Why is your business not training talent?

Typed page in typewriter that says "Bestest English for gooder grammar."

Why Is Training Important?

I’m so glad you asked!  Before I answer this question, I want to give you a bit of background.  I’ve worked for several companies, domestically and internationally.  I only worked for one American company that has ever conducted training when coming onboard as a new hire.

After being in the Navy, to me it was surprising that companies didn’t train their people.  In the Navy, we spend our time training (and cleaning) when we’re not on watch (aka shift work).  We also trained people on watch, because it was important for them to understand both principles and application of those principles.  Prior to going onto watch, we were spending a couple of hours every workday training for our job.  There was never a work shift day that we didn’t train on a system or otherwise.

In the civilian world, the opposite is true.  In fact, I remember several times over the years asking for training only to be denied.  The reasons were always rather baffling why.

The Dollars & Sense of Training

Did you know that training talented people is cheaper than the hiring process? It’s also going to be faster than hiring a new person.  Let’s talk about the reality I’ve seen in the last 20ish years.  While in service industries, it may be that it takes as little as a week or two to hire someone, it can take around 45 days to bring an engineer through the hiring process.  These averages I took straight from recruiting websites and Indeed.  However, with talent analytics, it can take over 52 days to find the right person.

Now, I’m not going to discuss hiring practices in this blog.  I have discussed job advertisements in a blog, but that’s not the total picture.  In the very least, it will cost about $4,000USD according to Glassdoor, to hire someone new.  But, it can cost as much as 30% of a new employee’s annual income to hire new talent.  In the State of Oregon, where my business is located, Oregon workers averaged $55,027USD (in 2019).  Obviously, these averages change based on the industry in the state, but you get the point.  At 30%, you’d be paying an additional $16,508 for that new hire.

Onboarding a new hire, an average employer spends about $1,500USD to train a person.  Of course, this depends on your industry, company size, and the type of training.  That’s a big chunk of change. It goes further when you think about shifts in productivity.  It’s puzzling to think about, but in the US (and UK), businesses lose an estimated $37Billion because of workplace ignorance.

Ready to talk about setting up a training program? Contact me at info@atomicdumpling.com

Anna Pilette

Anna Pilette

Owner & Project Director, Atomic Dumpling LLC.

About a million years ago, I was in the Navy. After, I worked for a bunch of companies and eventually realized that their business practices left a lot to be desired. Today, I’m helping small businesses and freelancers avoid mistakes and build their own brands.  You can follow me on TikTok or where.  You can also reach out for help info@atomicdumpling.com

Are your job advertisements doing the job?

image of newspaper clip for a job advertisement

Job Adverts Written to Anyone

Writing a job advertisement seems like it should be a straightforward project, right? Your business needs extra help, you know what you want them to do, so you write a job advertisement for a job board. Viola! You’re interviewing in no time!

While those seem like logical steps, clicking through Indeed and LinkedIn is telling me otherwise. We need to talk, folks. Your job adverts kind of stink now let’s talk about why.

A job ad should be hyper-focused on explaining what the role encompasses and be directly written for the individual you are looking to hire. Again, this seems straightforward, but it isn’t. Most of the jobs that I review are written from a boilerplate template (straight from the job board) and give very little information about the company, role, or who you’re looking for.

What to include

The Basics of Good Job Advertising

What we need is a solid list of information that your business needs to advertise. This is marketing after all, and you want to put your best foot forward. It’s also an exercise in sales. You are selling your company to potential employees to attract their talent. Their talent adds to your business capabilities.

The list first needs basic outlined, think of it as what, why, and where of your business. Then we discuss the who and how.

  1. What does your business do as a whole?
  2. Why does your business need help?
  3. Where will the employee be working?

Let’s start breaking these three points down.  

First, you need to explain in a paragraph the business section you’re hiring for. This provides context to potential employees and hopefully will spark their interest to apply. It also provides a bit more background about the job role that we’ll be getting to. Nothing in this section should be found on your website, the point is to outline the department and the function of that space.

Second, why does your business need the help? Providing a little bit of information helps a potential candidate weigh the role further while rounding out the context for the hire. This is the part where you’re discussing the longevity of the role. Will you be hiring a permanent employee, contract, or temporary? It’s also good to discuss if you’re open to independent contractors.

Third, you’ll need to discuss where a person will be working. Is the role a remote position or in an office?

While almost every job posting lists What, why, and whereas a single word bullet point, you can strive to write better descriptions. Remember, this is an advertisement, the entire point is to market your business and advertise it! Providing a little more detail, in the beginning, is going to save you time down the road.

Yes, You Need to List the Compensation

This brings me to the next part. This is where you lead with how you plan to compensate someone for the role. Compensation is imperative to a job advertisement. I’m not sure why people don’t put details on the ads. And don’t give me “because anyone will apply”. People will apply for jobs if they think they have a shot at getting them. You’re missing the mark if you are not spelling out compensation, including the base payment of salary information. I can tell you that I skipped these job listings routinely because I knew companies that did not list their salaries were out to lowball people.  

Everyone expects the basic compensation package to include medical, dental, and vision. If you’re looking to hire, you need to step up your game and provide a base salary, how much PTO/Sick Time, and the extras you plan to give people. Lay it all out on the line and explain it.  

Totally as a side note, I’ll just tell you to know, that if you give a salary range, everyone will ask for the top of the range. Here’s another freebie for you too, if the compensation you provided is too low, you’d better reevaluate the role.  

The Meat and Potatoes of Job Advertisements

Crack your knuckles cause we’re about to dig into the good stuff. Next, we need to discuss the how what, and who of the job advertising. 

