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High employee turnover is a major problem for many small and medium-sized businesses. Estimates suggest that the average turnover rate in 2022 will jump from 20% to 24% in the US. An estimated 37.4 million people in the US have quit their jobs by the end of this year, and this retention rate is expected to remain high in the upcoming years. 

Whitham Group is a team of renewable energy recruiters that helps companies find suitable candidates in the renewable energy industry. Around 79% of the candidates we’ve placed in different companies have retained their position over the last five years. This makes our experts at Whitham Group uniquely qualified to enlighten you with lessons in employee retention.

So without further ado, let’s get down to business.

What is Upskilling?

Upskilling is a common business term that refers to teaching employees new skills. These skills can be those that people in other job roles in the company already have, allowing the employees in question to get a deeper understanding of the business processes in your company. These skills can also set the employee up for growth and greater responsibilities.

More commonly, upskilling refers to teaching employees new innovative skills that improve their productivity and output quality. Upskilling helps companies survive disruptive innovations. An effective upskilling strategy can even give small companies an edge over larger companies that aren’t as flexible and stick to their dated practices.

Upskilling is almost a necessity in the renewable energy industry. The science of renewable energy is still in its infancy, with thousands of papers published yearly. These studies offer ways to lower production costs, improve efficiency and make the technologies more practical in numerous ways. Companies that fail to upskill in this industry cannot hope to survive more than a few years.

Some people are naturally better able to learn new skills than others. If a good number of your employees are not very passionate about the technological advancements in the renewable energy industry, your investments in upskilling will be wasted. A renewable energy recruiting firm can help you find candidates just as eager to evolve as you are. At Whitham Group, we have over 18,000 renewable energy candidates in our database with different skills and personality traits.

What is Reskilling?

Reskilling is the process of teaching employees new skills and training them to assume a new job role in your company. Companies often reskill employees in entry positions that they think have the potential for a higher position. Employees too often join companies at entry-level positions hoping to one day be promoted to the job they want.

Reskilling can also train people for new job roles that your company previously didn’t have. As we discussed, the field of renewable energy is constantly evolving. Innovations in automation and data science are also making many job roles obsolete while creating new opportunities. 

Instead of firing employees in job roles companies no longer need, you can reskill employees in those departments for other positions. Employees who have been with your company for a long time may be better suited for the position than new talent. However, reskilling isn’t practical in all cases. For example, you can’t retrain an engineer to be an accountant or vice versa.

Again, people who are enthusiastic about the developments in renewable energy and fit your company culture better are more likely to be willing to reskill themselves instead of leaving. Professional renewable energy recruiters can help you find the best talent for your company.

What is Continuous Learning?

Continuous learning is an aspect of a company’s culture than emphasizes perpetual growth. Companies that value continuous learning actively encourage new innovative ideas and make business processes incrementally better. Such companies also never accept the status quo and are always on the lookout for new industry research trends. Continuous learning is a particularly powerful process for small businesses, allowing them to overtake larger companies.

In particular, companies in the renewable energy industry cannot hope to survive without continuous learning. Several small and medium-sized businesses in the industry are coming up with new ways to do things, and just as many startups are giving existing businesses a run for their money. You must keep evolving and improving to have a future in the industry.

Companies can systematically and strategically encourage continuous learning by implementing reward systems and giving employees platforms to share their innovations. People in executive positions are essential in empowering continuous learning in any company. If you currently don’t have executives experienced in systematic continuous learning, executive search firms such as Whitham Group can find candidates suited to your company. 

Even more so than the management, strategies, and company philosophy, continuous learning is fueled by the company’s culture. If most of your employees are genuinely passionate about developments in renewable energy, they’ll discuss innovations even in their free time. You don’t need to implement any systems to encourage continuous learning. Team members will inform you of the latest innovations in their respective fields.

Our renewable energy recruiters at Whitham Group specialize in finding candidates that meet your required skills and have the personality traits that suit your company. Even a few good apples can reignite your team’s enthusiasm for renewable energy technologies. 

