Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you made a job offer, the candidate accepted, and then quit, before the first day of employment rolled around? If so, you aren’t alone. The Nonprofit Salaries & Staffing Trends Report from PNP Staffing Group shares that a remarkable 36% of nonprofits surveyed found themselves in this predicament last year. As if it couldn’t get worse, 33% of the survey respondents said they had a candidate accept, start on the job, but then resign within the first three months of employment.
So what’s causing the problem? As the economy has improved hiring has catapulted, resulting in a candidate driven market. Individuals are entertaining more job offers, whether they are job hunting or not. The result is very competitive marketplace for talent.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Association sector. Associations are nonprofits, with a 501(c)(6) instead of the more widely known 501(c)(3) designation. In PNP’s Association Salaries and Staffing Trends Report, a startling 79% of respondents said that they were concerned, or somewhat concerned, about competition for talent. That’s a lot of worry about finding and keeping good employees. The result is salaries are rising.
When asked, “If an outstanding candidate has salary expectations of $50,000 and the position in your organization is budgeted at $70,000, what would you offer?” over 74% of the respondents said they would offer over the $50,000 requested by the candidate. Not so long ago, the same question garnered a response in the single digits.
What Not to Do
If you want to avoid losing talented candidates, reign in these behaviors:
- Quibbling over a small difference in salary expected and salary offered
- Reducing your salary offer during the hiring process (yes, some EDs really do this)
- Hesitating too long to make an offer
What to Do
Here are best practices to help you recruit—and retain—top talent:
- Hold managers accountable
- Create a culture of engagement and ownership
- Establish a clear, consistent on-boarding process
- Show that performance is clearly valued, and rewarded
- Work hard to prioritize, build and reinforce a team culture
- Allow flexible schedules
- Invest in training and professional development
- Create competitive compensation packages
Your value as an employer is so much more than money
Today’s best employers create a compelling reason for people to want to work for you. From Google to Habitat for Humanity, those who find ways to make the workplace productive, supportive, enjoyable, teaching-and-learning-environments are finding that not only are they the preferred employer-of-choice, but employees are far less likely to leave. And, less likely to quit before their first day on the job.