This is the heavily detailed section of information that explains what the job is and who you want doing it.

I guess I need to talk about something that is continuously overlooked in job advertisements. When you write a blanket explanation that anyone can do, then expect anyone to apply. This means you are not advertising to your target audience. Which is a giant waste of time and money.

Breaking this down to basics:

  1. What responsibilities and authorities does the role encompass?
  2. How will a person be completing the role?  
  3. What tools does a person need to know to complete the job functions?
  4. How competent must they be to correctly do the job?
  5. Who is the ideal candidate that you are writing to?

I’d like to point out that while number five on the list is last, this is the theme for the entire job advertisement. “Who is your ideal candidate?” is the reason you’re advertising and that is your target audience. 

Throughout this blog post, I’ve asked you to consider this advertising and sales. This means that the writing you are doing is both technical in nature and persuasive.  

Who you are writing to needs to be considered. Moving forward, you need to provide a detailed outline of their responsibilities and the authority they’ll have in carrying out the role. This means that there’s an expectation for an experience level as a guide with additional competencies that also need to be examined.  

Lastly, how a person is expected to complete the work must be explained. What tools does your company possess? This means providing details for software, hardware, equipment, etc. 

Bringing this information to the forefront narrows the pool of individuals that will feel competent to apply.

To Advertise or To Hope, that is the Question

Ideally, you are looking for a single person in a sea of candidates. How do you want to spend your time? 

Do you want to write a detailed job advertisement and candidate description? Or do you prefer interviewing the applicants to a generic job ad that might get you the right fit? Which is more valuable to you? Should you spend time fleshing out the ideal candidate on paper? Or bringing in multiple candidates for interviews? I know which I’d pick.

If you need help writing job advertisements the right way, feel free to reach out to me. I’ve spent a lot of years as a hiring manager and building competent teams. You can reach me at info@atomicdumpling.com

Anna Pilette

Anna Pilette

Owner & Project Director, Atomic Dumpling LLC.

About a million years ago, I was in the Navy. After, I worked for a bunch of companies and eventually realized that their business practices left a lot to be desired. Today, I’m helping small businesses and freelancers avoid mistakes and build their own brands.  You can follow me on TikTok or where.  You can also reach out for help info@atomicdumpling.com

Is Quiet Quitting A Thing?

desk with notepad saying "I quit"

Um, What’s Quiet Quitting?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve now heard about quiet quitting. People (that aren’t Gen X) have figured out that killing themselves by overworking themselves isn’t cool. This sweet term started on TikTok (because, of course, it did) as people realized that they just don’t get paid enough to make work their life. Then they decided to post about it on social media.  

I think all of us (hi again from Gen X) are already tired, and the younger generations are just catching on. However, we’re handling it differently. So, as I sit here and drink my coffee at 3 am, let me show you how.

LinkedIn is in total meltdown and having full-sized tantrums, and so is the Wall Street Journal. I bet if we wander over to Fortune Magazine, yes, there it is. 

So, what’s the big deal with this new term?

It’s not a new concept (I’m coming in hot from Generation X since we have a bit of a reputation for being the forgotten slacker generation). Most of us figured out that life requires balance and that dying for a job isn’t exactly fun. Generation Z is starting to figure it out while being super vocal about it. Looking at the pandemic, they’ve figured out that life’s a bit short to live to work. All major media has picked up on this and lets the cat out of the bag. You can find articles from news sources here: The GuardianNPRMarket Watchand Fast Company, you get the point.  

Reading these news sources is like listening to my chief back in the Navy. It’s both eyeball roll-inducing and exasperated sigh levels of bad business.

QUOTE FROM WSJ 

“It’s not about the quiet quitters. It’s about everybody else and the unfairness that occurs there,” said Amy Mosher, chief people officer at human resources software company isolved. If quiet quitting leads to performance issues, she said, those workers should be let go to find jobs that truly engage them.

QUOTE FROM FAST COMPANY

One thing not to do is jump on the bandwagon of a four-day workweek, which some organizations seem to be hoping will serve as a one-size-fits-all Band-Aid to address every concern they have regarding employee engagement and morale. I love the intention and I understand the surface-level appeal of this idea, but I disagree with its utility. 

QUOTE FROM TIME MAGAZINE

Taylor, who, as a CEO himself leads a team of over 500 associates, advocates for his employees taking time off when they’re feeling overworked, but he doesn’t see how embracing quiet quitting will be helpful to employees in the long term. “I understand the concept, but the words are off-putting,” he says. “Anyone who tells their business leader they are a quiet quitter is likely not to have a job for very long.” 

How do I protect my small business from quiet quitting?

Here’s some perspective about quiet quitting, People don’t see a point to the hustle. Each of these articles that are pro-business is forgetting that people drive a business and a business relies on its people. They are your greatest asset. Let’s look at what to do as a small business owner. Here’s the super short list:

  1. Anything in those articles places blame on your worker unless you want them to leave altogether. 
  2. Listen to your employees.
  3. Compensate them correctly.
  4. Stop creating toxic work environments and expecting people to love them.

Ok, that’s it. You’re welcome. Now get back to work.

Anna Pilette

Anna Pilette

Owner & Project Director, Atomic Dumpling LLC.

About a million years ago, I was in the Navy. After, I worked for a bunch of companies and eventually realized that their business practices left a lot to be desired. Today, I’m helping small businesses and freelancers avoid mistakes and build their own brands.  You can follow me on TikTok or where.  You can also reach out for help info@atomicdumpling.com