How to Attract and Retain Top Talent

It’s a familiar scene: Another application lands on your desk and, again, it’s not right. You’ve spent weeks screening resumes, scanning cover letters, and interviewing candidates. But you’re still coming up short, and the time-to-fill is stretching out.

The situation is common. Finding top talent is difficult, and companies often make mistakes. So, what’s the solution? You need effective techniques for attracting and sourcing talent. First, you must build a winning environment that piques the right candidate’s interest. Then, you must take an active role in finding that candidate—even if they’re not on the job hunt.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how that’s done. First, you’ll learn why great talent is hard to find and how a dual approach of attracting and sourcing candidates can help. Then, we’ll share five tips you can follow to improve your chances of success. 

There’s a knock on your office door. A valued employee peeks her head in and asks, “Is now a good time to talk?” You spot the folded resignation letter in her hand as she tells you her dream company has made an offer she can’t refuse. She’s giving you two weeks to find a replacement, and you begin to panic. How can you find someone like her again? 

After spending the time, money, and resources on training and developing the perfect team for your company goals, it’s disheartening to see employees leave. After all, retaining top talent and minimizing turnover is an indicator of business success. But despite the appeal, it’s not always easy keeping star performers in the fold. Often, departures come with little warning. And if you don’t spot the signs, it might be too late to make a difference.

In this lesson, you’ll learn what turnover is and why it’s crucial to minimize dysfunctional turnover. Then, you’ll learn why employees leave and five tips for keeping your team on board.

Talent management is a process. It requires identifying, hiring, and developing the best possible team for your critical company goals. But often, human resources professionals forget that final step. Rather than developing talent in-house, they outsource. They look “over there” for new leaders, and they miss out on the qualified team members in front of them.

People are your most valuable resource, but that investment doesn’t stop at the hiring stage. If your team doesn’t continue to grow their skills, it’s difficult to grow your business. Plus, if you don’t develop your talent, you’re unlikely to retain it. 

To get the most out of your team and gain deep-rooted rewards, you must hone employee skills, develop capabilities, and nurture careers. In this lesson, you’ll find out how that’s done. First, you’ll learn why it’s crucial to develop internal talent. Then, we’ll unpack five long-term strategies for driving that goal forward.