Sixty percent of all Millennials are open to a new job at any given time, making them the original “Job Hopping Generation.” A recent article from HR Magazine found that employees are most likely to quit their jobs in January. Unsurprisingly, this is usually related to an already dissatisfied employee’s New Year’s Resolution to “find a new challenge.” However, employers can avoid the January labor turnover by solidifying their own hiring practices. If turnover is particularly high in your organization, here are a few ways to change your hiring practices.

Diversify your Talent Pool

Companies that are gender diverse and ethnically diverse tend to outperform their homogeneous counterparts by up to 35%. Most high level executives want to have a diverse staff but struggle to find good candidates. Often, this is because staff members have little time to promote the job opening on various channels on top of their normal duties. They also may reuse the same canned language that attracts only white, male, able-bodied workers. Focusing on skills (such as “quick learner” or “dedicated”), highlighting benefits (like maternity or paternity leave), and discussing training opportunities are great ways to attract candidates from various backgrounds.

Find Quality Search Consultants

This is particularly true if you’re looking for high-level executives and/or those working in areas such as human resources. The higher up you go in the food chain, the more difficult it becomes to find the best-fit candidate. Building a relationship with a boutique agency–say, HR executive search consultants or executive search firms–allows you to build a talent pool and to draft a hiring protocol for future openings. HR executive search consultants don’t do talent acquisition themselves; rather, they can advise you on how to find the right candidates and how to implement effective hiring practices later.

The Interview is Just the Beginning

Numerous studies show that the biggest reasons employees leave are performance issues, poor skills match, and unclear performance objectives. An easy way to avoid this is to carefully screen candidates during the interview process. Traditional behavioral interviews are great ways to get a sense for how a candidate ticks, but pre-employment tests also give you an idea of your applicants’ skill set. HR executive search consultants may advise you to give an HR candidate a cognitive aptitude test, while those who will be working with tech or data should complete a trial task. This gives candidates a good feel for the day-to-day work and allows you to quantify the skills of your applicants.

Working with an HR consulting company is an excellent way to refine your hiring practices. Experts agree that they are a must for large companies and those that are expected to grow. Finding the top executive recruiting firms now is the best way to guarantee high-quality candidate pools later.

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