Recruiting and retaining talent for Capital Region businesses right now
By Todd Kehoe – Research Director, Albany Business Review / June 8, 2020
Unemployment numbers have been at record-setting highs in recent months, but that doesn’t mean companies can take their eye off the ball when it comes to recruiting.
That was one message from the Albany Business Review’s “Talent Quest: Attract, Train, Hire Retain” virtual event held Friday morning, June 5.
More than 200 people registered for the panel event featuring David Dussault, CEO of P1 Ventures; Roger Ramsammy, president of Hudson Valley Community College; and Renee Walrath, president of Walrath Recruiting.
Three takeaways from the discussion:
1. Some companies are still hiring and expanding
Renee Walrath’s biggest piece of advice to people looking for a job: Be positive.
That goes for recent graduates just starting their careers all the way up to executives who might be considering a new position.
“A person gave me a call, C-level, and I called a client of mine and said there’s this candidate. They said ‘Renee, we’re just not hiring right now’ … but they did a Zoom interview a few months ago, and they recently hired this individual,” Walrath said.
David Dussault of P1 Industries, which makes parts for companies in the power generation and oil and gas industries, said he saw the pandemic as a time to go on the offensive in sales and marketing.
His company has secured new orders from around the globe in the past 60 days. As an essential business, production hasn’t slowed during the Covid-19 crisis.
“I’d tell college graduates, and I know it’s a cliche, but sometimes the greatest adversity creates the greatest opportunity,” Dussault said.
2. Some changes brought on by the pandemic may be permanent
Roger Ramsammy, president of Hudson Valley Community College, said the school had to leap forward “a whole decade in two weeks.”
When Covid-19 prompted the cancellation of in-person classes, professors had to adapt immediately to new methods of teaching and new technology.
Ramsammy said HVCC is continuing to create new learning opportunities in shorter-term online courses as well as preparing for mostly distance learning in the next school year.
“People are waking up and realizing it’s not always the degree that matters, it’s about the skills that you have that matters,” Ramsammy said.
While most courses are likely to be online in September, Ramsammy said labs and required clinical courses could be offered via smaller in-person groups at the Troy campus.
For Dussault, the biggest change he made was scheduling at his factories.
P1 shifted to to a seven-day schedule but dropped second- and third-shift work as a way to have fewer people on the factory floor.
One result? Productivity has been up 25% since March.
“We’ve had incredible success with this. I don’t think that’s gonna change for us,” he said.
3. Don’t forget about retaining employees
Recruiting is one thing. Retaining your staff should also be top of mind at a time of upheaval, Walrath said.
She says her team is stronger now than it was before the pandemic.
“I trusted them, they were working remotely and knew what they were doing, I paid salaries and benefits … not all companies out there are being as kind to their employees. And they remember that,” Walrath said.
Published: Wed, 10 Jun 2020 14:30:17 +0000 by d.gardner