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Question: Recruitment, Selection and Retention
Site expert Dave Butler was asked to respond to the question of how individuals should go about recruiting, selecting and retaining quality staff. Dave's answer is as follows:
Answer:
I'll skip the common qualifier ("it depends") and hit at what I see as the heart of the issue. I'll avoid the basics you already know and challenge your reality in hopes of helping you find a new reality for this process.
Think Before You Recruit:
- Take a close look at the job you are trying to fill. Would you take it? What makes it something you would want? If you wouldn't want it consider the why. Using your own "whys", what can/will you do to make the position better.
- What concrete skills and educational level does the person in the position really have to have? I mean the bottom line. Avoid listing everything from being a social star to a paperwork perfectionist. Get it clear in your own head and say it in your recruiting materials.
- Everyone wants Masters level folks. "Power house" schools may attract them. If you are not in that category, give it a second thought. Ask yourself if you change to bachelor level people with experience what will you really loose?
Be honest:
Be clear about what you need and ask for it straight out. In recruitment materials you develop and in personal contacts make clear statements of the value of the position to the institution, expectations for performance and the value of the position to the potential candidate. Don't lead people on. If you really think someone has what you need, tell him or her.
Act:
- Put the word out. Place a statement about the job that invites people to talk to you on discuss lists and in the hands of colleagues at similar schools.
- Use all the standard stuff that people use like the ACUHO-I free placement service, ads in the Chronicle and association placement opportunities (postings and conference) but don't expect that your position will stand out unless you've been clear about it's value.
- Look in places where people who have the types of skills you need work. Get your message of job value to them by word of mouth, strategic positions and personal visits. Don't just look for the regular pattern of Hall President, RA, RD, etc. Just maybe the person never lived on campus.
- Talk to your colleagues about the people they know that would do a good job and call those folks and talk to them about your position.
- Don't just sit and wait for people to come to you.
IMPORTANT THING:
Do you really want to be recruited passively? Isn't an invitation to talk to a potential employer by phone or email of greater interest? How does it feel to read an ad, send a resume and....wait? When there are lots of candidates it may work fine (I doubt it.) but when we have to compete for people those who focus on people, not paper, may be the winners.
When you find the good ones, select them:
Sometimes I think the process is treated as more important than the outcome. What would happen if you didn't set up that extensive selection calendar and just followed what the law requires? What would happen if we empowered one or two persons to recruit and hire and dropped the need to involve the world? Would we be able to move more quickly when we found the right person? Would the decisions be different?
Retaining Staff:
- You've been honest and hired the right people. Now follow through and do what you said you would do. Continue to be honest even when it is scary. Celebrate their successes and challenge their weaknesses. Be honest enough to get involved in their success. Treat them like adult sand expect/demand the best within the values you put forth.
- Not everyone should be retained. People who can't/won't do the job should go. First however, you owe it to them to lay out the problem and expect that they will reach out for what they need to get stronger. Help if they ask but don't treat them like children. Your students and institution deserve to get what you are paying for. It costs money and time to recruit people so work to get them to do the job. If they can't or won't help them move on, not of anger at them but because of a sense of responsibility for your school and students.
- Not everyone should be retained. There comes a time when a person is ready for more responsibility. Promote them if you can or help them move to a new position, inside or outside the profession.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Re-think the way you recruit, select and retain if it's not working well for you at this point in time. It may be that when you do the same old things you get the same old results. The process is not about processes. It's about people. People demand honesty and respect. Many respond well to personal outreach. You can be human even with the laws that are in place. Hiring and working with people is a human, not a mechanical process.