By: Clark Ingram
When I walk in the door of a new client’s organization, one of the perennial problems I encounter is the HR staff running as fast as they can on the recruiting treadmill. They’re posting ads, reviewing resumes, interviewing, and scheduling the hiring manager interview. They’re running background checks, administering drug tests, onboarding, and then doing it all over again when the person they just hired quits.
They always fall back on the same belief that one day magic will happen and they’ll hire the perfect person to remove the toxicity. All of a sudden, they’ll have been able to recruit their way out of the employee turnover problem.
I’ve never seen it happen.
There is a way out, but most just don’t see it. Addressing employee turnover has to be step one, and it necessitates addressing toxicity and identifying and eliminating (or at least minimizing) the root causes of turnover. Then, when you do hire new people, you aren’t putting them in an environment with all the negative aspects.
Routinely, you’ve likely thought, “I can’t find great employees, or even good employees.” I hear this a lot. Every time I hear it, they’re mistakenly pointing the finger at the candidates. But let’s shift the focus and examine what obligations that they, the employer, have.
The obligations involve articulating answers to the following questions for job candidates:
1. Who are you as an employer? What’s your employer brand?
2. What’s your reputation in the broad workforce? (Indeed, company reviews might be a good source of this information.)
3. What do you want your reputation to be, and what needs to be done to resolve the discrepancy?
4. What five reasons would someone want to work for your company?
5. What do your target candidates look like, in detail?
If they’re unable to describe answers for any of the above, they need to take a step back and do so before they do any further recruiting.
Every organization is special in multiple ways, but most organizations are too entangled in the trees to see the forest. They’ve lost track of who they are and what makes them special. When we talk about it, they provide some canned answers without embodying what they’re saying.
Organizations need to build an employer brand and marketing scheme that will resonate with the best people in their industry, geographic location, and employee demographics. People go to work for companies for the same reason they buy from them. They’re captivated with the journey the company is on.
A useful way for organizations to define their brand is to review their marketing material, looking at how they sell to customers. Much of the same messaging can be incorporated when recruiting suitable candidates.
To put this in perspective, think about when you’re looking to buy a car. Do you want to hear “it will get you where you want to go”? Or do you want to hear about the actual features you’re looking for? When reaching out to a candidate, it’s the same. Good candidates look for certain qualities in a place of employment. Are you responding to their desires or just offering to pay them $X an hour?
Good candidates always have options. They generally have multiple offers on the table. They won’t necessarily go with whoever offers the most money, but with the company they think brings them the most opportunity and has the best culture.
Employers have an obligation to provide this information to the candidates. When they do, the quality and quantity of candidates tend to improve.
Why? The employer is being transparent, allowing the candidate to see what they’re about and letting them know whether they’d be a good fit.
Keep in mind that, while you are being transparent, the candidate is not. It’s your obligation to interview in such a way that you determine what you need to know. When candidates either don’t have a job or have a job they don’t want, they’re inclined to accept any job that they’re offered. Hiring this person isn’t in your best interest.
In my experience, by applying the above concepts, the standard of candidates coming in for interviews goes up. Fewer were showing up in flip-flops and shorts, and when they did, they were turned away at the door. (They were respectfully informed that their interview had either been postponed or canceled due to how they were presenting themselves.)
Conventional wisdom has organizations thinking that they must offer more and more money or provide more perks. Yet, if they put a laser focus on who their ideal candidates are, who they are as an employer, and how a candidate would be a great fit for their organization, they get off the recruiting treadmill.
Clark A. Ingram is the Founder and President of People Profits, LLC, which focuses on the three greatest human capital problems affecting organizations: employee turnover, chronically open positions, and skills gap. He consults with a spectrum of companies on strategies to address employee turnover, fill chronically open positions, and close skills gaps. His new book isChurn: Proven Strategies to Overcome Failing Conventional Talent Management and Achieve Zero Turnover (People Profits, March 26, 2026). Learn more at peopleprofits.com.
