As The Economy Continues To Grow And The Challenges Of Recruiting Top Talent Remains, A Sign-On Bonus Could Be Just What Is Needed To Get The Candidate A Company Desires

Sign-On Bonuses Are Back

The purpose of a sign-on bonus is to lure top performers who possesses special skill sets or experience a company requires. For years this added incentive has been very successful for recruiting senior level executives as well as professionals in particular industries to include professional services, healthcare (nurses), technology (especially women and software developers) and financial services. But sign-on bonuses are coming back strong and are used for all levels of recruiting. Just last week Wells Fargo announced plans to sweeten recruitment bonuses to lure new advisers. Sign-on bonuses can be just what is needed to land a high potential candidate in this very challenging recruiting environment. This type of bonus may be the incentive or an inducement to get a candidate to say "yes" to the job.

Sign-on bonuses don't necessarily need to be huge when enticing someone to join your company. Unfortunatatley for some companies and roles, companies may not have much of a choice other than offering one. For example, when a candidate's acceptance is critical and the need to do whatever it takes to get the candidate on-board, offering a sign-on could get the job done. But the size of the bonus can vary. According to an article in HR Magazine, the average amount of these bonuses ranges between 5-20% of a candidates base salary unless it is used for relocation expenses or a way to compensate a professional for money that may be left behind such as a bonus, commission, vacation or raise. Most of the time these bonuses are good for each party.

A Sign-On Bonus Not For Everyone

As we all know, a sign-on bonus is an expense for corporations therefore companies try to refrain from having to offer one, unless it is truly needed. Of course offering a sign-on bonus can motivate a professional to choose one company over another, but company's need to be sure it is necessary before offering one. Before offering a sign-on bonus to potential candidates, hiring managers as well as recruiters need to seriously analyze the situation, the competition, the job market, and of course the candidate to determine whether a sign-on bonus is necessary before moving forward with one.

Sign-On Bonuses Can Be Well Worth The Cost

Sign-on bonuses have been known to build trust, loyalty and can create long-term positive effects for employees who received one. Those who are offered a sign-on bonus often feel more committed and have a desire to do more. These candidates feel the company went the extra mile for them and they need to do the same.

Just saying....

Sheila Greco

sgreco@sgatalent.com

"People Are Our Greatest Assets"

Please note that before we hire, it is a must that we have identified a professional who can fit our company culture. To us, it is just as important as skill sets and educational background. Therefore, as you can imagine, part of the training includes committment and engagement into our culture.

As a small services company, our people are the company. Having said that, each professional needs to be engaged, committed, productive and add value. Therefore training new employees is important to the both new hire and the company. We take training seriously.

Today's focus is on the training of a new research professional.

Training to us includes shadowing, on the job training and baptismal by fire! It starts with explaining what we do, the process, the methods used to do the job and why what we do is important to our clients. Once explained by the leader, the new hire spends the day shadowing the "best" on each team. For the next day the new hire sits, watches, listens, is taught how to use tools and shown our proprietary process. Day 2 is repeat Day 1. On the third day a project is given to them to run with while having an experienced SGA team member watch and teach. This step I believe quickly determines if someone has what it takes or not. On day 5, if they survive, the new hire is given a mentor.

Overall we try to create a positive learning environment that encourages development and employee confidence. We are all about positive feedback. We are not about any type of negativity. One of our slogans is, " If you can't do it here, you can't do it anywhere." We want people to do well. Our company is for the strong, the fearless, the results driven who are committed, passionate and understand the importance of providing superior services to our clients. We believe our training process and mentorship program is part of our success.

Lastly we have created an environment that continues to play on an individual's strengths not weaknesses. Everyday the team is open to learning and navigating unchartered waters. Either way we have created a solid team and continuous training which has become part of our company's DNA. I must say that it helps having experienced, engaged leaders, teams, and individuals who believe in achieving excellence.

In closing, research is not for everyone, nor can everyone do it well. We have focused our hiring efforts on keeping only those who are sponges for information, find it interesting, love to learn, find joy in getting the information requested while understanding the need for quality and speed. Needless to say many have come and gone, but we have maintained a great team throughout our 25 year journey. Now in a hiring mode, we will certainly be focusing on training to be ensured new hires are keepers. We are seeking those who are good for the company and our clients long-term.

Believe in training!

Happy Hunting!

Sheila Greco