Attracting + Retaining Employees

The job market has done a 180 degree turn from 2020 to 2021. The early impact of COVID-19 led to a massive increase in furloughs and layoffs and a decrease in hiring across many industries as business leaders were forced to navigate the uncertain waters of a global pandemic. Throughout 2021, we have seen a serious bounce back in the job market. There are more job opportunities available and great talent is difficult to attract and retain! 

Know your WHY 

Now more than ever, your company’s WHY is deeply important. With more jobs available, a clear company mission and values is key. Throughout the pandemic, many candidates have expressed fear about transitioning during a time of uncertainty. Knowing and communicating your company's WHY can be a huge advantage in motivating top talent to make the switch. 

Flexibility 

Listening to the shifting needs of both current and prospective employees is imperative when making company-wide decisions. The pandemic has shined a light on an employee's ability to do quality work from home. In 2021, we are finding that hybrid or fully remote opportunities have made their way to the top of candidate priority lists. While not a conducive set up for every industry or position, ensuring that your employees feel heard and have the resources they need to be successful in their onsite or remote work environment is critical. 

Checking In + Creating Opportunity 

The isolation associated with the pandemic revealed the desire and need for human connection. Regardless of your philosophy on remote or hybrid work, make sure you are providing opportunities for connection outside the zoom screen or office space. Show your employees you appreciate them and find creative ways to facilitate the occasional meet-up. It's important to let your employees know how their work is making a difference and moving your business forward. Offering incentives and creating opportunities for professional growth helps your employees feel connected and valued.

Drastic circumstances force us to reflect on our usual personal and professional rhythms. As a business leader, taking an active approach to understanding the changing needs of your workforce is the key to sustaining and growing your team. Things like knowing your company's WHY, getting creative with flexible options, and offering unique opportunities for your employees to succeed will take your business to the next level! 

A message from Elevation’s new CEO, Emily Martin!

I joined Elevation Search Solutions after completing my undergraduate degree at Furman University bright-eyed and eager to learn the ropes of business. More than any specific function, I wanted to work with smart, thoughtful people in a dynamic, people-focused industry. I am immeasurably grateful that Brian Hoppes, Elevation’s Founding CEO and Board Member, made the decision to invest in me. I did not know I would still be at Elevation Search Solutions five years down the road, let alone that I would have the opportunity to lead our company as CEO! 

Reflecting on my years with the Elevation Search Solutions team, I could not be more excited about the future of this incredible organization! I have watched Elevation grow by leaps and bounds each year as our team has built a robust national portfolio of clients across multiple industries. From successful senior to executive level placements to a network of outstanding candidates and supporters, our team has celebrated many big wins. Most recently, Elevation has powered through the profound challenges introduced to the broader recruiting industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From a near standstill in hiring in 2020 to the current hiring frenzy in 2022, the effects of the pandemic have shined an even brighter light on the ever-increasing need for excellent talent. Elevation is meeting this need head on! 

I had a mentor recently ask me, “What keeps you at Elevation?” Though Simon Sinek may disagree, my answer is the “Who” and the “How” rather than to the popularized “Why”. For me, the “Who” is the critical engine that fuels Elevation and that includes our team, investors, clients, candidates, and advocates. The “Who” drives the “How”, which is the unique model developed by recruiting veteran, Brian Hoppes. It is a white glove service model rooted in integrity and a deep understanding of our client’s business strategy, long term goals, AND culture. I am proud of the unwavering mission established by our Founders:

"Elevation delivers talent to our clients with unmatched precision and seeks to spark the infinite potential of our team, our clients, and others around us by cultivating the freedom found in the entrepreneurial spirit."

Operating with integrity, curiosity, and precision is the foundation of this team, and I am excited to honor and build upon that foundation as we move our business forward!

Let's Launch 2021 Together!

WE DID IT. We powered through the unique challenges and discoveries of 2020, and we are ready to launch into the new year! Elevation's core values fuel our team, and we want to share a few with you to hold onto as we all plan our new year's goals.  

Reach higher. Embrace a challenge. 

We embraced the challenge of 2020 and are taking what we have learned into a brighter new year! What are the ways we can personally and professional reach higher? Perhaps it's by waking up one hour earlier to exercise, read, or meditate. It could also mean stretching yourself by setting a new professional goal. Leaders: equip, challenge, and motivate your employees to reach higher. Encourage them to embrace new challenges. Motivate them to try new things and think outside of the box!  

Stay curious. 

