Why is there so much turnover in development? Part 2

Since we can’t really prevent someone from moving if they want to move, we have to focus on making the work environment as strong as possible so people want to stay.

How?

First:  review the job description—get online and compare it with other job descriptions.  What is unique about yours?  What are the expectations—are they clear and concise?  What kind of support is there for success?  How will success be measured—and is that achievable?  How do you know it achievable? 

Then, look at who succeeded in this role the best.  Has anyone?  If they have, what characteristics did they bring to the position?  Not skills, but characteristics, attitude, personal management, engagement.

If no one has succeeded, look at the characteristics of the people you have hired (or tried to hire).  Why did you hire them?  What did you think they’d bring to the position?  What happened?

What you are doing is analyzing the skills to succeed and the characteristics needed to succeed from a very honest perspective.  That allows you to rewrite the job description to something that you really want/need and can lead to a good hire.  If you can’t be truthful, you may find you continue to hire the same people with the same results.

Read the other entries of this series: Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4.