and a Notre Dame grad (Go Irish!), it pains me to support Alabama. But I’ve got to give credit where credit is due: Nick Satan, er…Nick Saban knows how to recruit talent.
Saban’s recruiting prowess has long been a topic of conversation, and a recent article about it got me thinking about what we can learn…
Read MoreTalent Tip #63: Stand Out from the Crowd with an Eye-Catching Job Description
February 3, 2015
Talent Tip #63: Stand Out from the Crowd with an Eye-Catching Job Description
Standing out from the crowd can be a very good thing.
Now, I’m not referring to Miley Cyrus twerking like a fool, Bjork dressed as a swan, or Lady Gaga in a meat dress. I mean standing out in a positive way.
Take, for instance, the job posting my friend Steve Sheldon recently sent me. It was perhaps the boldest job description on which I’ve laid eyes.
… Read MoreTalent Tip #62 Take a Chance on Me: Nontraditional Candidates and Fundraising Roles
February 3, 2015
Talent Tip #62 Take a Chance on Me: Nontraditional Candidates and Fundraising Roles
You know what I have a boatload of?
Complaints about the government, yes. But do you know what else I have oodles of?
Fundraising roles.
As it turns out, I also have a Mayflower truck full of candidates who would love to break into fundraising for the free-market nonprofit sector.
So, what’s the disconnect? It’s that most nonprofits want to hire fundraisers with development experience (for roles…
Read MoreTalent Tip #54: Is Virtual Hiring Right for Us?
March 15, 2014
After last month’s e-newsletter about virtual hiring, readers responded with the enthusiasm of teenage girls at a One Direction concert. There wasn’t as much screaming, but the energy level was high.
Most of the people I heard from were very supportive of virtual hiring, though there were a few skeptics in the bunch. The skeptics noted that remote work isn’t always feasible and it’s not without a price. In short, virtual hiring isn’t for everyone; and it isn’t…
Read MoreTalent Tip #53: Want to Expand Your Talent Pool? Hire Virtually!
February 15, 2014
When an outside-the-Beltway client calls me about an opening as of late, several thoughts run through my mind:
I wonder if the client is willing to consider a virtual office scenario… I hope I remembered to turn off the coffee maker this morning… What in the dickens happened to Bob Costas’ eye?All are important thoughts, but let’s focus on the first one. Allowing a role to be carried out in a virtual office scenario means greatly expanding your…
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