OVERCOMINGHIRING

supplement that with things that we know employees want," she adds. “They want flexibility. They want to know that their employer cares about them. They want to know that their work is meaningful."

3) Experience. What if you can't pay for that fully licensed producer with a decade of on-the-job experience? “If you can't raise your compensation, you've got to lower the job," Lucas says. “There are a lot of people that would love to get on-the-job training."

“The biggest challenge is finding capable talent in our industry right now," Davis says “We do pull from within the industry, but we're also willing to hire and train employees when it makes sense. I found that we can hire some really talented individuals that are a couple of years out of college and just haven't found that right career path."

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Agencies may be fixated on the level of experience or certifications they think they need, and therefore costing themselves resources by looking for a unicorn. “We've had agency owners that have wanted experienced customer service reps that are licensed, and they took so long to find that they could have hired somebody without the licensing and gotten them licensed within the amount of time it took for them to finally find talent," St. John says.

Red Carpet Premiere: Job Postings

After determining the criteria to attract the talent you need, the next step is posting the casting call. The key to crafting a stellar job advertisement? Above all, be transparent.

“What it really comes down to is strongly advertising the things that make you a competitive