Editor's note: Posts published on From the Workplace are written by outside contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of SHRM.
Throughout my career, I have worked with employees across different industries, countries, and work environments. I have recruited technical and operational personnel and supported specialized professionals whose jobs may require travel or relocation for projects. One lesson has followed me through these experiences: finding the right person is only part of the job.
A company can spend weeks searching for someone with a specific skill set, make an offer, complete onboarding, and consider the position successfully filled. But what happens next? If that employee leaves a few months later, the company may be searching for the same position again.
That is why I believe organizations should ask a broader question: Do we have a workforce system that not only helps us find specialized talent, but also sets that talent up for success?
Anticipating Workforce Needs
In project-based industries, recruiting should not always begin when a job requisition arrives. Workforce needs can often be anticipated. What projects are coming? What skills will they require? Does Talent Acquisition or HR receive that information early enough to prepare? Clear communication among project leadership, operations, HR, and Talent Acquisition can turn an urgent search into a planned one. Building talent pools, maintaining relationships with qualified candidates, and understanding who may be available for future assignments can make a significant difference.
Organizations should also examine how they search for talent. Are they using the platforms where their specialized candidates actually look for opportunities? Are referral programs producing results? Are employees giving feedback about those programs? If a sourcing channel is not working, is anyone adjusting it? A workforce strategy should not remain unchanged simply because “this is how we have always done it.”
Assessing Specialized Support for Employees
Specialized employees may also require specialized support, particularly when travel or relocation is involved. Salary and standard benefits matter, but they may not tell the entire story for someone being asked to spend weeks or months away from home. Companies should consider transportation, lodging, schedules, opportunities to return home, and what happens when an assignment ends. They should also explore whether relationships with hotels, airlines, transportation providers, insurance providers, or other organizations could improve the employee experience while helping manage costs.
This part of workforce management is personal to me. I am bilingual and have worked professionally in both Colombia and the U.S. I know firsthand what it means to leave your country, family, language, routines, and everything familiar and learn to function in a different environment. Relocating to another state for a project is not the same as immigrating to another country, but I understand something important about both experiences: a career opportunity can be exciting and difficult at the same time.
My international experience has taught me to listen before assuming that everyone experiences work, communication, change, or relocation in the same way. Behind an employee accepting an assignment may be a spouse, children, parents, responsibilities, and an entire life that does not disappear because a good professional opportunity has arrived.
Supporting Employees After Hiring
Hiring also cannot be where the relationship ends. Who checks on the employee after arriving at the project? Does someone ask how the transition went? Is there a way to identify problems with travel, housing, schedules, expectations, or the work environment? More importantly, what does the company do with that feedback? Retention should not begin when someone gives notice. By then, the conversation may be happening too late.
Building a Better Strategy for Talent Acquisition
After years of working with people, I no longer think the most important question is simply, “Do we have a good recruiting process?” I would ask: Do we anticipate workforce needs? Do the right teams communicate early? Do we know where our best candidates come from? Are responsibilities clearly defined? Do our benefits reflect the realities of the employees we want to retain? And after we hire an exceptional employee, who is making sure that person is actually set up to succeed?
We often hear the expression, “Happy wife, happy life.” After years of working with people, I have developed my own version: Successful employee, successful company. Finding exceptional talent matters, but creating the conditions that allow that talent to succeed, stay, and contribute may matter even more.
Jenny Alejandra Idarraga Velez is a Talent Acquisition Specialist at Ethos Solutions with experience in workforce attraction, recruitment, retention, and employee engagement across technical and operational environments in the U.S. and Colombia, including renewable energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, transportation, and logistics.
Was this resource helpful?
Validate your HR expertise
Earning your SHRM-CP credential makes you a recognized expert and leader in the HR field.
Related Content
Transform HR with mobile technology to streamline workflows, enhance communication, and boost employee engagement across distributed teams.
A new study found that talent development practitioners believe performance-based assessments are more effective at measuring employee learning outcomes than knowledge tests.
As AI makes deeper inroads into organizations, employee concerns about the technology continue to grow. Here's how HR leaders can address the fear of AI among their own staff, as well as in the wider organization.