How Upskilling, Reskilling, and Continuous Learning Helps Retain Talent

It must be clear by now that upskilling, reskilling, and continuous learning have a range of implications for businesses. Most companies in the renewable energy industry can’t even survive without these processes. Continuous evolution and retraining of employees improve retention in several ways, some of which are the following:

Making The Job More Meaningful

Many job roles today are highly repetitive and lack a clear purpose. Quite frankly, the biggest source of motivation for most of us is money. However, it doesn’t have to be that way in renewable energy companies. This industry is one of the few doing something inherently meaningful for the planet and future generations. Still, most people working in the industry are so disconnected from real-world applications that these jobs can feel just as boring.

A company culture that encourages continuous learning and upskilling can motivate employees to get better at what they do. It can add purpose and meaning to the job, giving employees something to aim for. This can improve employee satisfaction across the board and improve retention.

Making Employees Feel Like an Integral Part of The Company

Most industries today have highly specialized jobs. Employees are limited to performing their subset of tasks, having no say in the overall processes of the company. Specialization has proven highly profitable since it maximizes productivity, but it can make employees feel left out of the bigger picture. It’s good that many companies in various industries are moving towards more integrated workplaces that welcome all employees’ input.

A company culture that encourages continuous learning and welcomes new ideas makes employees feel like more than just cogs in the machine. Influencing business processes gives employees a sense of belonging, improving satisfaction and lowering employee turnover.

Improving Job Security

Job security can have a significant effect on employee turnover intention. When employees fear that they might lose their job unexpectedly any day, they’re more likely to accept a job offer from another company that appears to value their skills more. In many industries today, innovations in AI and automation are leaving companies no choice but to downsize and let people go. Innovations in energy can have a similar impact on the renewable energy industry.

When you, as a company, invest in upskilling and reskilling your employees, it reassures them that you value their experience in your company. It lets them know that you will find a place for them in your company in case of future major disruptive innovations, making them less likely to accept offers from your competitors.

Satisfying Employees Who Value Self-Improvement 

Many people are inherently lifelong learners. They enjoy learning new skills and want to continue improving themselves. Such individuals are highly valuable to companies in almost every industry. They’re quick learners who can easily understand even the most abstract ideas and offer innovative insights. However, such individuals easily get dissatisfied with companies that fail to benefit from everything they have to offer.

A company with a continuous learning culture that systematically encourages innovation is the ideal workplace for people who value self-improvement. They can see that the company values their talents and benefits from their input.

Additional Effective Ways To Improve Employee Retention

If retaining talent is your main goal, several other ways to achieve that. Here are some of the most effective strategies to improve employee retention.

Hire People That Are Not on Job Boards

Some people inherently have job-hopping tendencies. They consider switching to bigger companies as a better way to evolve than progressing in their existing companies. Because they don’t have any long-term plans with their employers, they’re also less involved in the company’s evolution. These individuals are also willing to accept jobs from any company that offers high pay and don’t have any motivation to work in any particular company.

Job boards are full of such candidates. People who care about the company culture, philosophy, and values use agencies to find suitable companies for them. Nearly 80% of the 18,000 candidates we have at Whitham Group don’t have their resumes posted on any job boards. If you want to hire people motivated to join your company for reasons other than money, get in touch with us!

Hire Executives With Consistent Management Styles

Management plays a huge role in talent retention. Executives with modern management styles can better ensure employee satisfaction without sacrificing productivity. Something even more important—and often overlooked—is consistency. Employees need to know what they can expect from their superiors in different situations. Executives with inconsistent management styles are disturbing to many.

Whitham Group is a unique executive search firm that carefully finds candidates that suit the specifics of your company. If you currently don’t have an executive with a modern, consistent management style, allow us to help.

Hire Employees That Fit Your Company Culture

Even if you have a company culture that encourages innovation and is ideal for your industry, employees that don’t fit in will eventually leave. This is why hiring people that fit your company culture and not merely meet your basic requirements is important. In addition to evaluating how good a fit they are for your company, you have to ensure if your company is a good fit for them.

Whitham Group is a renewable energy recruiting firm that considers personality traits and company culture. All the candidates we recommend meet at least 90% of your requirements, are willing to accept your offered salary, and are motivated to join your company for reasons other than money. 

We’ve been in the industry for over 12 years now and have built countless lasting relationships in the industry. Our team of executive recruiters also finds candidates best suited to improving your company.

Need help improving employee retention in your company? Get in touch now!

