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Organizing a 'Recruitment and Retention Strategy Day'
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Not only do we need to see ourselves as recruitment and retention experts, we need to convey this in the employer community as well. If we can build that brand, employers will see value in our services and supports, as well as in the clients and students we're promoting.
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Recently, I was speaking with a group of job developers and employer engagement strategists and asked, "are you recruitment experts?", to which everybody took a moment to ponder the question, not really committing either way. This is not unusual.
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And yet, if we're telling our clients to speak confidently about what they can contribute in an interview, in their resume or cover letter, we should expect no less of ourselves.
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If you're not experts in recruitment, who is?
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Employers and HR leaders may have a great deal of knowledge about their approaches to recruitment, but they completely lack the knowledge and understanding you bring from working with hundreds of job seekers.
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And while the owner of a restaurant, a tech company or a manufacturing plant, may have a strong understanding of how they go about recruitment, you also know how their top 10 competitors approach recruitment.
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As a professional, you are constantly acquiring insights, perspectives and specific strategies that can assist both employers and job seekers in their job search and recruitment efforts.
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Also, different from many employers, you're not blind to shortcomings. You can see an employer for both their strengths and challenges, giving your unbiased advice about what will work and what won't work.
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Embrace your expertise in recruitment particularly, but in retainment as well. Just as we would encourage a client to be confident in what they can contribute, if you feel confident in your ability in these areas, it will subtly translate to employers as well.
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With this new found confidence, I want to encourage you to organize an employer focused event this winter. Consider hosting a 'Recruitment and Retention Strategy Day' between now and mid-March.
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As people get back to work in January, we're entering a period of a few months, where work is going to take place in low-gear. It's before spring-break, summer holidays and seasonal hiring. Winter is the perfect time to garner an employers' interest and showcase what you can do.
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The idea of a 'Recruitment and Retention Strategy Day' is to gather local employers together to:
- discuss their recruitment and retention challenges;
- explore local supports;
- develop specific strategies that will ensure strong candidates;
- establish policies that will assist with the retention of existing staff; and
- create an action plan for 2026 supporting stable staffing and strong new recruits.
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As to what this 'day' will look like, I would encourage you to develop a framework that works best for you. Perhaps you invite employers into the office for a day or half-day of training. Maybe you work this into a chamber of commerce luncheon presentation. This might also be a special training session you host in advance of a job fair you're organizing. Perhaps you go into an employer's office to host the training or conduct it in a live online presentation.
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I really don't want to be too prescriptive, because I think it will diminish the great ideas your can come up with on your own.
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Perhaps this is an event your organization hosts on your own or perhaps you partner with a number of other employment-service organizations. Whichever the case, you want to brainstorm strategies employers can implement ahead of time that will significantly improve their recruitment efforts.
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Quite often employers do little to spread the word about current job postings. Here are a few suggestions you may want to share with employers:
- Post jobs on multiple platforms: Job Bank, Indeed, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster, Simply Hired, ZipRecruiter, Charity Village, Professional Websites, and their own company website.
- Create ‘Sponsored Jobs’ on LinkedIn
- Company posts on LinkedIn AND individual posts by staff and managers.
- Utilize all other social media platforms. Reward staff for sharing job postings on their own platforms.
- Distribute the job posting by email to a network vendors and other professional contacts.
- Distribute by email to other competitors that may not be hiring right now but might have contacts on their own.
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While doing a better job of sharing job postings is an important consideration, the most valuable approach employers can adopt is to do a better job of networking. Employers may consider:
- Devoting time to cultivating professional networks in social media.
- Providing insightful feedback on social media posts workers are sharing.
- Attending conferences and professional development with the intention of cultivating professional relationships.
- Encourage managers and other supervisors to participate in mentorship programs.
- Encourage staff to provide reviews on Glass Door and other review sites.
- Seek opportunities to speak to vocational training classes and host work placements.
- Provide a financial incentive for staff who make referrals of potential employees.
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While there are a lot of things we can suggest that will sharpen an employer's approach to recruitment, 'retention' is a little more outside our sphere of expertise. With this in mind, I'm going to share 14 strategies from Robert Half Canada, detailing what an employer can do to cultivate and retain existing employees. These include:
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Onboarding and Orientation: Teach new employees not only about the job but also about the company culture and how they can contribute to and thrive in it.
