Becoming an Employer of Choice

One of the top three reasons established founders and family business owners decide to have a conversation with me is this: something isn't going well with their employees. Common things I hear include how hard it is to hire and how it seems to take longer to hire. The one I am hearing more lately, though, is that they don't know how exactly to attract, develop, and retain their employees because when they changed things a few years ago even that doesn't seem to be working any longer.

I applaud those who prioritize talent development. They work with their local high schools, colleges, and universities. Marketing is involved. Cultural components are much more intentionally front and center. Individual recognition and upskilling is in the mix. But the key lately it seems is to have everyone in the organization involved in a significant way.

So let me give you a view from several dozen university students. Many received post-graduation offers from an organization where they summer interned. Some are still on the hunt. Here's what I hear from them:

• Being a recognized "Top Employer" can matter
• What is on an employer's website about career progression matters
• Video interviews of employees expressing what it's like to work there matters
• Spending individual time with me at my internship or in the interview process helping me be successful may matter the most

If 2024's strategic plan has "employer of choice" in it, where is the evidence, and what KPIs and OKRs will you use to measure it?

ryan

Ryan Kauth

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Ryan Kauth is a business coach, business owner, and university lecturer. He helps his clients to be an employer of choice, with their sales/marketing/business development, with their operations, with their financing, and to be entrepreneurial leaders within and outside the walls of their businesses. He also writes about it on occasion here in this newsletter and for business magazines such as Business Chief. You can grab a free 30 minutes with him here and read more about what he helps business coaching clients with here.