Recruitment is the most critical business process in startups. Hiring people with the right balance of enthusiasm and professionalism is vital to sustainable growth in today’s competitive markets. You need people who can think out of the box but are experienced enough not to repeat mistakes made by other startups. This is a challenge, especially in a niche industry such as renewable energy.

Whitham Group is a leading executive search firm that routinely helps startups find candidates fit for their needs. We specialize in renewable energy recruiting and have been in business for over 12 years. We have built successful relationships with over 18,000 candidates in our database. This puts us in an ideal position to discuss the most effective recruitment strategies.

So without further ado, here are some of the best recruitment strategies for startups scaling their business.

1- Adapt Our 3-Criterion Approach 

While hiring someone as soon as possible may be important for your startup, sacrificing suitability for it is a recipe for disaster. You need to list the criteria according to which you’ll assess candidates for the positions. These criteria can be as open or restricted as you want. We’ve found the following criteria to be the most effective in finding candidates that fit the job description the best:

1. The candidate must meet at least 90% of the required skills and experience
2. The candidate must be willing to accept the salary you’re offering
3. The candidate must have personal interests in the industry and your company, so they’re motivated by more than just the money

Admittedly, finding candidates that fit these criteria can be challenging for startups. You probably don’t have many connections with other firms in the industry. 

If you’re looking for someone for a leading position, you can let our executive search firm find a candidate that fits our 3-criterion approach. We can also help you with renewable energy recruiting if you’re in this industry.

2- Use Competitive Recruiting to Find the Best Fit

If you can find more than a few candidates that meet your basic recruitment, you can use competitive recruiting to find candidates that fit your company the best. It’s not always easy to compare candidates with various skill sets in terms of how useful they’d be at your firm.

The trick is to interview and evaluate candidates in the same time frame. Once you have a list of acceptable candidates, call them for interviews as close to each other as possible. The candidates already meet all the basic requirements. You can better evaluate and compare their skills and aptitude this way.

You get the most out of competitive recruiting if you have many candidates. If you can’t find many candidates suitable for the position, let our executive recruiters do it for you!

Acquire Talent At Conferences and Events in Your Industry 

Conferences and events are swarming with talent. Everyone from experienced industry professionals to enthusiastic fresh graduates full of out-of-the-box ideas attends these events. Whitham Group has been exhibiting at Solar Power International for six years now. We’ve also met many candidates at the Inter-Solar Conference. Most of the candidates you’ll meet there are people with immense interest in the industry; all that matters is if they meet your requirements.

We have a database of thousands of candidates we met through conferences and events. Around 80% of our candidates are those that have never sent out their resumes, perhaps because they only expect to get offers from serious recruiters that consider them a good fit.

Industry events and conferences are only held once a year. As a startup, these conferences will be more helpful in establishing your business in the industry than in acquiring new candidates. If you’re a startup in the energy industry, get in touch with our renewable energy recruiters to find the most suitable candidates from our database.

Choose Candidates With High Social Intelligence

Startups often mistake only considering the industry experience and technical skills when hiring employees. If you’re looking for a candidate for an executive position, we highly recommend considering social intelligence as a major factor. Any good leader will spend a better part of their time motivating others to work better instead of putting their hard skills to use. Executives with high social intelligence may keep your business afloat.

Evaluating social intelligence is a soft skill; just like social intelligence itself, it can’t be taught. If you don’t know how to evaluate social intelligence in a candidate, hire our executive search firm instead! We build long-term relationships with our candidates to evaluate them thoroughly, so you get candidates that are ideal for your startup.

Get an Executive Search Firm to Find Candidates For You

As a startup, you probably don’t have the time or the resources to find the best candidates for your company. At the same time, you can’t settle for a less suitable candidate either. This is where we come in.

Whitham Group is an executive search firm that helps companies find candidates for executive positions. 79% of the candidates we chose for our clients five years ago still hold their position. Around 50% of those have already been promoted. With us, you get ideal candidates for your company and for whom your company is an ideal workplace. We also offer renewable energy recruiting to startups and established businesses. 

Want to find the most suitable candidates for your business? Get in touch now! 