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Mentorship Programs: Pairing a new employee with a mentor is a great component to add to your extended onboarding process, especially in a remote work environment.
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Employee Compensation: It’s essential for companies to pay their employees competitive compensation, which means employers need to evaluate and adjust salaries regularly.
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Perks: These work benefits can make an employer's workplace stand out to potential new hires and re-engage current staff while boosting employee morale.
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Wellness Offerings: Many leading employers expanded and improved their wellness offerings during the pandemic to help employees feel supported and prioritize their well-being.
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Communication: Employers should make sure they proactively connect with each team member on a regular basis to get a sense of their workload and job satisfaction.
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Continuous Feedback on Performance: Many employers are abandoning the annual performance review in favor of more frequent meetings with team members.
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Training and Development: Make time available for staff to attend virtual conferences, provide tuition reimbursement or pay for continuing education.
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Recognition and Rewards Systems: Employers need to be sure to thank their direct reports who go the extra mile and explain how their hard work helps the organization.
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Work-Life Balance: A healthy work-life balance is essential to job satisfaction. People need to know their managers understand they have lives outside of work — and recognize that maintaining balance can be even more challenging when working from home.
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Flexible Work Arrangements: A compressed workweek? Flextime? Or maybe a partial telecommuting option? All of the above can help relieve stress for an employer's team — and boost employee retention.
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Effective Change Management: If an employer is going through a big shift, keeping their team as informed as possible helps ease anxieties and manage the rumor mill.
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An Emphasis on Teamwork: Employers should encourage all employees, not just star players, to contribute ideas and solutions. Promote teamwork by creating opportunities for collaboration, accommodating individuals’ work styles and giving everyone the latitude to make decisions and course corrections if needed.
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Acknowledge Milestones, Big and Small: Shine a light on notable achievements. Whether an employer's team finishes ahead of the deadline on a major project or a worker reaches a five-year work anniversary, seize the opportunity to mark the milestone together.
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These are just a few suggestions but I would encourage you to open the dialogue to employers you work with already to get a sense of what they are doing and what works best.
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As we wrap this up, you may be wondering, why do I care about helping an employer become a better recruiter? I want them to hire my clients, not everybody else's. Why do I care if they are better at retaining staff -- when they have turnover, it creates jobs for my clients.
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First of all, we want our clients to go on to positive workplaces. It's critical to ensuring they're able to maintain 'long-term' employment. Beyond that, we want to help local employers become better at recruiting to gain their trust and build our credibility.
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Many employers have no training whatsoever in human resources. If we can be a genuine support in recruitment and retention, when we approach them marketing a client or student, they will be more likely to trust our advice.
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Organizing a 'Recruitment and Retention Strategy Day' can be your marquee event for 2026 where you showcase your organization and the supports you can provide to employers.
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I would encourage you to partner with your Board of Trade, Chamber of Commerce, Business Improvement Association, Rotary Clubs and self-employment providers to put together an event that will not only be well-attended but provide supports that make a real difference.
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If you would like some support in organizing an event like this or would like me to host or speak at the event, I would love discuss it further. For information, check out the 'Presentations' page on www.jobdevelopment.org or send me an email directly at: csaintcyr@labourmarketsolutions.ca
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We’ll be discussing different ways we can support local employers at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday December 15th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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On the morning of Monday December 15th 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
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Labour Market 101 Training Modules
for British Columbia and Ontario
35% Discount Until January 15th, 2026
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It's time for our annual Labour Market 101 Training Modules. This is an excellent introduction to important LMI divided up into five different occupations:
Resource Room Advisors (Mon. Mar. 5th);
Employment Case Managers (Tues. Mar. 6th);
Facilitators (Wed. Mar. 7th);
Job Developers (Thurs. Mar. 8th); and
Managers / Supervisors (Fri. Mar. 9th)
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Up until January 15th, everyone who registers is going to benefit from a 35% discount on their registration BUT, for everyone who registers before the end of 2025 (Dec. 31st), they will get our members discount, providing an EXTRA 25% discount. To take advantage of this, remember to use:
PROMO CODE: membersonly
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We have two series planned, one for British Columbia career professionals and another for Ontario. To learn more, click on one of these links:
BC LMI 101 Training Modules
Ontario LMI 101 Training Modules
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or to learn more, email Christian Saint Cyr, at: csaintcyr@labourmarketonline.com.
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