This year has taught us to adapt and innovate. As things continue to shift, it is critical to open our minds to new business and team strategies. Explore new avenues to connect with employees and engage with clients and industry experts. This can look like virtual interviews, remote team building activities, mental health resources or something unique to your industry. Whatever it is you engage in, let’s stay curious, agile and open to new ways of operating as things continue to evolve!  

Do it the right way, always. 

Be respectful and honest in what you do. Be the leader that stays true to your values and empowers your organization to operate with integrity. This year has brought unique challenges for many but something that sustains us and speaks volumes is how we take care of ourselves and others. 

Stepping into this new year, Elevation wants to remind you to invest in yourself and your people. Let’s build communities of advocates, innovators, and future leaders. Find people who align with your values so you can continue building a strong, sustaining foundation. Engage partners that understand your culture and goals AND want to help you and your company strive for excellence! 

If you are an executive leader looking for a true partner to help you scale your team, Elevation is here to help! We serve as an extension of our clients in competitive talent markets across the nation to engage top talent. If you are curious to know more, we would love to talk: retained@elevationsearchsolutions.com.  

From the Elevation team to you: Be well, stay safe, and happy holidays! 

Elevation’s “Top 5” for Candidates and Clients

What a year it has been! The Elevation Search Solutions team is actively keeping a pulse on trends in the job market as company leaders and candidates respond to the effects of COVID-19. Company needs are shifting, and like many, we expect an increase in remote work. Companies across all industries are being challenged to assess their workforce needs and potentially adapt with technology. Therefore, we are closely monitoring the evolution and expansion of remote work as well as workforce automation. We also predict there will be a need to refresh talent due to the demand for new skillsets as business needs shift. Due to the many demands being put on businesses there may be a need to find more qualified candidates for current roles to improve their business. So how do we practice and prepare as we look forward? The Elevation team has put together a “Top 5” guide for our clients and candidates. 

Elevation’s “Top 5” for clients: 

1. Keep it real 

   Whether it’s with your existing employees or prospective employees through the hiring process, keep it real! Check in regularly with your existing employees to ensure they have the support and mental health resources they need. We are all human, so let people know you’re human too!  

2. Reach out a helping hand 

   If your business has been impacted by COVID-19 and you have had to lay off or furlough employees, you can still be an advocate for them. Take a moment to give them a recommendation on LinkedIn, offer to serve as a reference, or even utilize your network to help them transition. Every gesture counts and you never know if your small act can open a door for someone! 

3. Hiring? Be responsive 

   Are you a company that’s hiring and in desperate need of fresh talent? First of all, let us know how we can help by emailing us at retained@elevationsearchsolutions.com. Secondly, be responsive! Even if a candidate is not a fit for your organization, take the time to follow up with them.  

4. Stability amidst the instability 

   In this season of uncertainty, you are not going to have all the answers for your employees. With that being said, empower and ground them by making decisions based off of what you know today. Providing employees with resources, opportunities to connect virtually and regular business updates will help facilitate some sort of stability.  

5. Be open 

   Create a safe space for your employees to share new ideas. We are learning new things every day and building a team environment reflecting different and diverse perspectives will take your business to the next level.  

Elevation’s “Top 5” for candidates: 

1. Spruce up that resume 

   Been meaning to update your resume for a while? Now is your time! Build it out, make it more visually appealing and highlight things you want an employer to notice. Start by adding a 2-3 sentence section at the top highlighting who you are and focus on utilizing strong action verbs when describing your key accomplishments in previous roles. 

2. Social Media double take  

   Do you think employers just look at your resume and application? Think again, and do a double take on those LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter posts. The way you represent yourself on these platforms reflects your values and voice! 

3. “Zoom room” 

   Since we are shifting from in-person to virtual connection every day, Zoom and other similar platforms are here to stay. Create a “Zoom room, or a comfortable, professional place to set up your virtual shop.  Find a neutral background, set up your phone/computer so the interviewer can see from your shoulders up, and find some peace and quiet. When the time comes for a video interview, you’ll be prepared! 

4. Follow up 

   Email the hiring manager to thank them for their time and consideration. Be consistent, considerate and follow up so you stay on your prospective employer’s radar and get regular updates on the status of the opportunity. 

5. Utilize your network  

   Reach out to your network to share your background and what you’re looking for in your next role or company. People who know and trust you are most often your best advocates when considering a transition! 

Whether you’re a client or candidate, we are all in this together as we navigate the unpredictable COVID-19 job market. Reach out to us at retained@elevationsearchsolutions.com if we can be a recruiting partner as you expand or build your company or if you want to learn more regarding our rapidly growing clients seeking fresh top talent.  

