How to Attract the Right People and Repel the Wrong Ones

There are changes on both the demand side and the supply side of the labor market as the American population is aging. We now have 5 generations represented in the workforce: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. While some expectations and needs are similar regardless of generation, these shifting demographics will continue to significantly impact the workforce and therefore organizations. 

With all these generations represented and the demographic shifts going on, how we attract top talent is changing; how we define roles and right fit are evolving as we seek to retain top talent; and how technology weaves through all of this is ever changing – from recruitment through retention. 

So, how do you attract the right talent for your business?  

RTS, TriBridge Partners, and Berger HR Solutions recently co-hosted a panel discussion, where they shared their experiences and strategies on how to align your core values with your hiring process, identify the different factors to attract various generations of job seekers, and leverage technology for hiring and retaining the right employees. 

Five Different Generations in the Labor Market Today 

Before we can dive into the tips and best practices, we need to first understand the different generations in the workforce. 

• Traditionalists (1928-1945) were born during the Great Depression and World War II. These people are still working. In fact, studies show that 12% of people above 75 will actively participate in the workforce by 2030. 

• Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. Many retired during the pandemic. On average they held 12 jobs over their lifetime, only half of which were after age 24. They’re loyal with a deep understanding of their roles and industries. 

• Gen X (1965-1980) are “the latchkey kids” known for independence as they grew up during a time when more women went into the job market so many were home alone before their parents returned from work. 

• Millennials (1981-1996) sit on both sides of the technological shift. They were born before the popularization of the internet and personal computers. The Great Recession, a tough job market, and high student loans defined their entrance into the workforce. 

• Gen Z, the digital natives. Born between 1997 and 2012 they came of age with cell phones, social media, and rapidly developing technology. They’re the most diverse generation in US history and represent over one fourth of the American population. According to a Glassdoor report, 2024 is the first year that Gen Z outnumbers Baby Boomers in the workplace. 

Our audience walked away from the seminar with several strategies in five categories in the recruitment and retention process, which we discuss below. 

1. Know Your Business Values 

“What should companies do to attract the right talent? They should ask themselves, ‘Do we want people who want to be paid or want excellence?’” Paul Younkins, Founding Principal of TriBridge Partners opened the discussion with these thought-provoking questions.  

Your company should examine who you are, how you think, what your core values and business goals are. Your answers should not be aspirational, rather who you are and what you stand for today, and always strive to be authentic.  

Once you have your authentic core values identified, then go sell it. Your story should resonate with the people you want on your team.  

As an example of how to define who you are, Lenny Giller, President of Reliable Technology Services shared his personal experience going through this soul-searching exercise. “Basically, we identified our top performers and evaluated what characteristics and values they already possessed. We quickly realized that the set of terms matched my business partner’s and my core values; however, we never formally communicated them. We made a strategic effort to communicate our values to our employees, which was critical to our recruiting process, boosting employee morale, and strengthening our brand.” 

This is the first step in aligning your hiring process with what you think, say, and do to attract the right talent.

2. Live Your Core Values  

It is not enough to identify your values; you must practice them in everything you do, say, and think. To exemplify how to do that, Paul discussed a 7 steps process to align your values with recruiting:

1. Clarify Your Core Values and Vision – Be clear about your company’s mission, vision, and core values.  Define key traits, such as integrity, teamwork, and innovation, and how they translate into job roles.
2. Create Transparent and Aligned Job Descriptions – Ensure your job postings clearly articulate the values and expectations you have for candidates. Avoid ambiguous language and be upfront about what kind of person will thrive in your culture.  In job descriptions, emphasize not just the skills required but also the alignment with company culture, such as teamwork, adaptability, or customer focus. 
3. Assess for Values as Well as Skills – Implement interview processes that evaluate both hard skills and cultural fit. Use behavioral and situational questions that reveal how candidates align with your company’s values. 

4. Involve Key Stakeholders – Involve leaders and team members who exemplify the company’s values in the hiring process. Their input will help maintain alignment between what the company believes in and the kind of talent brought on board. 

