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Recruitment and retention

On-line recruiting system

Recruiting and retaining employees is a top priority for Washington state agencies according to the FY 2023 HR Management Strategy Roll-up Report. Hiring and retaining talented employees is essential for an agency’s well-being and for maintaining productivity, engagement, and customer satisfaction.

Best practices and resources

We've compiled a list of best practices and resources to help agencies attract and retain talent. Click on the + sign to expand each section.

Job posting

Promote equal opportunity, eliminate barriers in the application process, and provide realistic job previews for all potential applicants. 

Best practices

  • Use the Diversity Resource List to find professional associations that may post your jobs.  
  • Use social media, professional associations, and Business Resource Groups to build a recruiting network and candidate pipeline. 
  • Use WorkSource employer services and featured employer events. 
  • Use testimonial videos linked to job postings and agency websites. 
  • Provide applicants maps to libraries and other free wi-fi locations. 
  • Promote your telework positions to open statewide applicant pools. 
  • Critically review your website to evaluate if recruiting/hiring is prioritized and accessible. Move "careers" link to the top of page. 
  • Use unbiased language in job postings. 

Challenges

  • Electronic applications and virtual hiring events can increase barriers for some, especially if they are not made accessible. This in turn impacts applicant pools by decreasing the number of applicants who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision. This can also create barriers for people without internet access. 
  • Job posting language and requirements may create barriers to diverse job seekers. 

Resources

Applicant screening

Eliminate barriers that reduce qualified diverse applicants moving through the applicant screening and selection process.

Best practices

  • Evaluate how diverse/marginalized groups move through the application process – find gaps and address those barriers. 
  • Make sure the recruiting teams and hiring managers are using competencies to balance experience and education. Don’t exclude anyone that can meet the competencies. Decide if the education requirement is necessary. Use experience for education substitution wherever possible. 
  • Competencies are job related behaviors, matching skills with evidence of competencies in the applications. 
  • Create intern programs or in-training options for less experienced applicants.
  • Promote and support informational interviews. 
  • Create “virtual interview rooms” and offer training and prep to applicants for virtual interviews. 
  • Consider and try to reduce or mitigate all forms of bias: employment gaps, veteran’s status, name, education, address, etc. equivalencies

Challenges

  • Lack of knowledge surrounding unconscious bias and its effect on the screening and selection process. 
  • Hiring panels lacking diversity. 
  • Gaining larger, more diverse applicant pools that meet minimum requirements. 

Resources

Interviewing

Eliminate barriers that reduce qualified diverse applicants moving through the applicant interviewing process.

Best practices

  • Provide the questions in advance - the same amount of time for every interviewee.
  • Build in a cushion of between interviews to assure there is equity for candidates in case there are tech difficulties.
  • Conduct a "tech-check" with candidates at least one day prior to their interview. 
  • Ensure everyone gets equal time to answer questions. 
  • Create best practices and require training for panelists around implicit bias. 
  • Train managers on the importance of diverse panels. 
  • Consider using DES's Mitigating Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process course.
  • Try other methods (besides testing and interviewing) to evaluate. Use projects, skills evaluation, working problems or scenario questions, and provide candidates copies in advance so they can prepare. 

Challenges

  • Virtual meeting platforms can cause tech disruptions during the interview, making it hard for applicants to concentrate on answers/responses. If technical issues arise, consider rescheduling the interview with the candidate. 
  • Should we offer alternatives to remote interviewing, or will there be issues if the process is not the same for everyone? 
  • Getting the panel trained/on the same page with competency/behavior-based interview goals. 
  • Selecting a diverse panel. 

Resources

Reference checking

Obtain quality reference checks that verify the candidate possesses those competencies that are established as needed in the competency/behavior-based interview process.

Best practices

  • Follow the same guidelines as a competency/behavior-based interview to verify the competencies identified in the interview. This means asking about examples of real accomplishments, challenges and behaviors, rather than asking hypothetical questions. "How did they ..." instead of, "How do you think they would ..."
  • Rely on professional instead of personal references. 
  • Consider asking references if there is someone else you should contact for a professional reference. 

Challenges

  • Knowing the difference between a reference check and a job verification. A job verification confirms employment, while a reference check often includes additional information such as achievements, strengths, performance, and behavior in the previous job. 

Resources

Onboarding

Goals:

  • Hiring managers are equipped with a variety of best practices so new hires/promotions, particularly in remote locations, feel connected, engaged, and welcome over the first year of employment.
  • Hiring managers are equipped with a variety of best practices to support an inclusive work environment where new employees/promotions can bring the best version of themselves to the job and contribute productively as soon as possible to the mission.

Best practices

  • Connect new employees to the Statewide Business Resource Groups during New Employee Orientation.
  • Create an accessible onboarding resource webpage for managers and new employees.
  • Use a welcome interview to set the groundwork for ongoing conversations.
  • Use a new employee orientation buddy program where new employees are paired with a current employee to assist with those day-to-day questions, tasks, and to assist with orienting them to the agency culture.
  • Take pulse surveys once a week for 12 weeks to see how things are going and to gather suggestions for improvement.
  • Conduct "Stay interviews" at the 30-day point and again at 6 months.
  • Base initial professional development conversations in strengths-based competency development (the same competencies used in the interview) and continue development and performance metrics for retention.
  • Ensure employees aren’t separated for lack of skills/knowledge which the agency should be providing through training.

Challenges

  • Challenges to provide social connection remotely or even in-person, which leads to isolation issues
  • Technology issues (virtual meeting etiquette, meeting fatigue, bandwidth). 

Resources

Employee development

Equip managers with a variety of training, best practices, and resources to prioritize retention through development strategies.

Best practices

  • Make sure connection happens. 
  • Coaching and career development. 
  • Operationalize relationship building at work. 
  • Practice coaching one-on-one, in remote environments it is more difficult to connect.
  • Have discussions rather than asking questions. For example: What are three developmental areas you are interested in? What steps have you taken? Use SMART goals to coach with encouragement. Identify what goals they want, not just what they need.
  • Create conversations around career pathways and find ways to support, even if that means the current position is a steppingstone to something else. Few employees will stay long-term. If we want a growth mindset in our employees, we must support a growth mindset environment and expectations.

Challenges

  • Managers fail to realize the importance of career development as a primary engagement factor.
  • Managers don’t know how to "coach" someone to development goals. 
  • Goals don’t end up being set by the employee, the manager tells them what they need to do. This leads to no discovery and no buy-in.

Resources

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