If your company is struggling to find, hire, and retain qualified employees right now, you’re not alone.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 11.27 million job openings and 6.27 million unemployed people at the end of February—or a record-high 1.8 jobs per available worker.
No wonder the subject of hiring challenges was met with uncomfortable laughter during the recent AA-ISP Sales Leadership Conference in Chicago that members of VSA’s executive team attended.
Even if you land the perfect candidate, good luck keeping them. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows that 4.35 million workers voluntarily left their jobs in February—continuing the “Great Resignation” that began in early 2021.
An analysis published in the Harvard Business Journal last fall revealed that resignations are highest in tech and healthcare—two industries VSA is very familiar with. We frequently partner with companies in both those fields to assist in their lead generation and appointment-setting efforts.
At VSA, we’re not immune to these recent staffing challenges. We’re always looking for ways to improve our hiring practices and ensure we’re attracting and retaining the highest-quality program managers, business development representatives (BDRs), and other personnel to best meet the needs of our clients.
Here are five of the ways we’ve done it:
1. A dedicated recruiter
VSA formerly relied heavily on a variety of staffing agencies and temp-to-hire firms to bring in new BDRs. And while we landed plenty of quality employees this way (many of whom are still with us), the process is something of a crapshoot—it’s almost impossible to tell if the person is a good fit or not. Plus, no two agencies had the same approach, which led to even more uncertainty surrounding new hires.
Lately, we’ve minimized our use of temp agencies and have partnered with a talent acquisition firm that is committed to finding strong candidates who are best-suited to our specific needs (and the needs of our clients). The firm provides us with our own dedicated recruiter who is well-versed in what we’re looking for.
Identifying great sales reps isn’t easy. According to an analysis by the sales enablement company Mindtickle, 93% of companies have an ideal customer profile, but only 1% have an ideal rep profile. A dedicated recruiter helps solve this quandary.
2. Thorough screening and training
One of the biggest reasons new hires don’t work out is that the job doesn’t match their expectations, maybe because they didn’t fully understand the requirements or they weren’t properly prepared.
VSA has addressed this concern by implementing a thorough screening and training process. By the time new hires’ onboarding is complete, they should know exactly what the job entails, and we know enough about their strengths and weaknesses to respond accordingly.
The training shouldn’t stop there, however. The Mindtickle analysis revealed that 85% of reps are being coached on closing open deals, but only 24% on long-term skills. We recently added a new position dedicated to coaching and working with the BDRs and making sure they have all the tools they need to be successful. This reduces turnover, keeps employees engaged, and ensures that small problems are addressed immediately, before they can snowball into major crises.
3. A winning workplace culture
VSA founder and CEO Valerie Schlitt has always been committed to creating a positive work environment. One of our core values is “to build up a workplace that is motivating, supportive, and fun.”
Maintaining that culture has become more challenging in the age of remote workforces, but it’s still crucial for attracting quality candidates. According to an Indeed survey, 72% of job applicants say it’s extremely or very important to see details about company culture. We experienced this for ourselves when one of our recent hires said during his interview that our core values was the biggest reason he wanted to work for us.
While almost all of VSA’s employees still reside within a half hour of our South Jersey office, the new remote landscape has also allowed us to bring in long-distance talent—without sacrificing our workplace culture. Open communication among senior leadership, managers, and employees remains a key part of everything we do, even if it’s over a computer screen.
4. Flexibility … and other benefits
As our client base has grown in recent years, so has our workload, necessitating a significant increase in fulltime employees. But we still offer BDRs the opportunity to work less than 40 hours a week and make their own schedules, and that flexibility can be extremely appealing to job-seekers at certain points in their lives.
We’ve also recently increased salaries and added vacation time, with other changes in the works. With the hunt for qualified candidates more competitive than ever before, every perk helps.
5. A one-stop career path
Nobody wants to be stuck in a dead-end job without opportunity for growth. That isn’t a problem at VSA, which consistently promotes internally, especially within program management. Some of our best BDRs have gone on to become team leads, junior program managers, and program managers.
Because many of our program managers started out as callers, they can relate to the challenges BDRs face. It’s a lot easier to offer coaching and constructive advice when you’ve already been there yourself.
Conclusion
Finding, hiring, and retaining the best employees in today’s market is no laughing matter. With so many more openings than job-seekers, the best applicants can afford to be choosy.
At VSA, we’re always looking for new ways to ensure we’re bringing in employees that best serve our clients’ needs. We’ve changed plenty during our 21 years, but our commitment to our clients has never wavered.
If you’re looking to supplement your top-of-funnel team with additional personnel without the cost and stress of hiring them yourself, give us a call. We’re happy to put our team to work for you.