Introduction
Strategic staffing is an integral part in any organization since it ensures that members of staff selected are competitive and able to work for the good of the organization. Employees are an important part in any organization since they are the ones who make the vision of the organization to come to pass.
Irrespective of how good the management and strategies in the organization are, poor staffing will make it difficult for these strategies to be implemented. This calls for a good investment in the human resource department in terms of both personnel and technology. There are a number of strategies that have been adopted to improve the staffing process.
The first one is automating the whole human resource department, second is using centralized control procedures to reduce errors and third is providing motivation and training to the members of staff frequently (Elmuti, 31). The fourth strategy involves an establishment of compliance by way of implementing effective reporting procedures. In order to attract relevant talent and employ productive staff, there are a number of things which need to be put into consideration.
Analyzing staffing needs
One of the things to consider is workforce planning which involves analyzing the organization’s staffing needs in line with the nature of business. This will ensure that relevance in adhered to both in terms of the current strategies and the strategies intended to be implemented in future (Phillips and Gully, 26).
As a result of this, the management is sure that they will not need to replace the staff frequently since a high rate of staff turnover is one of the hindrances to organizational success. An example of this is the position development strategy employed by Cornell Cooperative Extension in their bid to increase employee productivity.
To achieve this, the management in their search for a nutrition educator decided to set the position at the entry level in order to attract young talent. This position was created as an internship and the candidates were selected from college graduates since the job mainly involved an interaction with this age group.
Skills and talents required
The second important consideration is the kind of talent required for the position. Different positions in any organization need people with different talents. Sales and marketing departments, for example, require people who are talkative and tolerant, while accounts and finance departments mostly call for people who are good with numbers.
This explains why most organizations carry out interviews in different stages such as telephone interviews, psychometric tests and finally the oral face to face interviews (Grogan and Eshelman, 21). Some even go to the extent of having a practical interview involving role plays in order to determine exactly what a candidate is good at and what they cannot handle. From such interviews, it is even possible for the management to retain some candidates for future position when they do not fit the current one.
In the case of CCE, the candidate for the extension director position was interviewed in different stages just like is stated in the description above and during the visits to the company’s office for the interviews, she was able to gauge the distance from her home town and this enabled her to make plans prior to beginning the job. In the search for relevant skills, the organization required a face to face discussion with the candidate and this worked both for the organization and the candidate.
Support and motivation
The third consideration to be made in any organization in the bid to attract talented personnel is providing support to the existing and incoming staff. This includes remuneration, training and other forms of motivation. When members of staff are trained frequently, they develop new skills and are able to be more innovative.
These trainings include both internal and external training with the latter involving the sponsoring members of staff to attend workshops and seminars organized by different organizations (Bechet, 128).
Though this, they are able to understand the market better and also get to know the challenges their counterparts in other organizations are facing. The result of this is the development of an all rounded staff body who appreciate their working environment. This also ensures growth, that is what most people look out for when moving from one organization to another.
Besides this, motivation also includes engaging in fun activities such as team building trips and retreats. This ensures that members of staff have an avenue for releasing any kind of work related as well as personal tensions. It also ensures healthy employee relations which eventually lead to good working relations and environment. Whenever people are able to relate well outside work, it becomes easier to work together and this explains the importance of carrying out such activities ones in a while.
In addition to that, members of staff are also able to develop a relationship with the management hence ensuring an easy environment at work (Bechet, 51). A working environment where people relate without reservations is considered healthy since everyone has the freedom to express themselves. This also ensures the flow of ideas from all members of staff. Such an environment will not only encourage employees to remain in the organization, but it also attracts more people therein.
Conclusion
As a result of all these factors, the management is able to raise their job requirements bar hence attracting more talent into the organization. Remuneration also plays a major role in attracting talent into the organization. Employees who are well paid are motivated to work hard and are also empowered to acquire more skill (Sears, 213). They are, for example, able to advance their education and as a result increase productivity.
This also attracts the best brains in the market hence ensuring organizational success. From the case of CCE, the organization was able to provide financial support to the candidate even while she was still an intern. This gave her the motivation of even working harder and as a result of this, she also agreed to the job offer that followed the internship. CCE therefore modeled the candidate to be what they needed for the position and ensured that they gave her the best treatment and support such that she did not have any reason to leave.
Works Cited
Bechet, Thomas. Strategic staffing. New York: AMACOM. 2008. Print.
Bechet, Thomas. Strategic staffing: A comprehensive system for effective workforce planning. New York: American Management Association. 2008. Print.
Cascio, Wayne and John Boudreau. Investing in people: Financial impact of human resource initiatives. Upper Saddle River: FT Press. 2011. Print.
Elmuti, Dean. “Managing diversity in the workplace: An immense challenge for both managers and workers”. Industrial Management, 35.4 (1993): 19-22. Print.
Grogan, Sarah and Barbara Eshelman. “Staffing Strategies for a More Diverse Workforce: Case Examples from Cornell Cooperative Extension”. Journal of Extension, 36 (1998): 1. Print.
Phillips, Jean and Stanley Gully. Strategic staffing. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.
Sears, Dorothy. Successful talent strategies: Achieving superior business results through market-focused staffing. New York: AMACOM. 2003. Print.