"Recruiting is not just about bringing people into the organization, it's talent management," Lea Soupata, senior vice president of human resources of UPS, said at the Recruiting 2005 Conference and Expo at the Las Vegas Hilton.

She said out of the company's 375,000 employees, 70 percent are union- represented, part-time workers. Among those workers the company has a 32 percent turnover rate, she said. But the company has a 7 percent turnover rate for full-time managers including retirement, and a 6 percent turnover rate for full-time nonmanagement staff.

Soupata said talent management is one of the most important human resource functions a company can have. She said her company has several strategies for attracting and also keeping good employees.

"So you have somebody, then what?" Soupata asked the group.

Soupata said the company has a focus on promoting from within.

"I've been with UPS 36 years," Soupata said. "To get promoted I had to drive and deliver packages. We're developing a bench. How can we build on recruiting from within the company? We spend $400 million a year on training and development. It starts from day one."

She said programs such as internships and co-ops are important ways of developing and then keeping a good employee base. She also said the company offers such perks as tuition reimbursement to keep workers loyal.

Christopher Metzler, director of Diversity Management and EEO Studies at Cornell University, also stressed the importance of striving to not only attract but retain a diverse workforce.

"You cannot have a diversity strategy that (just) focuses on bringing women and minorities into the company," Metzler said. "You want to recruit but you don't focus on retaining. If that is you're motive, forget it. It should be both recruiting and retention."

He also said the fact that a company is looking to hire a more diverse workforce doesn't preclude it from getting a qualified and talented workforce. He said meeting the qualifications of the job should be the first priority.

"Disabuse folks of this notion that strategic diversity stops them from hiring the most qualified," Metzler said.

Metzler also said in order to have a successful diversity program companies must also have diversity as a part of the company's branding and it must be a priority for the entire company. He said efforts to help elevate minorities throughout the company should be fair and based on merit.

He said companies that seek to recruit a diverse workforce though quotas will fail.

He said companies should make sure their recruiters, first line and middle managers are aware of the legal pitfalls of interviewing candidates. He said when companies have managers that ask illegal interviewing questions it is a deterrent from getting potentially good candidates -- and he stressed that candidates do indeed talk to one another.

"I am amazed in these days and times managers still ask illegal questions," Metzler said. "You want to hold you managers accountable."

Alana Roberts covers courts and labor relations for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.