5. Showcase Your Culture During Recruitment – Be transparent about your company culture throughout the recruitment process. Highlight how you live out your values day-to-day, whether through workplace policies, employee programs, or work-life balance. 

6. Use Consistent, Value-Based Criteria – What You Do: Standardize your evaluation criteria across all hiring stages to ensure fairness and alignment with your values. Avoid relying solely on gut instinct and instead ensure you’re assessing candidates based on clear, consistent criteria.

• • Suggestion: Develop a scoring matrix that ranks candidates on cultural fit, along with skill sets and experience. Train hiring managers to use this method consistently. 

7. Follow Through Post-Hiring – After hiring, ensure new employees receive onboarding that reinforces your company’s values and expectations. Demonstrate through actions that you hold yourself and your teams accountable to the same standards you seek in your candidates. 

• • Suggestion: Implement mentorship programs or performance evaluations that check in on both skill growth and cultural alignment, reinforcing the values you want to maintain.

Kristyn Berger, President of Berger HR Solutions agreed with Paul’s 7 steps and added that your company leadership should buy into your core values otherwise you’ll have a difficult time keeping them alive. She also shared a few more examples of how to integrate your values into your everyday life beyond hanging posters around the office – e.g. defend the absent in meetings and give out rewards for those who exemplify your values. These accomplish several things – confirm core values, recognize employees, and provide examples to other employees how to live your values. 

An example: Living your core values makes a difference in hiring and retention 

By the time you accomplish all 7 steps, you can safely say you have built a strong value-based culture. As an example, Paul mentioned his conversation with an auto service owner to learn why people were flocking to work there. 

The business provided market rate salaries, and standard 401(k), so Paul didn’t understand what was so special about the shop that their employees loved the company. The owner explained that he provided clean and starched uniforms to his mechanics every day, he replaced their tools every 6 months, and the floors were heated so their feet would not be cold during the winter. These perks sent a message that he valued his employees. 

Paul left the audience pondering this question: “What tools do you give your employees so they can deliver excellence through technology?” 

3. Hiring and Onboarding Top Talent

Networking 

Finding the right talent takes time. Many companies end up just hiring anyone to fill a position when they really need someone, which often leads to negative consequences for everyone involved. But there is a better way.  

Paul noted that during his consultancy he often recommends businesses to start building a bench of top candidates through networking even if they don’t need a new hire at that moment. This accomplishes two things:  

• It allows them not to be in a desperate position to hire anyone when they do have an opening, and  

• The potential candidates are already familiar with their company values and more likely to be the right fit.   

Employee Referral Programs 

Another smart way to attract the right people is employee referral programs – they are wildly successful with a 125% retention rate! However, there are 3 reasons why these programs often don’t work, so make sure you avoid these mistakes: 

1. Not publicized enough – Companies often implement an employee referral program, but then they forget about it, and they don’t practice it. 
2. Not meaningful – For instance, a $10 gift card isn’t worth the employees while to refer someone. 
3. Lack of follow up from HR – One of the biggest reasons why employees stop referring talent to their employer is because HR never closed the loop on what happened to their referral when they did refer one of their connections. 

Job Descriptions 

Really know who you want to attract. “You can’t say, ‘I just want to hire a body.’ It will negatively impact your culture,” said Kristyn. When hiring, determine what values and personality you want to attract beyond skills, and draft your job descriptions based on information gathered from speaking with potential candidates. 

Don’t forget to check your career page on your website and your social media channels to ensure it reflects your culture and core values. 

When it comes to attracting multi-generational employees, don’t assume the same perks, culture, benefits, compensation, and development opportunities will be enticing to different audiences. Kristyn recommended taking stock of what your employees truly want in their jobs, gathering the information during exit interviews, conducting employee engagement surveys, and proactively talking to your top performers you would hate to lose. For instance, ask them, “What do you like in your role/at the company? If you were to leave, what would be the reason?” At the end of the day, determine the culture you want your business to have, and offer a mix of attraction and retention points to have a happy and high-quality diverse workforce. 

