It’s important not to sugarcoat or otherwise misrepresent the reality of a job when looking for candidates. Doing so can result in a high turnover rate once candidates inevitably get a real look at the job.
While trying to woo job candidates, it is only natural to highlight the organization’s strengths, internal growth opportunities, and positive work environment. However, exaggerating the positive can create unrealistic expectations. As a result, you’ll experience turnover once new hires figure out that they were promised more than the organization can deliver.
That’s why it is important to train hiring managers to find a balance between touting the benefits of working for your organization and telling candidates almost anything to get them to accept an offer of employment. In fact, the main reason that new hires leave a job is because their role differs from what they were told during the hiring process, according to a survey by the Futurestep division of Korn Ferry.
“With low unemployment rates and increased need for specialized talent, keeping new hires is a critical issue,” said Bill Gilbert, president, North America, Korn Ferry Futurestep. “It’s incumbent upon recruiters and hiring managers to paint a clear picture of what will be expected of the candidate in his or her new role, and make sure promises of resources, job structure, and reporting relationships are fulfilled.”
In addition, hiring managers should be aware that applicants also are looking for a good cultural fit. Many survey participants (19%) reported that new hires leave because they don’t like the company’s culture.
An overwhelming majority of respondents pointed to onboarding programs as a significant factor in retention efforts. Although 69% report having formal onboarding programs for all new hires, those programs are often short in duration; 23% offer onboarding programs that last 1 day, and 30% provide a 1-week onboarding process.
“Onboarding must be about more than just the basic administrative processes, such as entering time, submitting paperwork, and logging onto the intranet,” said Gilbert. “It should be an in-depth process that introduces the new hire to company culture, vision, and strategic priorities, and should also help new hires understand available development opportunities to help them succeed in the organization.”
Mentorships also bolster retention efforts. “Mentor programs are not only beneficial for new hires to learn about an organization, they also benefit existing employees by helping them understand the viewpoints and experiences of those new to the company,” Gilbert said. “This allows them to have different insights and encourages them to become more agile as they go about their jobs.”
There can be lots of reasons for this—sometimes the manager lacks accountability, self-awareness, or the ability to attract and inspire talent. So, what can you do to ensure that managers at all levels of the business cultivate their leadership capabilities?
- Provide real-life examples of how knowledge transfer experiences—some as short as 1 minute—among mentors and mentees can be integrated into everyday work/life to ensure that the workforce is well prepared for talent shortages.
- Reveal expert tips on how to formalize knowledge transfer experiences so your mentoring program is equipped to zap the skills gap.