In 1978, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, writing in the Harvard Business Review, warned of an aging American workforce and an "outstanding peak in job mobility".  Twenty years later McKinsey and Company identified a "war for talent" in the U.S. that would last for several decades.  In late 2006, SuccessFactors, Business Performance Management Forum, and the Human Capital Institute conducted a Talent Management Survey.  Their research showed that the "battle for talent was intensifying".  Today, winning this battle is vitally important to any company's success. Indentify a Value Proposition  To attract and retain top talent organizations need to create and continually refine an employee value proposition that answers the question of “What’s in it for the employee?”  To do that an organization must know the answers to two questions:
The first looks at: knowledge, work attributes, skills, and experience, the latter looks at culture, perks, and opportunities.  All are equally important in creating a value proposition that will attract and retain top talent. Complete KASE Matrices and Organizational Assessments Creating KASE Matrices and identifying essential competencies for essential positions and leaders will identify the requisite knowledge, work attributes, skills, and experience.  Organizational assessments provide information about its culture, perks, and opportunities. FirstStep creates custom surveys to assess organization culture, employee attitudes and/or satisfaction, as well as internal and external customer satisfaction. We identify areas in need of improvement and strengths that can be leveraged in recruiting and retaining top performers. Follow Up with Branding and Marketing Armed with knowledge gained from assessments, FirstStep facilitates collaboration between HR and Marketing to create branding strategies and materials that resonate with both internal and external talent.  By periodically reassessing competencies and culture, we are able to refine and adjust your brand message to ensure it is timely and competitive.