Capturing the Best Team in Today’s Tight Job Market (XBIZ)

Read the full article by Cathy Beardsley at XBIZ.com

Have a job opening you can’t fill because there are too few good applicants to choose from? It’s happening across the country, especially for technology jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Computer and Information Technology jobs are projected to grow by 13 percent between now and 2026 — faster than the average for all occupations. This includes areas such as cloud computing, collection and storage of big data and information security.

Many of us already know how challenging it is to fill these positions, and today’s tight labor market makes things even tougher. The BLS also reports that every month, three million Americans leave their jobs in search of something better — because they can. When an employee leaves, it can cost the company up to double that person’s salary to replace them, according to studies conducted by the Center for American Progress (CAP). Retaining your best people is more important now than ever.

Unemployment rates in the U.S. and Europe have fallen to some of the lowest rates in decades. Of course, this means fewer available workers to fill openings. For all you job seekers, this is an advantage but it’s a big challenge for companies looking to hire and retain skilled workers.

The hiring process takes time too. From a few days to up to four months, on average, according to a global survey conducted by LinkedIn. Once you find them, it could take anywhere from six months to two years for that employee to be trained in their new job according to many human resource managers polled in the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM).

So, what can employers do to retain their most talented people? This was a hot topic at a meeting of ecommerce CEOs I recently attended. We spent a lot of time sharing our own best practices for employee retention and I thought I’d share some of those ideas with you.