By Nate Mickelberg
Photos by Paul Flessland
Event Details
WHO: Dale Carnegie and Preference Employment Solutions
WHAT: Training series aimed at HR professionals, marketing teams and C-suite leaders
WHEN:
• Tuesday, March 14, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m.
• Tuesday, April 11, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m.
• Tuesday, May 9, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m.
WHERE:
Eide Bailly
4310 17th Ave. S, Fargo
WHY: To help your business w/ recruiting, engagement & retention
HOW MUCH: 3 for $149, 2 for $99 or 1 for $49
Have you noticed that your recruiting, engagement and retention efforts are not working like they used to? Here in North Dakota—with our 3 percent unemployment rate—our talent pool can often feel more like a puddle.
Today’s efforts to attract and keep the right people on your team involve thinking differently and more creatively than your competition and collaborating with multiple departments.
We talked to two thought leaders on the subject, Bethany Berkeley from Dale Carnegie of ND & MN and Heather Ostrowski with Preference Employment Solutions, to learn more about their upcoming, three-part series, “The Talent Advantage: Get ‘Em, Love ‘Em & Keep ‘Em.”
They’ll use current trends, research and processes that you can start using immediately to create your own talent advantage.
Session 1: Get ‘Em
Session Overview:
+ Gain an advantage from your competitors by focusing on your Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
+ Find talent in unusual places: internal recruitment, local and outside our community.
+ Unique ideas for attracting talent that get results
Ostrowski: “We’re looking at how important the Employee Value Proposition is in attracting the right employees. The EVP is really what you offer along with your salary—your culture, how you’re connected to the community, how flexible you can be allowing for a work-life blend. The EVP is basically everything beyond that paycheck.
“And then Kati Munion, with her HR background, is bringing to the table: How do you recruit from within? It’s creatively looking at the talent you already have with your existing people.”
Berkeley: “Yes, and then that helps with employee engagement. If you’re looking outside first and not giving your employees the opportunity to grow and advance, that can cause a negative culture. When people have the opportunities and they know that they’re going to be cultivated and their strengths are going to be utilized in different ways, then it’s an advantage to everyone. Plus, onboarding is expensive.”
Ostrowski: “The EVP in a nutshell is why would someone want to work for your company.”
Berkeley: “What sets you apart?”
Ostrowski: “Another thing we’ll touch on is the fact that different departments really need to come together, especially when they’re creating the messaging and trying to attract the right people. Leadership, HR, marketing, it’s all intertwined.”
Session 2: Love ‘Em
Session Overview:
+ Employee-engagement trends and research
+ Social-employee networking
+ Maximize your engagement, from first impressions to onboarding.
During session two, you’ll improve your engagement efforts through onboarding and maximizing efforts of your social employees.
Berkeley: “When it comes to engagement, it starts at the beginning—from the job description to the interview to the onboarding process. It’s using the EVP effectively during these steps. If there is a misalignment anywhere during the attracting and recruiting process, the engagement and retention won’t work either.
“We’ll talk about engagement trends and research during this session. We’ll include all industries and all generations–this isn’t just for Millennials. This about 2017 and our future. We’ll discuss how crucial engagement is at the beginning to help employees dive in, perform well and be a part of the company as a whole.
“I’m hearing the community talking about the shift in the competitive advantage of the job-seeker. They are having multiple interviews with several strong companies and that makes it crucial that recruiters are not dragging their feet or responding quickly enough to keep them engaged during the interview process.”
Ostrowski: “It goes back to the EVP and the employer brand—considering what makes you unique as an organization and then leveraging your talent to help you spread the word on social media. Your engaged employees are a powerful voice, as they are 270 percent more likely to refer a friend to work for or with your company.”
Berkeley: “That’s a good point. And you will see many staggering statistics in our workshop that come from the research Dale Carnegie has done worldwide. In our research, we’ve also discovered the engagement driving factors:
1) Belief in senior leadership
2) Pride in the organization
3) Relationship with management”
Why they’re partnering
Ostrowski, who was employed with Dale Carnegie for more than two years, says that as she transitioned to a client relations role at Preference, she was surprised at the similarity of conversations she was having with her new clients.
“A hot topic in town right now is: How do we recruit?” Ostrowski says. “’How do we engage our people? How do we keep them?’ I hear this over and over again.
“In trying to answer those questions, I’ve really been able to lean on the information and resources from Dale Carnegie, and so it seemed like a natural fit then to pair Preference—with all our clients and knowledge of the local business community—with the research and expertise of Dale Carnegie.”
Berkeley adds that “The Talent Advantage” workshop really grew out of the two organizations coming together to meet what they saw as an obvious local demand.
“We came together as a team a few months ago and were trying to collaborate on ways to meet some of the community needs right now,” she says. “We know that it’s a really competitive environment to not only attract employees but then to keep them and sell your value. And as Heather alluded to, we were having very similar conversations.
“We’ve been around as an organization for more than 100 years and are always continuing to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of our community.”
Session 3: Keep ‘Em
Session Overview:
+ Learn what your employees really want from their careers.
+ Culture is not one-size-fits-all. Apply ideas to get and keep the right talent for your culture.
+ Hear best proven practices from a local panel of culture experts.
Ostrowski: “We invest a lot of time and money in getting and loving our people, right? So keeping them is also definitely on the minds of most of our clients and something we talk about often. I think the third session is really going to grow a little organically from what we uncover in the first and second sessions.
“We’re going to be doing a panel in that third session with people and companies who are really getting it right and have proven longevity:
1) Brad Bolin – Pan-O-Gold
2) Holly Thingelstad – Integreon
3) Shannon Bock – CCRI
4) Mike Busch, Border States Electric
5) Ryan Fritz – Office Sign Company
“Another important thing to mention is that we’re really trying to capture both small and large companies—the small budget and large budget. When people go in and hear a culture talk, they often think, ‘I can’t do that. That doesn’t work for us. It’s not in our budget. Our people will think we’re crazy.’ And so we really want to appeal to everyone across the board.”
Berkeley: “Publicly traded companies, ESOPs, nonprofits, we’ll have a representative from each area. And different industries, too. This isn’t just professional services. We’re going to focus on manufacturing, distribution, nonprofits, tech.”
Ostrowski: “And if you’re not familiar with what a Dale Carnegie workshop looks like, it’s very engaging. You’re not listening to us up there. I always encourage people to come with their teams because it’s going to be great discussion.”
Berkeley: “This isn’t a ‘Come sit down and watch a PowerPoint for two hours.’” This is designed to get out of your comfort zone a little bit. Be prepared to learn, stretch your brain and be flexible for the day. It will be concrete, it will be creative, and it will be solutions that people aren’t going to be able to look for and find online.”
To register:
northdakota.dalecarnegie.com/events/the-talent-advantage
To learn more about Dale Carnegie or Preference Employment Solutions and how they can help your business grow:
Dale Carnegie
dalecarnegie.com
4310 17th Ave. S, Fargo
701-476-8734
Preference Employment Solutions
preferenceemploymentsolutions.com
2600 9th Ave. S, Fargo
701-293-6905
