Investment in Talent Pays Off For Businesses

Published by Kathleen Houlihan on June 27, 2022

Here are a few reasons to consider investing in talent during this time of record low unemployment.

1. Using education to attract and retain talent is cost-effective. Paying job boards to post an entry-level, site-base position to reach candidates across the nation, wastes time and resources. Because job boards are keyword driven, they are designed to filter candidates out rather than filter candidates in. Only 35% of career seekers find their job using the position title, which is the main filter when using job boards. Because of the pandemic, candidates are searching for remote positions and the job boards can’t handle this search request uniformly, meaning quality candidates get missed and don’t become part of your prospective applicant pool. A better solution is to work directly with local educational providers when on ramping new talent. Not only can the educational system provide a talent pipeline, but it can also provide motivated candidates who want to grow with your organization. These prospective employees are also invested in the local community making them more likely to stay and thrive within the company.
2. Here is a link to five studies, conducted in collaboration with the Lumina Foundation, that show talent development is worth the investment for businesses. Education related solutions offer a 5X ROI and inspire hope by upskilling current workers, which builds a community around education.
3. Communities can work together using education to provide “collective impact”. Organizations have a shared mission to attract and retain qualified talent and organizing locally helps to streamline the messaging by illustrating career onramps that simplify outreach to students and career seekers. Harvard Business Review, recently conducted research with 73 business leaders, and they uncovered the need for this type of collaborative process which includes a “common agenda, explicit goals, metrics to measure success, and a funded “backbone” organization to ensure continuity.” This process can also benefit from a shared communication strategy like the one provided by the Horizontal Industry Framework.
4. The most innovative companies are using education as a strategic talent advantage. InsideHigherEd and CNBC show how companies like Chipotle, FedEX, and Walmart are using education to attract and retain top talent. These companies are not only using education programs, they are expanding their offerings with new employee-focused training solutions. These companies are offering their workers something more than a paycheck, they are on ramping them into dream careers and providing their employees with a strong sense of belonging. By taking an interest in their employees’ personal and professional growth, they now have loyalty in the culture which provides an opportunity for relationship building in fun and engaging ways, consequently, helping employees to live their best life.

If you would like to discuss opportunities for your organization to use education as a strategic advantage, contact Dream2Career.

Dream2Career (D2C) is a women-owned RPO agency that reimagines talent acquisition and optimizes the system for candidates and employers. D2C provides human-centric solutions that filter-in candidates who exceed expectations in the workplace.