Many organizations struggle to control their CRA attrition rate, having a difficult time encouraging their CRA team members to stick around. In a candidate-driven market, many companies attribute high turnover to the industry, while other organizations blame the individual who left.

One area that is typically overlooked, however, is that their CRA attrition rate often increases due to the direct or indirect actions of the hiring team. Here are several easily avoidable reasons hiring managers battle to keep their attrition rates down.

You settled during recruitment

You were in such a rush to hire, onboard, and train someone so that normalcy could be restored to the team that you hired the person who was a “close” fit instead of being a “perfect” fit. Refusing to settle is important in the long run.  

You got lazy with the job description

Sounds insulting…and for that, I apologize. However, it is critical to understand that pulling out an old job description and reusing it isn’t always the best route to go. If your job description is vague or inaccurate, not only will new hires leave once they realize the situation isn’t what they signed up for, you may end up dealing with a legal battle, as there are legal parameters job descriptions must abide by. Additionally, if your job description is unclear to the point of looking generic, qualified and career-oriented candidates will not likely apply. 

Candidates were not thoroughly screened

Did you communicate with candidates through email? How many people in your company spoke with them? And a better question: is your hiring team trained to properly interview candidates?  Did you ask ‘tried and true’ competency questions to qualify them? Did you dig deep into their past experiences to ensure they were up for the tasks associated with the position?

Once hired, New Hires feel undervalued and dispensable

Do not be afraid to give praise and make your new team members feel good when they accomplish their goals or complete tasks. Team members who feel valued by their company have a deeper sense of loyalty and will be more inclined to stay.

The New Hire’s relationship with management is unsatisfactory

Finding the right personality fit is important. Hiring someone who needs a lot of guidance but putting them into the hands of a ‘hands-off (pun intended) manager will be disastrous. Whether your new team member feels micromanaged, under-supported, or feels their opinions are ignored, team members will seek a job change if they are unhappy with the relationship with their superiors. This can be resolved by ensuring each team member onboarded fits your management team’s management style.

There are no work-life balance initiatives

You might be surprised at how much more engaged and positive your team members will work when they are allowed to balance their lives. We get it; there are definitely times when team members must have ‘butt in chair’ but providing flexibility where positive is a must.  Your team members will be much more willing to work those extra hours and long nights to get the job done if they are allowed to leave an hour early on Fridays to catch their kid’s baseball games or take a Monday off to visit with their parents.

Reexamine each part of the hiring puzzle if you’re battling to lower your CRA attrition rate. Yes, it could be the market.  And yes, it could be the individual candidate.  But if you focus on areas you, as a hiring team, can address, consider evaluating your methods for recruiting and screening candidates, show pride in your team members and their work, and try to hear and respond to each team member’s voice.

Decreasing Your CRA Attrition Rate

Once you have identified the root cause of your high attrition rates, acting quickly and decisively is important if you want to get that attrition under control. High attrition can create a poor working atmosphere and may drive the need to offer higher compensation in order to keep your top talent. 

Focus on your pre-interviewing process

Interviewing a candidate is a middle step between finding a qualified applicant and hiring one, but what happens before the interview can often go overlooked. It’s obvious when a candidate doesn’t interview well, as that is what the process is for. However, a poor interview doesn’t mean the candidate isn’t qualified.  

What is not so obvious is whether or not you should waste your time speaking with them at all. Doing your due diligence upfront while scrutinizing their resume, references, and work history will help you narrow to a smaller pool of star candidates so that your interview is simply the last step to identifying the perfect personality fit. We have more tips for the pre-qualification process here. 

Utilize your network

Are you working to get your organization back on its feet after an unfortunate series of hirings gone wrong? Then, take full advantage of your network and its members. If you’ve done your homework, then it is likely that you have an entire network full of industry professionals with the skills to perform within your organization or connections to find someone who will.

Invest in growth.

One way to ensure that your CRA attrition rate stays low is to invest in developing the team members you have. Not only does this improve the quality of workers in your organization, but it also gives your team members something to work towards while they are with you. Offering avenues for growth is essential in motivating a workforce; without them, your best performers may leave for better opportunities that do offer career development.

Be wary of fraud

In a market where job candidates are flying off the shelves, the prevalence of fraudulence is bound to grow. The market is tighter than ever, and the high demand has also led organizations to rush their search for the right candidate as well as ignore potential red flags that may betray fraudulence in an individual’s application. There are several ways to identify fraud, one primary way being education: check out our blog post on the topic for more information.

Never settle for unqualified candidates

It has been said before, and it will be said again: the market is tough right now. Finding qualified candidates is more challenging than ever. It can be tempting to settle for an applicant that isn’t everything you wanted but at least checks the majority of boxes. Do not do this. Settling for candidates who do not meet your qualifications or fit your company’s culture will cost you more time and money in the long run when you are hiring their replacement. It is better to wait for a more qualified individual upfront.

Consider outsourcing your search

Recruitment, unpredictably, can be the hardest part of running any organization. Finding the right people, vetting them, and training them can take up a valuable chunk of any professional’s time and may even end in hiring unqualified individuals. Consider outsourcing your recruitment to an organization like craresources. We have made it our job to recruit qualified CRAs for our clients, utilizing our network of thousands of qualified candidates across the countries to ensure you get the right hire every time.