Recruit, hire, train then ‘re-recruit’
If there is one thing the current business environment has taught us it is that jobs are no longer secure. This move away from the concept of “lifetime employment” is often spoken of as hard on employees. The lack of security is difficult and often traumatic. But maybe there is a silver lining to this dark cloud.
This more fluid business structure is also difficult for the employer. Employees are more willing or eager to move to a new, better position. This causes disruption in workflow and adds expense for hiring and training tasks as new hires are rarely productive until they learn their position. Is there a silver lining here also?
Linda Heasley, President and CEO of woman’s fashion apparel retailer, The Limited, was quoted as saying, “I believe that my associates can work anywhere then want and my job is to re-recruit them every day and give them a reason to choose to work for us and for me as opposed to anybody else.” Wow!
After reading and rereading that statement, I let my mind wander. With a philosophy of re-recruiting the staff every day, The Limited has to be developing a highly motivated and inspired staff. Notice—I did not use the word “loyal.”
Heasley’s statement means that the re-recruited employee also has to be constantly re-recruiting the company.
If both employer and employee are busy working hard to impress each other with high quality work and a high quality opportunity, each becomes loyal to each other because each learns daily how dependent they are upon the other.
If the company is constantly working to make it the employer of choice and the employee is constantly working to prove that “I’m the best at this job,” that makes for a very highly competent, highly creative, highly productive, highly profitable and highly sustainable company – in other words, a great company.
Imagine the result if every day your company and your staff both re-recruited each other and at the same time re-recruited your customers. You have to end up with a great company.
Opinions are solely the writer’s. Larry Galler, of Larry Galler & Associates, is a marketing and management consultant for small and mid-size companies. “Lunch with Larry” is taking a summer vacation and will return in August. Until then visit Larry’s new blog buildagreatbusiness.net.