What makes us different you ask?

Let me take you back to my final year at university, deep in job search mode. Methodically identifying and applying to the interesting jobs that fit my skills and career goals. Most of the time, I heard nothing back, sadly considering it progress should I be worthy enough to receive even the most impersonal of automated responses along with some vague note about the job not being a good fit. Discouragement began to set in as all around me friends were experiencing similar frustrations.

As all recent college graduates like myself know, once you begin your first job search it doesn’t take long before all kinds of people start coming out of the woodwork to share their sage advice about what you “should” and “should not” do- how you should dress for interviews, how many networking events you should be going to, how much you should talk in that first meeting, and so on. One particular pearl of wisdom stuck with me, though. Nail my elevator speech. 

As fate would have it, I found myself one day on a phone call with Brian Hoppes, the founder and CEO of Elevation Search Solutions. And here is where I find myself now, sponsoring my first event as an Elevation recruiter, my ears ringing with all that well-meaning advice as I mingle with the plethora of developers in attendance. One soon approaches and bluntly asks the inevitable, “So what makes you guys different?”. Instantly I draw a blank as my carefully crafted elevator speech leaves the building. But only instantly, as I found that it was the easiest question I’ve answered in my two months here.

So, what makes us different? It’s the PEOPLE. Not a well-rehearsed talk track, a top-notch CRM, or a solid network. I respect the people I work with, and I am blown away by their passion for growing our business. It motivates and challenges me to pay that forward to each candidate and each client we partner with. Elevation isn’t in the business of making quick, thoughtless placements. We are in the business of treating candidates as people who are willing to let us join in on the next chapter of their career. We are in the business of helping our clients build their companies as if they were our own. 

I personally experienced what it’s like to move through the hiring process with the Elevation team. They took time to get to know me beyond my resume and helped me understand how my strengths could contribute not only to the team but to the growth of their business.

I joined Elevation because I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in my team. And I believe in helping people and businesses move forward. That’s the kind of value and attention you can expect when working with the people here.

-Emily Martin

Cat People and Dog People

A respected local businessman I know recently gave me some insight on one of his best kept secrets to hiring success.  Aside from just being flat good at his trade, why do I always have a superior customer service experience every time?  How does he do it?  I wanted to know.

Turns out, there really is a lot of truth to training, hiring the right people, and making sure those hired people enjoy working together and working in general.  Unhappy, unmotivated employees are not going to be able to provide meaningful contributions on a long term, consistent basis. 

Yes, yes, of course.  But specifics, please.  

“In the interview, I always ask the applicant if they are a cat person or a dog person.  I tend to hire dog people, unless I need a real task master or ops person.  In those cases, I hire cat people.  They enjoy being left alone, but come out to play when they want to.  They’re also completely self-sufficient.  They don’t really need me and the claws come out when you do something they aren’t keen on.  They keep everybody else in line.  You know, Forbes wrote an article on Cat People vs Dog People several years after I talked to my staff about it.  One of them brought the article in to show me one day.  ‘Look!  You were right!’.  I thought that was pretty neat.”

I have yet to read the Forbes article.  I’m sure it’s easy enough to find out there, but it doesn’t really matter.  It all boils down to the fact that there is a true skill to sourcing and hiring the right person for an organization that goes far beyond simply a job description.  Finding someone who ticks off all the requirements and who presents well is the easy part.  The real art lies in developing the right mix of cat people and dog people to ensure a business grows successfully and sustainably.

Reap your harvest

With the transition from summer to fall comes a very distinct feeling of pleasant anticipation for the season ahead.  Perhaps it is because human beings, regardless of how digital we become, are still programmed with that instinctual, primal knowledge of seasonal shift.  Around late summer into the early fall not only does our body clock begin to change, but also our metabolism alters and our insulin resistance increases.  Evolution has managed to preserve this cyclical trait in all vertebrates, including me and you.  Of course, we don't stockpile walnuts in the plumbego pots like the squirrels in my backyard.  Rather, our brains just signal to us that it is time to eat more, move more slowly, and put on more weight for the lean winter months.

It is hard to believe that even a short century and a half ago this actually might have come in handy in agrarian, pre-Industrial Revolution Tennessee.  Although these shifts tend to be less obvious given our society now, really listen to your body as it moves into that hibernation mode.  Use this new and different energy to reflect on what you have learned the past year and how you want to direct your next year.  Your next season.  Let your ideas and reflections incubate and mature.  Dwell on them.  And as you begin to hunker down for November and December, and all the extra noise that comes with them, enjoy these few weeks.  Enjoy the time to prepare, for winter is around the corner.

