How To Attract The Employees Your Company Wants
In today’s busy world of business growth and talent acquisition, we all want to identify that fantastic hire and bring them into our organisation, as fast and cost-effectively. An aspirational goal maybe and one worth pursuing. Think of the benefits that everyone will receive? Though how as a busy employer can you make sure that the candidates you interview will turn out to be a productive and loyal employee? