MILWAUKEE — Gregg Schoppman will be leading a Workforce Development educational session entitled How to Win the War for Talent at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020 in Las Vegas.
The session is scheduled to take place March 11 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Schoppman is a principal at FMI. A recent Talent Survey has helped uncover what best-in-class firms are doing to control the talent variable. Successful companies are strategic, deliberate and disciplined in their efforts, indicates a release, adding their efforts are multi-pronged and happen over a period of time.
Schoppman offers the following tips:
Define what your company stands for
The first piece to finding great employees is to create an attractiveness around your company.
“Why would a free agent, recent graduate or military veteran want to work for you? Your answer needs to be more compelling than, “We offer good pay and benefits,” said Schoppman in the release. “That is somewhat vanilla—and every company says that.”
Hire the right types of people
Part of the broader employee challenge is the succession challenge. Now is the time for companies to be seeking out replacements for key personnel.
“There are two prongs to this effort: solve for an immediate need, i.e. two additional project managers to oversee two new site projects; and solve for future needs, i.e. three project managers and two superintendents because one of them will need to rise up to operations director over the next five to eight years,” stated Schoppman.
The “cultural fit” is one of the biggest challenges a company has. Companies need to identify the core competencies they desire in a candidate for a certain position and once those are identified, they can begin writing better job descriptions that will attract better applicants and it also becomes easier to screen out candidates who likely aren’t a good cultural fit for the organization, adds the release.
Help employees see a future
Employees want to feel like their company is investing in them and they want to know what their career trajectory looks like.
“I’ve talked to countless engineers and project managers who’ve been told that they ‘just weren’t ready’ to advance,” said Schoppman. “Sometimes that is the case. But the employee needs to understand why. They also need to understand what it means to be successful in their current role. Then they can understand what it is going to take to move up the food chain.”
Start dishing out the feedback
Companies should focus on developing a culture of catching people doing things right because people want to work for an employer that recognizes when they do a good job, Schoppman pointed out. Many firms are not doing this well which is a huge missed opportunity, he added.
Companies should develop a feedback culture such as a pat on the back or some constructive criticism. If an employee isn’t displaying the core competencies attached to their position, they need to know.
Make talent development a full-time job
Some companies have developed the position of talent development director, which is more than just human resources. It’s more like business development for talent, said Schoppman.
“The talent development director will work in collaboration with other departments within the company, including operations,” said Schoppman. “That’s only appropriate because recruiting, growing and retaining the best talent is the entire company’s challenge to solve.”
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