BerganKDV recruiter Tricia Raper will travel nearly 5,000 miles in the next two months to visit college campuses scouting out the firm’s future leaders. CEO Dave Hinnenkamp knows how important these recruitment campaigns are for the firm, he was the firm’s first intern, hired in 1984 when the company had less than 20 employees. Today, BerganKDV is a nationally ranked firm with more than 360 team members and is growing its talent pool every day.
“We are a professional services firm; our success is solely dependent on the talent that we have in our ranks to deliver ‘wow’ experiences to our clients,” said Hinnenkamp, “We actively seek out people who not only have the technical skills for the job, but more importantly, are in alignment with our values. We want to find people who are as passionate about helping others as we are and who are always seeking to better themselves professionally and personally.”
Recruitment season on college campuses runs through October, but recruiting is an ongoing pursuit for the firm. In fact, talent recruitment and retention is so important that a significant investment in time and money is being allocated to ongoing efforts in this area, with Hinnenkamp playing a critical role. The theme for this year’s Intern to CEO recruiting campaign features not only information from Hinnenkamp but also an advertising campaign targeted at several of the universities where the firm actively recruits students. Hinnenkamp will be sharing tips with students on career development via a series of blog posts and will be on campus at several locations throughout the Midwest in the coming months to meet student first hand and visit with them about their career aspirations.
Traditional recruiting strategies are used by the firm as well, such as online job postings but the firm emphasizes and encourages team members to refer people they believe would be a good fit to the talent team. One in five staff members are found through this recruitment strategy. When a staff member refers a candidate who is hired, the staff member can receive an incentive amount for the referral.
“People who fit our culture will naturally know others who would also be a good fit for us,” said Talent Director Cori Power, “Once we find a candidate who is a great match, we immediately connect them with the support they need. We have a great talent development program to make sure our team has the tools they need to be successful in their roles, so they can deliver on our mission for our clients.”
The firm’s talent development program pairs new employees with a buddy to help them acclimate to their new work environment. New employees are also assigned a mentor as a guide for the first several years of their career to help them grow and develop. Longer range career planning, technical training and an extensive leadership development program are provided on an ongoing basis.
The result of this type of talent investment has yielded a retention rate that is higher than industry standards with a turnover of less than 13% annually. But more importantly, the talent recruitment and development program is a vital piece of the puzzle for BerganKDV to continue to grow a contagious culture where growth is fostered and making a difference means something. To find out more about careers at BerganKDV visit bergankdv.com/careers.
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