Matt Wood
WIIFM? (Pronounced, Whiff-'em)
WIIFM?
As in, "What's In It For Me?"
This is a common question anyone who's buying anything, be it a product or service, will consistently ask of the seller. What do I get for my money? What's the benefit to me of buying this product or hiring this service provider?
Sometimes, it's an easy answer. If you're hiring a plumber to fix a leaky pipe, you know what the benefit is going to be, no more leaky pipe. It's the same if you're buying a hot pastrami sandwich from a local food truck. You know you're going to get a great sandwich at a decent price that will, hopefully, satisfy your hunger.
Other times, such as when you're looking at consultants, it's not so easy. For example, I've been asked, "What's the benefit for my company to hire Suiting Green?"
If you read my post the other day, the answer to this question will be much like that post, "It depends." It depends on a lot of things. What are you, as the company, looking for and/or to do? How serious are you about wanting to hire from the military community? What do you want you military hiring program to do for your organization? Are you looking for cheap labor, or do you want more skilled people with experience? Do you want technical specialists or jacks-of-all-trades? Are you looking for someone with experience in XYZ, or from a certain branch of the military? Are you looking for people who are able to work remotely and understand the complexities of doing so from various locations around the world?
There are a lot of variables that need to be addressed before we can really dive into the meat and potatoes of how hiring Suiting Green Consulting will benefit a company. However, the biggest benefit will be showing your company how to be more intentional and effective in your military hiring efforts, if your company is truly serious about hiring from this talent stream. To break this down, Suiting Green will look at how your company is currently approaching recruiting from the stream. Are you utilizing the "spray and pray" methodology hoping that you'll hit something, or are you being more precise in your approach by looking at some of the areas addressed above?
Once we've helped narrow your focus with your recruiting efforts, we'll look at how your recruiters are processing resumes with military experience on them. In doing so, we'll identify ways to pull out specific soft skills and traits that can fill roles within your company, while leaving room for growth. Things which may not be quite as readily identifiable to someone without military experience or knowledge, but are areas your company has said you want ideal candidates to possess.
Beyond the recruiting effort, we look at how your company leadership is trained when it comes to interviewing and understanding former military personnel or military spouses. What kind of questions to ask to really understand the scope of their abilities and responsibilities, and what kind of questions not to ask. This will drive your company more towards a talent mindset when it comes to hiring, as opposed to hiring just to fill seats, which will make a huge difference in the quality of people working for you.
Our whole process will dive into your onboarding, employee engagement, and retention programs, and how you can utilize current employees who may be former military professionals or military spouses, to make all of these areas more effective. Doing this, while it can take time and effort, will net significant gains for your company in terms of employee retention and savings. The retention aspect alone will be a cost saver since your company will not need to deal with employee turnover as often, or as much. This can save tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars that would be spent on recruiting, hiring, and onboarding.
However, if your company is okay with employee turnover costs, then I'm not the right person to work with. If you're okay with employees who feel underemployed, disengaged, and are not being challenged, we are definitely not a fit.
If you want the benefit of having employees who enjoy working for your company, who encourage others to come work for you, employees who are upskilled and can train others as well, and employees who genuinely want to make your company a better place, then we should definitely talk.
So, what's in it for you to work with Suiting Green? You will have a company that is not only military friendly, but actually military ready, and has a competitive advantage in the marketplace due to the quality of people you are employing. It's not easy, and it's not cheap, but the savings over time will more than make up for the initial cost to get started on this path.
I want your company to be successful. I want the people you hire, especially those from the military talent stream, to be engaged, appreciated, and effectively employed so that they stay with your company and encourage others to be a part of your success. Lastly, I want your company to be the epitome of "Military Ready" because you know what it means to truly and effectively employ top talent in the form of former military professionals and military spouses, and you're not just out there saying you're military friendly because "it briefs well."
Let's build your success together. It's time to hire smarter!