One of the biggest hurdles a company faces is having to look for an executive. There’s a reason why executives generally have to inform well in time that they’re leaving, as the search process isn’t as straightforward as finding any competent individual. The process can often be daunting and take around half a year or so to complete. It’s also a standard approach for companies to hire executive search firms to take care of the task, as they have the necessary resources with their networking to help companies hire the right individual. Here’s all you need to know about it:

What Differs Between a Recruiter and an Executive Recruiter

The typical recruiter will find people to fill a variety of positions, but they generally do not exceed senior managerial positions. Regardless of their niche, they will stick to senior-level positions as their ceiling for the kind of recruitment they can take. Also called head-hunters, executive recruiters are hired to hire higher-ups beyond senior managers, such as managers, directors, and executives for different companies.

Numerous aspects need extra attention, requiring a higher level of networking and understanding to find executives. For this reason, executive recruiters are in a league of their own.

How the Executive Search Process Works

An executive search firm helps companies find the right candidate for executive posts within their ranks. First, the client provides the executive search firm with all of the requirements that they seek from a potential candidate. The executive search firm has its exclusive set of connections and networks, which it consults in conjunction with the provided input from the client to find the best possible candidate for the job.

Here’s a breakdown of all of the steps in the process in detail:

Search Firm Meeting

When it comes to executive positions, the requirements that the client has may be fairly specific. Unlike other positions, clients will generally have detailed needs and requirements for executives and directors. Not only is this necessary to understand what you’re looking for, but many important questions like timeline, company structure, and culture are also discussed in detail.

Creating the Job Description

Once the executive search firm has determined how the company wants to proceed in the future and what its organizational culture is like, they get to work on creating a job description. The executive JD has details like the role and responsibility the candidate will fulfill, what kind of experience is required, what educational requirements there are, and what skills the client is looking for.

Talent Mapping and Sourcing

Once the job description is finished, companies can finalize their search plan. The search consultant forms a list of candidates using different sourcing and talent mapping methods. Companies generally have detailed contact networks, in-house databases, internet sources, and more to find candidates for the job.

The result allows them to have a detailed list of potential candidates that they can get in touch with and work with.

Approaching the Candidates for Interviews

Once the executive search firm has a list of candidates, they will eventually set meetings with each of them. Generally, this process is to filter out most of the candidates. The process is generally detailed and its goal in the first half is to bring down the number of potential people making it to the next stage.

Depending on their needs, the meetings will include assessments and interviews via audio or video call. When it comes to executive searches, companies could start with 100s of candidates with only 10 or even fewer people making it to the shortlist. The search process here is much more rigorous as compared to other recruitment options.

Shortlisting the Most Qualified Candidates

Even when the executive recruiters are down to 10 or so candidates, they do not stop filtering out candidates. Considering it’s such a vital role and the entire process already takes a lot of time, their goal is to limit the final set of applicants to a handful of names. For these individuals, the company might also conduct qualification, background, and skill verification checks to ensure they’re reliable, legitimate applicants.

Client Interviews

After the select few best qualifying individuals have been selected, the client company is also involved in the process. As they get the final say in the matter, they will conduct meetings of their own. Generally, they will narrow down options of their own to one or two individuals and meet them in person to discuss details.

Offer, Negotiation, and Onboarding

Eventually, after a detailed set of interviews, the client will pick one candidate. There are numerous matters before onboarding, such as salary negotiations, that the executive search firm will mediate for both parties to ensure everyone walks away happily. At this stage, the search firm’s work is concluded, and the selected individual will be onboarded and starts working for the new firm.

Be aware that you’ll have to be personalized in your approach, as directors and executives generally have more offers at hand that they could easily pick. You’ll also have to make the right approach to meet their expectations and convince them to take the job.

Important Aspects to Figure Out

Detailed Research

Because executive recruitment takes place less frequently as compared to other posts, it becomes more important to have a detailed understanding of both the post that’s vacant and the state of the industry. The goal is to have all things cleared out to ensure that you’re working with the best pool of candidates. A crucial step is to produce the best possible job description, ensuring that it meets all your requirements. Because it’s an executive-level post, you need to consider elements like industry and company culture in your job description as well.

A common mistake is listing far too many requirements. Your goal should be to figure out only the most essential requirements. This is helpful for the executive search team, as they can solely focus on the right markers that they want to look for when picking a candidate for the listing.

