Approaches to Attracting and Retaining Broadcast Talents

Mr. Murtaza Solangi, Director General, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, says that for public sector media organizations to attract and retain talents, they should continue to promote the best creating systems for their upward mobility, create a system of rewards and appreciation, offer opportunities for building the capacity of the best and constantly give pat on the back of the best.

Mr. Murtaza Solangi, Director General, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, says that for public sector media organizations to attract and retain talents, they should continue to promote the best creating systems for their upward mobility, create a system of rewards and appreciation, offer opportunities for building the capacity of the best and constantly give pat on the back of the best.

In his paper read by Mr. Jose Ma. Carlos, AIBD consultant, at the International Conference on Broadcast Training that began on 25 February 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Solangi said organizations die without the system of rewards for the best and reprimand for the worst.

“Despite pressures, the leadership of the organizations needs to attract and retain the best by creating a system of incentives and reprimands for the worst,” he said.

Mr. Carlos served as a speaker too and shared a similar perspective. He identified three factors to source talents in the media organization. These are building a winning team, providing a dynamic and challenging environment and addressing needs on compensation, career advancement and work-life balance.

“If these considerations are addressed in the organization, then it will have the right people and a pool of talents that will keep the company sustainable in the future,” he pointed out.

Another speaker at the two-day conference, Mr. Salahuddin Ahmed, Director (Programme), Bangladesh Betar, Bangladesh, stressed the key ingredients to attract and retain right talent. These are recognition, flexibility, work life balance, salary and compensation, extra incentive, training and career development, organizational structure, promotion and good posting, job security, share financial benefits, work culture, barriers and work environment.

For her part, Ms. Ampawan Charoenkul, Deputy Director General, National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT), said adhering to an organization’s core values can contribute towards the recruitment of good talents. At NBT, these core values comprise of a service mind, teamwork, which involves creativity and integration, ethics, professionalism and learning organization. “We keep moving in creating a vibrant organisation. In positioning itself as a learning organisation, NBT has its own training institute, which provides training for in-house staff and outside organizations. Each year, some 1,000 people take courses from the institute,” she said.

Another speaker was Mr. Martin Hadlow, Secretary General of Singapore-based AMIC, who asked participants whether we are recruiting the wrong people for the right reasons. He recommended that we hire for the future jobs that revolve around the needs of new media and social media. He said we need to understand and respond to the next generation of content makers or the screenagers who have different ways of accessing information and entertainment material, of viewing and consuming material, and of creating their own content for social media and mobile phones.