With unemployment low, the competition to hire quality talent is soaring; finding, hiring and retaining sellers is a major challenge that many media companies are facing today.

Job seekers are be-coming savvier and doing a ton of homework before they will even reach out for an inter-view. If you are a company lucky enough to attract quality talent to fill your open jobs then, kudos to you. If you’re not so lucky however, then it’s definitely time to review and update your approach. Many media companies do an excellent job in attracting viewers, readers or listeners but haven’t done a good job marketing why their company is an excel-lent place to work and the opportunities to join the team.

Recruiting, hiring and retaining are all major challenges and need to have a solid strategy to have success. It is an issue that has often gotten swept under the pile of “things to do” yet never seems to get the attention it needs. Failure to have a solid game plan, with action steps and accountability, will cost a company too much in wasted dollars and time.

Eight Thoughts to Boost Successful Recruitment

  1. Review your compensation plan. Does it offer a new hire the financial security needed to cover them until they are billing enough? Are you paying the going rate in your market and industry?
  2. Assess your culture. Do you offer an environment where people want to come in and are encouraged to grow and think out of the box? Do they have fun? Are employees rewarded for going over and above the expected?
  3. Address turnover. If it is over 10% annually, you need to find out why and try to lower it as it not only costs money and time, but can kill future recruitment! Think ‘exit interviews’ for departing employees and don’t be shy about asking the tough questions and hearing candid answers.
  4. Do you have a set plan for getting your new hires ramped up quickly? Put a training program in place that can address their first 30, 60 and 90 days.
  5. Update job descriptions each year and have them approved by someone in legal or HR. Include details on your company, your management style, what is expected on a daily basis from the person who accepts, lay out what you will do to help the new hire reach success. Share what tools your company invests in to help gain more sales. Think about what skills are really needed and include them in your job descriptions.
  6. Brag about what you do for your community in your community. For man job seekers, it is important to work with a company who makes a difference and gives back. Make a big deal about what all you do and encourage staff to get involved too.
  7. Build a better career page on your website. Share your mission, why people like working for you, what makes you a good company. Include testimonials, videos and pictures.
  8. Use social media to help build your case. Have an updated LinkedIn profile for both you and your company. Share fun company events on your company Facebook page.

These are just a few things that can be done to help you with building your ideal team. Most importantly, it is really crucial to have a plan, to treat people well and to get the word out about what a great company you are to attract more quality talent.

Laurie Kahn is President of Media Staffing Network, the firm she founded in 1993. She handles full-time placements in all media; in addition, she recently launched a new pro-gram to help companies hire local sellers. Her recent LMA webinar on this same topic is available at www. localmedia.org/webinars. Reach Laurie at laurie@mediastaffingnet-work.com or 480-306-8930.