Interviewing 

During the interviewing process, repelling the wrong candidates is just as important as winning them over. But how do you do that? “By being honest about your workplace culture, values, and the job responsibilities you are looking to fill can help the wrong people see they are not the right fit,” Kristyn emphasized. “For instance, in one of my past jobs I was told during the hiring process that I won’t be the smartest in the room, I’ll work harder and longer hours, but I will also learn. And guess what? This candidness resonated with me, and I accepted the job. It was one of the best jobs I’ve had.” 

“To put it another way, tell them about your crazy – the challenges the position faces, basically not just the good, but the bad as well,” Lenny chimed in. He noted that his job is to talk candidates out of the role they are interviewing for. And if they are still present when he is done, then they are welcome to the RTS team.  

Onboarding 

How do you appeal to various generations of job seekers with different expectations for work-life balance? While you might want everyone to be in the office, Gen Zs, for example, might disagree with you. More recent generations not only expect but almost demand a different work environment than what Traditionalists or Baby Boomers are accustomed to.  

However, as a business owner your responsibility is to run a successful business, so how do you accomplish that with differing employee needs? 

“This is where technology can help you. You need to understand what tools your different generations need to keep them happy, while being productive and staying secure. Cybersecurity in 2024 is a must not a maybe – lack of cybersecurity can take more companies out of business than bad business decisions,” Lenny stressed.   

“Technology also plays a critical role in onboarding. How many companies are not ready to welcome a new hire on day 1 because the computers and the phone are not set up, and new employees don’t have access to important systems?” Lenny asked.  

It is not only frustrating to not have the right tools to start their jobs, but it can hurt your productivity. Make sure to understand your onboarding process and at what point your IT or MSP needs to be involved. Your IT department of MSP partner can be your best ally when it comes to onboarding and retaining top performers. Dedicate at least 15 min to discuss technology and the importance of security on the first day, so your new hire can hit the ground running.  

“Onboarding is an excellent opportunity to make a great first impression,” noted Kristyn. It is smart to have an onboarding checklist, which helps new employees onboard faster, and it also sends them a message that they matter, and your organization wants them to succeed. When new hires arrive on the first day their technology and systems are set up, and their desk is ready with company swag. To go the extra mile, you can also provide them with a mentor. 

4. Retaining Talent 

One common theme RTS often sees is that businesses are terrified of talking about technology. As a result, they end up either never using the right tools, or they come up with a list of tools they need to be successful, but they don’t keep updating and maintaining their tech needs – both of which negatively impacts their retention efforts.  

The solution: have a designated person in your business whose role is to ensure you have the latest technology to deliver services, grow your business, and keep employees happy.  

Kristyn added one way she makes sure her employees are happy is by asking them periodically what are their pain points that the company can address so they can do their jobs more efficiently. Technology is changing quickly, the selection is wider, so it is important to task someone on your team with staying on top of having the most adequate tools for your team. “When our employees are set up for success, then they will knock the socks off the clients, and they will also be happy,” Kristyn shared. 

“Technology amplifies good or bad workflow,” Paul chimed in. When you are exploring how to leverage AI or automation, two hot topics today, don’t just look at stats and market benchmarks. Ask your employees what parts of their day could be easier or less repetitive. Then when you introduce automation or a new technology, you already have their buyin to improve your workflows, which will make them more efficient and your business more productive. 

5. Parting Ways with Unfit Employees

“I’d like to think of terminations more in a positive way. We liberate people who are not the right fit, so they can find the right opportunity somewhere else,” Lenny noted.  

Paul and Kristyn agreed and added that if we are setting the right expectations the culturally unfit employee ends up firing themselves. Letting people go is not nice but the kind thing to do. If they don’t fit your culture, don’t be afraid to let them go fast before they can poison your culture and negatively impact your client relationships.