What’s one of the best ways to make sure new hires don’t quickly become retention problems?

Give them a realistic picture of what the job will be like before they’re hired.

Sometimes, hiring managers will oversell the job in order to hook a desirable candidate. That may work in the short term, but those employees might not be with the company very long.

Here’s what managers should be clear about with applicants:

• The job — It all starts with an accurate, well-written job description. Get help from current people in the position or people who have been promoted out of it.
• Time expectations — No employee wants to be surprised that a new job requires them to work overtime, holidays or weekends. They need to know roughly how much time the job takes, how flexible scheduling is, etc.
• Culture — Would you describe the workplace as a high pressure environment? Laid back? Ask candidates what environments they thrive in and let them know what it’s like to work for your company.
• Room for promotion — An easy way to make a new hire quit early is to promise him a quick promotion and then not deliver. Let applicants know how soon typical employees in that job advance. If expectations are too high, employees will soon feel stuck.

Tags: job preview, Retention, turnover