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The job market is markedly improved, which brings new opportunities for employees – and new challenges for employers seeking to fill positions.

According to studies, the average cost per new hire is around $4,000 and takes 24 to 42 days. This is the average. Some positions are much more costly to replace and could take months.

It does not take into consideration such factors as lost productivity for a position, or onboarding and training time and costs. It also does not include any added incentives that are negotiated into the deal with the new hire. And then, there is the full effectiveness cycle. For a new employee to be their best in a position, it could take six months to a year of learning the company’s cycle of events and methodologies.

There may be a better way!

In many cases, great employees get passed over for outside talent.

“I feel invisible, stuck in my current position. The only way up is…out. But I love the company, the culture, and my co-workers. I don’t really want to leave. I just want the chance to grow.”

If you as a leader are spending a great deal of time cycling through endless candidate interviews to no avail, why not take another look at your inside talent?

As we have learned through decades of work with DISC profiling, skills are highly transferable. The key is to find a person of character with strengths that fit the role you are seeking to fill.

They may not be fully tapping into their strengths in their current position, so you may need to see beyond where they are. In fact, this is the point of growth – an ideal place for you to find the talent you need and for them to find a new challenge and purpose in their work.

How can you find talent within your organization?

1. Define the role you seek to fill.

You must start with clarity. Hiring someone who fits the culture is great, but they need to know your expectations. You may hire a very gifted and talented employee, only to find they are miserable in the role you have in mind because the role was in your mind and not made clear upfront, in writing.

2. Define the strengths you will need to fill it.

This is quite different from the normal approach, where resumes are filtered by educational status and hard skills. This approach may actually filter out some of your best candidates. Instead, look for strengths.

Does the position require…

• Hard-driving determination and a desire to tackle tough challenges?
• Innovation, ideas, and strong people skills?
• Organization, support, and systems?
• Deep analysis or superior quality control?

These are very different from hard skills, such as accounting and programming. Those are important; but if you put a programmer in a position that involves constant challenges and people, you will end up with a very frustrated employee.

If you consider strengths first, you will not only have strengths that fit a position, you will also have employees who love what they do.

And that is money in the bank.

3. Define the skills needed for the position.

Skills are important, and you will find that if the strengths are there, many of the skills needed are there as well. If not, the candidate will usually indicate a desire to learn them because they are in their strengths zone. Look for strengths-based candidates who either have the skills needed or who have a strong desire to learn and grow.

4. Define incentives that fit.

It has been said that “money isn’t everything,” and that is true. It is important, and leaders should be generous to those who help build the organization. But it is not the only thing. Growth, recognition, freedom, purpose, results, and quality can be even bigger motivators for employees. And what works for one employee may not work for others. These are inherent to who they are as individuals.

This four-part process will eliminate a great deal of hirer’s remorse.

To learn more about how you can fill positions from within, with candidates who are highly qualified, click here.

As the CEO of Strength Leader Development, Deb Ingino is a highly sought-after international executive mentor, coach, trainer and speaker. Deb is well versed in global business operations and helps business leaders and their teams to discover and leverage their strengths, so they can create highly collaborative teams that deliver great results. With a refreshingly direct style, Deb helps leaders and their teams to deliver profitable results. Connect with Deb to learn more about her mentorship and coaching programs to equip you with advanced strategies to elevate your results.

When you have a strong team that collaborates well,
you have a competitive advantage.

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