A competitors poaching of new recruits is every recruiter’s nightmare, especially if it involves a lot of time and effort invested in the process on the part of the recruiter to find that right candidate. As if this isn’t enough, but now we have to watch out for new employees being poached by competitors. Now that’s just great….; that’s just what I need right now!

Most recruiters feel exactly the same way when they’re efforts come to nothing after that much of work. So the important questions that comes to the fore is, are there any “Ways to Stop Competitors from Poaching your talent?”, if so then what are they? Therefore, let’s find out…

Have an Anti – Poaching Agreement

Corporate s can create an Anti – Poaching Agreement right at the beginning and circulate it within their competitive circle. This will ensure that you’re new recruits or key staff members from becoming victims of competitive poaching. In truth I’m not sure how you’ll be able to do that as recruiters and headhunters have at least four different ways i.e. via phone, email, social media and face to face; of contacting your staff members both in and out of work and there’s nothing that you can do to prevent this. So the best way is to create a resistant environment that is not susceptible to poaching for your staff.

Extend the Standard Notice Period

Since new recruits are likely to jump to another company it would be preferable to prevent them from being poached by extending the standard notice period to a longer duration. This means that the newly joined individual will have to go slow which might increase their chances of switching jobs. But it can to some extent reduce their chances of switching jobs.

Introduce a Bonus Scheme

Having a bonus scheme for new recruits is a great way to attract and get them to stay for a longer duration by informing them that they will be given a bonus at the end of the month but the organisation will give the bonus at the end of the year instead if they remain an employee. This will motivate them to stay knowing that they are applicable for a bonus at the end of the month.

Negotiate with the Competitor

If you’re aware of the possibility of a star player’s poaching then you can bring in your negotiations skill to the poaching company to hold on to critical staff. This will convey a strong message that you are not a soft touch where poaching is concerned. This will automatically get them to back off if you’re convincing enough.

Changing times, a Call for Action

Well the other times when employees are more susceptible to poaching is during times of drastic changes such as layoffs, offices being relocated for whatever reason, strategy changes, restructures, influential departures, rumours, etc. all of these events cause employees to be uncertain and out of control. Therefore, it is essential for recruiters to monitor their staff on regular bases. This will help recruiters to know which of their staff is likely to move due to uncertainty. If possible make sure you squash any rumours circulating within the organisation that can prevents your working staff from staying on.

Work Culture Hiring

Remember to interview the potential candidates about the work culture to find out if they will fit in to the work culture that is practiced. This is an important aspect as most candidates may not approve of the way things are done and this gives them reason enough to change a job acquired recently or to look for a job change after a considerable amount of years spent at the current organisation.

Another aspect that we sometimes forget to take in to account in the midst of trying our level best to keep our key staff members is that they sometimes choose to switch jobs of their own accord. As recruiters we need to keep in mind this aspect before we decide to go all out for key players and send them off with a good note. There you have it, everything that you can do on our behalf to convince, ensure and keep our star employees to stay on and to continue to be a vital part of our organisation. Hey there don’t go just yet, do let us know your views and pointers that we have missed out on in the comments section as we’ll be glad to add them to our next post.