Top Talent Archives - Atlantic Group

How to Integrate Mentorship Into Your Company Culture

Building a company culture known for professional development plays a key role in retaining your talented employees. After all, modern workers want to build a productive career and will look elsewhere to find the right opportunity. In the end, using senior employees as mentors helps their coworkers truly develop the skills they need to succeed.

So let’s take a closer look at integrating mentorship into your company’s office culture. The benefits of this strategy remain numerous, especially when trying to retain your talented employees during the Great Resignation. Notably, a cultural focus on professional development identifies many of the top companies in the business world.

A Mentorship Program Helps Your Company Compete

A recent study illustrates the importance of implementing a mentorship program. It reported that 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies leverage mentoring in an official capacity. Additionally, only one-quarter of smaller firms provide a similar program.

This situation places the onus on businesses, medium-sized and larger, to follow the same approach. As noted earlier, modern workers want professional development opportunities from their employers. So an official mentorship program helps businesses achieve this goal, improving their retention rate as a result.

The bottom line remains simple. If your company wants to compete for talented candidates, mentor your employees! Forging a culture focused on professional development also helps your operational efficiency, leading to higher profitability and business success.

Other Benefits of Employee Mentorship Abound

A case study at Sun Microsystems offers valuable insights into the other benefits gained by an employee mentorship program. Five times as many employees participating in the program advanced in pay grade compared to non-participants. Even the mentors themselves enjoyed additional progress in their careers. Similar percentages also applied to a mentored employee’s chances of promotion.

Notably, the company retained 72 percent of employees taking part in the mentorship program. This compares to a 49 percent retention rate of non-participants.

A mentorship program also helps companies with their efforts to achieve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. A study by Cornell University noted a mentorship program improves minority representation in management by 9 to 24 percent.

Strategies For Implementing a Mentorship Program

Any successful mentorship program needs to focus on personal relationships as opposed to a procedural or bureaucratic approach. Find senior-level employees interested in mentoring and pair them with recently hired employees. However, letting an employee choose their mentor works more effectively than assigning them. Provide a light framework or structure for the mentoring, but give both parties the flexibility to customize the arrangement.

Find New Talent

If your company needs a talent influx, connect with the experts at the Atlantic Group. As one of the top staffing agencies in New York City, we provide exceptional candidates to help your business succeed. Schedule a meeting with us to discuss your current hiring plans.

How to Improve Talent Acquisition in 2023

No matter the specific job role, finding top candidates remains difficult even during an economic downturn. At the same time, the nature of any staffing process requires a focused effort to ensure success. As such, you need to optimize your business’s talent acquisition approach to prevent your recruiting spend from being wasted.

So let’s take a closer look at some ideas for optimizing your company’s staffing process in the new year. Of course, leveraging technology improves the efficiency of your hiring efforts. However, a human touch also remains necessary to turn top candidates into valued employees.

Use an Applicant Tracking System

Many of the top candidates stay on the job market for only a few weeks. This is especially the case for in-demand tech professionals. Because of this scenario, your business needs an efficient staffing process to successfully hire the best.

Leveraging an application tracking system (ATS) ultimately lets your HR team focus on more value-added tasks. For example, the extra time lets them stay in contact with candidates throughout the hiring process. Remember, timely communication plays a crucial role in a successful hire.

An ATS powered by AI also provides critical optimization features. These include filtering unqualified applicants and using chatbots to handle initial candidate contact in an automated fashion. Balancing AI with a keen human touch by using an ATS ultimately improves your staffing efforts.

Automated Skills Tests Help Vet Candidates

Another way AI helps businesses improve talent acquisition involves using automated skills tests. These skill tests use automation and artificial intelligence to provide a computerized score for the skill tested. This approach provides another way to initially vet candidates by filtering out anyone without the abilities your business needs. Focus on additional testing during the interview to differentiate between your top candidates. This strategy provides another way to boost your chances of a great hire by mixing AI and human interaction.

An Excellent Candidate Experience is Critical

Providing a great candidate experience remains a crucial differentiator for professionals deciding between multiple job offers. In fact, research by IBM noted 80% of candidates planned on applying again with companies providing a positive experience. They also are twice as likely to recommend that company to colleagues – a great way to source passive candidates.

Ultimately, an efficient staffing process mixing innovative technology with the human touch improves your talent acquisition efforts. Also, make sure your HR team stays responsive with the top candidates until the final hiring decision.

Contact Us

Working with a top-shelf team like the Atlantic Group also boosts your hiring efforts. As one of the top staffing agencies in New York City, we provide exceptional candidates able to help your business. Schedule a meeting with us to discuss your talent acquisition plans for 2023.