Use Employee Referrals

Even at the highest level, employee referrals play a huge role in the hiring process. Contacts across various social media accounts will lead to many candidates being discovered. Around 48% of businesses believe some of the top-quality hires are referred through by other employees. Another estimate suggests that it’s 55% faster to hire such individuals while leading to25% more profit when compared to candidates hired through other means.

There are numerous people available in the company that might be able to suggest candidates, and it’s a wise decision to work with them in the process and have their recommendations. You’ll have to give a detailed explanation of the kind of candidate you’re looking for to paint a clear picture of the potential person. For example, if you require someone capable of recruiting and developing skilled workers, this is the description you should give. This will allow your resource to find people competent at growing the company size and who have relevant experience in your industry of doing so.

Discreetness and Confidentiality

One of the major mistakes that people make is not maintaining the right level of discreetness during the interview process. Ideally, you’d want to get in touch with them using a private address. Even the top executives and directors can be approached via their accounts. An Experteer study suggests around 77.9% of executive candidates responded positively about being contacted through an online network, and 86.9% preferred being reached out to on their private accounts and addresses.

Maintain a high level of professionalism, keeping confidentiality when reaching out to executive candidates.  Allow them ample time to get back to you.

Understand What They Need

The people that you meet for executive searches have spent a significant amount of time in the industry, having established great careers and achieved a lot in their time. This allows them to have their expectations set. Not everyone is focused on money. Some people enjoy power and influence, while others are passionate about the sector in which they operate. Others are fond of working in competitive, performance-oriented teams.

It’s not just about what the company wants, but understanding what they are looking for. It’s also recommended that you understand their accomplishments and desires, allowing you to offer the right incentives. Such individuals generally have lots of offers lined up, so you also have to sweeten the deal for them.

Develop a Connection with Your Candidates

A major difference between normal and executive recruitment is that they’re focused on building relationships. As the number of people is narrowed down and the person in question is taking on big responsibilities, it’s your task to ensure that you have a personalized take with them. As previously stated, these people are generally in demand and might likely have other offers on the board that they could opt for.

The recruitment team will have to take on some persuasion tactics to ensure that the right client signs the dotted line, which requires you to do your proper homework about the person in question. If a particular candidate isn’t picked, it’s recommended that you get in touch with them to let them know if they’ve made it through or not. Preserving contacts is a recommended practice for the industry. Inevitably they’re a resource that will prove to be fruitful in the future, hence, worthy of maintaining a long-term relationship with.

Other businesses will most certainly be vying for them as well, which makes it necessary that you have a top-notch search experience for executives that makes a difference.

Being Patient

While many will promise you executive recruitment in record times, be aware that these positions generally take months to be filled. At the level of executive search, the people coming in have a lot of authority and major responsibilities and can make or break your business. Executive search firms are fully aware of that and respect that fact, which is why they have such a lengthy process to filter out 100 to 1.

Companies should have faith in the executive search companies that they work with to provide them with the best resources. Similarly, the best search companies will be transparent to you throughout the process, alleviating any pain points and assisting you throughout the process to ensure you get the relevant resource you’re looking for.

Conclusion

Higher top-level resources can often be an arduous process, especially as there are fewer candidates available. To make matters worse, they might be sought-after by many competitors in the industry. Because of the influence of these positions, not only do you have to invest time and money in the hiring process, but you also have to appeal to the candidate to ensure that they’re ready to work for you. You must work with an executive search team that understands the value of company infrastructure, company, and work culture at your business to ensure you have the relevant resource.

Your in-house team may prove to be inadequate, so working with dedicated professionals in the capacity is generally the go-to option. They’ll provide you with transparency and take care of the heavy lifting in the process to help you achieve your goals and find the relevant candidates for your listing.

Work with Whitham Group

Are you looking to hire a high-level resource? You’re better off working with a business that has a strong network of the best professionals in your niche to set you right. Whitham Group is an executive search and recruitment firm. The company’s headquartered in the Bay Area and has a team of experienced, professional executive recruiters, including solar energy and renewable energy recruiters. The company is focused on helping businesses find top candidates for positions like CEO, CFO, director, and high-level managers.

Check out Whitham Group’s website for more information. Alternatively, contact them to learn more.