This article originally appeared in the December 2021 issue of Security Business magazine. When sharing, don’t forget to mention Security Business magazine on LinkedIn and @SecBusinessMag on Twitter.
If you have an amazing lead technician, then you have one of the industry’s most coveted commodities out there. Certified to the hills, hardworking, and a real problem-solver, we all know how hard they are to come by.
The only issue is, at some point either now or in the future, he or she may be looking to get out of the field (as most of them are). As much as a great tech may deserve the promotion, many companies will determine that it is simply not possible. This person is too valuable in their current position, and the service team may suffer without them.
The ongoing technical labor shortage is expanding rapidly. Arguably, the hardest piece of talent to source in our industry, great technicians are becoming more costly. Compensation is a key factor driving their decision-making process; however, after multiple years in the field pulling wire, many of them are actually seeking a way out of the field.
Cultivating Talent
To overcome this shortage, talent farming is the only solution. Cultivating talent starts at home and to use a metaphor, involves planting seeds and watching them grow into tall, sturdy trees. This affords the opportunity to mechanize an organization to have a strong, well-oiled machine and not skip a beat when a talented individual moves on to another role.
The most important step in talent farming is building a career trajectory program in an organization that takes candidates from entry level to senior level – for technicians, this would go from installer to service technician, to programming or project management and beyond.
Find a method with titles and compensation structures that works for your company’s goals and needs. There is nothing wrong with building out an organizational structure with future roles that will become available with company growth, as it gives candidates something to work towards and keeps companies pressing forward.
Set a Roadmap from Entry to Senior Levels
The next step is to build a consistent network of candidates at the entry level. The best methods include going to local high schools and technical schools to get a large enough pool of candidates and showing them a career path in security that most of them will not know about. This process must be repeatable to develop a constant stream of candidates. Also, offering a referral bonus to existing employees can assist with this process.
Once onboarded, the real costs will kick in to certify and train an entry-level tech on multiple products. For best results, hire multiple people at the same time – this saves time and allows for these employees to advance together and learn from each other. Pairing newer members with more senior members is another great way to help them advance.
It does not stop there. Internal promotability must not be based not solely on tenure, and it should be laid out in advance. Tenure is not the best measure of skill; instead, use other tangible milestones like system knowledge, willingness to help other team members and overall performance. Companies need to lay out clear expectations for their most ambitious employees who will want to know what they have to do to advance themselves. Most technicians are eager to learn new technologies and get to the next level. Promotions and associated raises keep them working towards achieving certain milestones, and ultimately, this will lead to an advancement of the team’s overall skillsets.
Successful promotions will come with additional investments into their skillsets, training on programming for example, or helping an employee achieve their PMP certification are excellent options as well as compensation increases.
This method may seem more costly, but such long-term development and investment in an employee’s knowledge will be well appreciated and will instill loyalty.
Ryan Joseph is an Executive Recruiter for Recruit Group (https://recruitgrp.com), with a focus on security industry operations, sales, and sales leadership. For help with your security recruiting efforts, contact her at [email protected] or call (954) 278-8286.
