How to Entice Top Performers in Banking

We’ve all heard about the ‘Great Resignation’ and the ‘Big Quit’. A corollary to those trends is ‘Not Moving Laterally’.

Despite disruption from the pandemic, commercial banks have fared well over the past year. Consequently, most commercial banking candidates are not running from a troubled employer but may be open to new opportunities and challenges. The draw could be purely dollars and cents, but more often, candidates will listen to new opportunities when it will advance their career.

As a banking employer, you may need to stretch and look beyond specific experiences on a resume to determine if a banker has good potential for your organization. If leadership is their next goal, but their current employer does not have a pathway for them, you may entice a top performer by creating a new role that offers some level of leadership. Other options include helping an impressive candidate round out their experience by mining and developing a new lending vertical or product offering.

By the same token, internal parity is not to be neglected. Our advice to employers is to create opportunities and career enhancement for existing employees through training and offering new challenges. Be generous with positive feedback and spot bonuses. It’s no secret that retaining strong performers and creating opportunities for them will enhance employee loyalty and cause more external candidates to want to join the team.

Candidates, whether internal or external, want to learn new skills and grow in their career. Forward thinking employers will focus not only upon specific resume entries or defined experiences. Preferred employers will attract and develop individuals that bring new perspectives and feel empowered to develop skills to grow professionally and become talented contributors for the long run.