Analyze this.

I find myself amazed of late at the number of companies in the business of data analytics that have cropped up, built out, or relocated over to Nashville.  Even some old familiar faces have new original divisions, mini companies within companies, busy analyzing what has been sitting on their books as a non-depreciable asset for years.  Information.

Sure, everybody knows that smart phones are the most obvious tracking devices for the glorious mundane messiness of all our habits, but this data exists everywhere.  I mean, really it’s everywhere.  And it’s being used in wonderful ways to not only improve our human experience, but to also simply make industry more efficient and effective. 

Think for a moment about the vast layers of coding, programming, and engineering that go into this data synthesis.  Now combine that with the in depth database and security administration aspect of maintaining all that.  Conspiracy theorists reading this will no doubt be nodding their heads in agreement at just more examples of Big Brother.  I consider myself to be a fairly seasoned individual and rarely surprised by much at this stage in the game, but sometimes I must admit that I do have my red pill/blue pill moments just like Keanu Reeves.  But for me it’s not Big Brother, just Big Data.  It’s using technology to get better at what you do, and it’s pretty damn cool.

Interested in being a part of these cutting edge companies?  I don’t blame you.  Interested in help finding cutting edge talent?  Don’t blame you there either.  We would love to consult with you about your needs, whether you are a future client or a future candidate.  We have some exciting times on the horizon.

Rachel Hoppes, Elevation Search Solutions

On CMA Fest

Nashville yielded music city to yet another year of record crowds in town last week for the CMA Festival.  As the bass boomed intermittently across the street at Ascend Amphitheater, our team were stalwarts grinding it out throught the dog days.  If at any point last week you found yourself wondering whether anyone was actually working downtown, then all you need to do is take a peek at our job board...and this blog entry I cranked out after a 30 mintue, 8 block commute.

ON CMA Festival (Sonnet 6.8.16)
CMA week June sings of the event
The siren song of festivals and beer,
Shouted serenade on all errant ears
Of cool temptation on white hot pavement.
As sun-dressed and jorted swarms the descent,
Snarling through city roads sensing your fear
Steady.  Endless.  Crosswalks.  Downshift, first gear.
The great crowd comes but I will be present.
Fixing a steely gaze on my future,
Sweaty masses descending on Ascend
Oh summer madness you fickle creature,
Nourisher of the deepest Nashville roots
Yielding for you I'm EC bound again.                                                                                      

Rachel Westfield Hoppes, VP of Miscellany
*I do not write music but am happy to sell these lyrics for the right price!

Be the beginning

How do you begin anything?  Where do you start?  Do you start by posing a series of rhetorical questions?  In this case, I think we'll go with yes.

This is our first blog post, written by as much of a blogging virgin as you could ever dream to encounter lurking about the interwebs.  Not only that, this is supposed to be a post to introduce the world and all of its friends to our new website.  It's THE post about THE website and I've got nothing but a blank page that's about as white-empty as any fresh notebook I took to class.

What I need is an essay topic.  Can one still write using a thesis statement, supporting paragraph, and conclusion these days?  How about a word.  Just a word.  And how about we go with one of the most obvious and overused verbs in the American English business lexicon when discussing projects, products, campaigns, and careers.  Launch.  

Ah, yes.  The old launch.  Akin to the rollout.  Originally from Latin, evolving slowly through Old French and making it's way to England courtesy of William the Conqueror, the word was originally used as a verb meaning to throw a spear (or lance), and a bit later on to reference the start of a journey in setting a boat afloat.  By the 1600s, we see good old launch as we know it being used in everyday speak as a way to express any kind of beginning, maritime or otherwise.

Sometimes I forget the true meaning of words as our language continues to evolve more quickly than most people care to slow down and think about.  I suppose that for most people, launch nowadays connotes some kind of explosive, amazing, awe-inspiring, life-changing event.  We have NASA to thank for that.  Think launch pad and "prepare to launch", or the shuttle launch.  This is now the point at which I could really nerd out and let my USN show, but I will spare you all......for now.

Sometimes a word is just that.  A rollout doesn't have to necessarily bewilder and amaze you with the touting of the sheer genius of a website.  A launch can just simply be the commencement of something new and hopefully improved, in whatever iteration of the word.  In my opinion, the act of starting an incredible story and being the author of your own beginning is an adventure in and of itself - amazing and awe inspiring enough all on its own without the need for rocket fuel.  

This is our thesis statement.  Be the beginning.  

We hope you love our new site.

Rachel Westfield Hoppes, VP of Miscellany