Nancy Drees began her career in staffing 25 years ago, and during a decade at a large staffing firm, she learned anything and everything possible about recruiting.
After a brief stint at a mobile application development company, she founded Vacaré Group in 2014.
Located in Boston, MA, Vacaré Group provides strategic consulting services for talent acquisition, employment branding, and recruitment process improvement for national and international companies.
Nancy was awarded the Smart CEO award from Brava in 2016, was recognized as one of the leading recruitment professionals in the greater Boston area, and consistently tops LinkedIn’s Recruiting List. She has been instrumental in the growth of many startups, and several of her clients have won prestigious technology awards.
Nancy joined Carl Lewis, host of The Connected Enterprise podcast, to chat about all things recruitment.
Finding Candidates
Small businesses sometimes struggle to find quality candidates. Often, it’s because they think the process involves posting a job, collecting résumés, and picking their favorite candidate.
“That’s not how people find jobs anymore,” Nancy says. “They’re networking and using digital platforms.”
To attract the right people, Nancy advises looking closely at your website and tailoring content to capture candidates’ interest.
And don’t underestimate the power of your employees—they can be your best ambassadors.
“They’re your biggest cheerleaders,” Nancy says. “They work at your company for a reason. And studies show employee referrals are one of the best sources of quality and long-term hires.”
But if you don’t have the time or resources to recruit, leave the heavy lifting to the experts. A recruitment partner direct sources candidates and generates interest for you.
Update Your Profile
On the flip side, if you’re looking for a job, dust off your LinkedIn profile and make it shine.
“LinkedIn is the biggest job-hunting tool out there,” Nancy says. “It’s widely used across demographics, from people coming out of college to 20-plus-year career folks looking for new jobs.”
According to Nancy, your LinkedIn profile is more important than your résumé. Recruiters constantly scour the platform, and it’s where you’ll get found.
Keeping Candidates
Here are Nancy’s top five tips for organizations to turn new hires into long-term employees.
Number one is strong leadership.
“The right leadership lives and breathes the company culture,” Nancy explains. “And that becomes contagious within their teams.”
Number two is feedback—good, bad, or indifferent.
“People don’t want to guess if they’re doing a good job,” Nancy notes.
At Vacaré Group, she takes a few minutes each week to talk to every employee. In addition to giving feedback, she asks them how they’re feeling, if they’re having fun, and if they’re experiencing any challenges.
Number three is work-life balance. It’s essential, and you should be flexible and offer remote opportunities if you can.
Number four is offering adequate advancement possibilities and training opportunities.
Number five is compensation.
“At the end of the day, people want to get paid fairly for the job they’re doing,” Nancy concludes. “Know what the market rates are and be competitive with them. Otherwise, you’ll lose people.”
Listen to the Podcast
For more insights from Nancy Drees, including whether it’s time for employees to go to the office five days a week, listen to Vision33’s The Connected Enterprise podcast. In each episode, host Carl Lewis interviews bright minds and industry thought leaders about enterprise technology and what’s coming next.
