Blog
October 5, 2022
There is no question that it can be difficult to find and retain good people. But this has become especially challenging in the current labor market as a result of the great post-covid resignation. This has severely impacted the higher education industry as it already suffered from high turnover rates. While the long-term goal of higher education is to hire and retain employees, external factors can influence change and create uncertainty for a period of time. Selecting to bring in interim team members is a great solution to avoid hindering or stalling operations, especially when it comes to potential compliance issues.
As many institutions experience recruiting times that are twice as long due to an extremely scarce applicant pool, it is often at the expense of the remaining employees who are shouldering the additional burden to make sure work gets out the door in a timely and accurate manner.
Attain Partners can help free up the time you need to recruit your next set of superstars. Our experienced consultants will plug the holes in your processes and bridge operational gaps throughout your research enterprise. This is how we make it happen:
- Extensive Experience – Attain Partners hires employees with extensive higher education backgrounds—some with over 20 years in the field. Finding employees with this much experience and knowledge takes time, which is not a luxury institutions have when it comes to operations. Bringing in a skilled team of consultants can keep an institution up and running while leadership focuses on the hiring.
- Easy Onboarding – Our consultants are relatively easy to onboard given their prior experience. They each come with a deep knowledge of research administration and only need to adapt to the institutions’ specific systems and processes. In many cases, they have prior experience in some of the more common pre- and post-award systems. This creates a smaller learning curve which leads to almost immediate productivity for the client.
- Many Perspectives/One Culture – Attain Partners hires from a variety of institutions. Our consultants’ backgrounds span public and private, state and nonprofit, large and small. This wide range of perspectives creates a sizable company knowledge base for best management practices, streamlining workflow tasks, and effective training. Attain Partners unites these unique professionals into one culture—that of efficiency, effectiveness, and dedication to our clients. We hand-pick the go-getters and self-starters who know how to get things done.
Do not let your employees continue to shoulder the burden and burn out. Do not jeopardize compliance. Take your time to recruit the best—do not rush and settle. Attain Partners can buy you time by bridging the gap with our expert team that will require minimal training and deliver immediate results throughout your research enterprise.
Learn more
Drawing on our deep and talented pool of subject matter experts, Attain Partners helps place interim talent into your institution to ensure operations continue to run smoothly and that you receive optimal funding. We can help you fill staffing gaps with functional and technical experts who understand research administration and Federal compliance. Learn more about our services, read an interview with industry expert Mark Davis, and contact us here.
About the Authors
Amanda Seymour is a Manager at Attain Partners and has over 14 years of experience in Higher Education focusing on research administration, finance administration, and operations. Amanda is a Certified Research Administrator and was recently named a Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI) Future of the Field Honoree.
Nadia Kikilo is a Principal with Attain Partners with over 17 years of experience serving Higher Education clients within various research administration areas. She has extensive experience in major post-award reconciliation and cleanup engagements. Nadia holds an MBA and an MS in Business Technologies.
Courtney Swaney, MPA, CRA is a Principal for Attain Partners with 20 years of experience in research administration. She specializes in leadership and management of sponsored projects teams, pre-award, and electronic Research Administration (eRA).
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