I remember being part of an organization that craved open positions. The leaders used to reason that those open positions meant salaries they did not have to pay. Open position kept expenses down and managers were rewarded for not spending all the money in their budgets.

How stupid we were.

The cost of open positions meant others had to work overtime. It meant a human resources department had to conduct a search that was a lot of work, was often long and produced a lot of unqualified candidates. Most important, it meant we offered an inferior product to our customers because some of the quality work was missing.

That industry started a precipitous decline 15 years ago and likely will never recover.

In our Vistage group meeting this week we heard from Chris Czarnik, author of “Winning the War for Talent.” He is a remarkably frank thinker and speaker who challenges conventional notions with facts, not anecdotes. For instance:

• To the notion that “no one wants to work,” Chris says, “That is like someone who goes fishing and, upon catching nothing, blames the fish.”
• If you worked as hard at finding your next employee as you do at finding your next customer, you wouldn’t be having this problem.
• Quiet quitting is a problem when your employees have stopped learning on the job.
• Take the time to calculate the cost of one open position in your organization. You’ll never look at things the same way.
• For the first time in history, you as the employer need the employee more than they need you. If you’re annoyed because you have been “ghosted” by a person who never showed up for an interview, consider that for most of the past several decades, 91 percent of job applicants never even received the courtesy of a reply.
• Remember that every job search starts with the person being unhappy at their current position for some reason.

In our meeting, we processed the way to write a “Help Wanted” ad that will set your organization apart from your competitors. We developed programs to keep your employees happy and constantly learning on the job. We discussed creating subject matter experts and mentors in your organization, so you keep the best employees engaged and interested.

Vistage is not for everyone. It is only for those who want to stand out among their competitors.