Leslie Doane
Senior Vice President of Human Resources
DWA Healthcare Communications Group
Finding the Perfect Fit
Leslie Doane knows a thing or two about recognizing the hard work of others. Over the last two years, her team has placed nearly 175 new hires and facilitated more than 180 internal job transitions. These efforts have made a huge contribution to the overall health and success of DWA while driving employee retention and satisfaction.
In late 2014, DWA and its affiliate companies were growing rapidly but seeing an unusually high rate of turnover and lowered employee satisfaction rates. Leslie and her team knew something had to give, so they redesigned their hiring process from start to finish focusing on a few core values.
Those core values, called the H4S—healthy, hungry, humble, honorable, and smart—became the key to determining which candidate should fill which position. That care in the hiring process involved treating every candidate as though they were the next big talent. But the next key was making sure the person wasn’t just a right fit for the company, but the job.
So in what Leslie and her team have dubbed the “realistic job preview,” candidates have the chance to sit down with a current employee in the role they’re applying for to get a real feel for what the job will entail. In addition to spending more time with a candidate to gauge if their personality will be a fit culturally, it gives the candidate a true sense of the job requirements and corporate culture. Additionally, new employees were hired as a class to give them a feeling of a “homeroom” and the sense they have someone going through the on-boarding process with them.
Other tactics included a revamp of the talent acquisition process, pumping up the employee referral program, an improved presence on LinkedIn, articles and advertorials in industry publications, and developing university partnerships.
Ultimately, retention rates for new hires have steadily increased, and new employees are finding themselves in roles more suited to their individual skill sets. Genuinely reflecting the H4S, Leslie insists on recognizing her team for these successes. “This was truly a massive team effort to execute a multifaceted recruitment campaign.”
