How Mentoring Improves Recruiting and Retention

Recruiting and training qualified employees is costly. How can mentoring help you improve recruitment and retention?

Effective mentoring can keep your human resources department from operating like a revolving door. You can use mentoring to attract recruits and improve their chances of remaining on the job by providing individualized professional development, training updates, and emotional support.

Offering individualized professional development attracts qualified candidates and helps them adjust to the requirements of a new job. First, mentors help their mentees identify training needs by conducting a skills assessment. Mentors and mentees then work together to create a professional development plan. Individualized training might include instruction from the mentor (within his areas of expertise), other company experts, or outside experts or classes. It should not be limited to what the mentor can provide.

Training should include hands-on experience. According to the constructivist learning theory, learning is most effective when the new knowledge and skills are used on the job, allowing the learner to construct meaning for himself within the context of his interactions with others.

Mentoring also facilitates training updates. With technologies becoming obsolete more quickly than ever before, workers in many fields require frequent training updates to stay on the cutting edge.

Finally, mentors improve recruitment and retention by providing emotional support. In today's environment of reorganization and transitory jobs, the friendship, trust, and stability offered by mentors is a welcome prospect for new recruits. Mentors help new employees adjust by providing guidance and support in a nonjudgmental and confidential environment. However, mentors should not attempt to be counselors unless they have the necessary credentials.

Your company invests time and money into hiring and training qualified employees. Mentoring can help you get a return on your investment. You can use mentoring to attract recruits and increase their likelihood of remaining on the job by providing individualized professional development, training updates, and emotional support.