How to Find and Attract the Best Leadership Talent for Your Field Service Company
Brought to you by WBR Insights
The hunt for the very best talent has become its own industry in recent years, and the need to locate and attract the finest leaders to head your teams is of particular import.
Thanks to the increased connectivity and the unprecedented access to information we presently enjoy, the best talent looking to enter the field service workforce has never had so much choice. While it used to be the case that these people would have been restricted to local employment listings and advertisements at locations such as the local job center, today, they have a global marketplace from which to choose the next stage of their illustrious careers.
This is especially true of those bright stars looking to move into management roles, and field service brands need to be proactive to make sure they can draw these people towards their organizations.
#1 Make Your Presence Felt
It's no good these days to simply put out a job listing online and sit back and wait for the applicants to come rolling in. You will get a certain number of quality candidates with this method, but to really shine, you need to be more proactive.
This means getting out there and meeting people where they are. Make sure your company has a presence at the biggest trade and job fairs and talks to the passionate candidates who attend these events. Universities are obviously a hotbed of talent, and you will find them putting on regular career fairs.
#2 Be Technologically Savvy
Attracting the Millennial and GenZ generations is a real challenge for modern brands, so anything which can help you bring these young and talented individuals into your organization is to be seriously considered.
One thing which differentiates these generations from those which have gone before them is technology. They are digital natives and have grown up with a world of technology-based experiences at their fingertips. Unsurprisingly, these forward-thinking professionals want to work for companies which can augment their working life with those same experiences.
Making sure your company is incorporating as much modern digital technology as is relevant and practical will serve to make your brand more attractive to these demographics. Whether it's augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, or Internet of Things technology, these digital innovations will help to not only make your field service provision more effective but also make your company a serious contender when it comes to attracting the very best leaders.
#3 Flexible Working Schedules
The nature of the working week has changed, and companies need to be more flexible to accommodate the lives of their employees - or risk losing them to more dynamic brands.
More and more households have both parents working full time. With childcare often being prohibitively expensive, it's often necessary for couples to share the responsibility of school runs and other domestic commitments. This makes it necessary for the companies they work for to offer a flexible working schedule - whether that means being able to start/finish at a time of their choosing (as long as they hit a certain number of agreed upon hours by the end of the week or month), or giving them the option of working from home when the day's tasks don't require them to be on-site.
Flexible working schedules must be carefully managed. However, offering them will benefit both the organization and its employees.
#4 Promote Your Compensation Package
The sorts of people you want to be attracting to lead your teams don't like to sit still. They are constantly working towards new goals and ambitions and want to work for companies which can help facilitate this growth.
Making your compensation package attractive is about more than just a good salary. Salary is important of course, but it's the extras which will make your company stand out in the maelstrom. Assistance with further education and additional training packages will pique the interest of the best leaders, as well as additional benefits such as health and lifestyle packages.
Money makes the world go around, but it's the little details which will really make your business attractive to the best and brightest.
Final Thoughts
Attracting the best leadership is an ongoing process, and you need to be constantly assessing the different methods you're employing to make sure your efforts are not being wasted. Don't be afraid to try new things and to ditch a course of action if it doesn't appear to be yielding the results you're looking for.
You can hear Arnaud Allouche, Vice President for Global Service Operations at Hitachi Vantara, speak on attracting the right leaders with agility and velocity at Field Service Amelia Island 2019, taking place this August at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island, FL.
Download the agenda today for more information and insights.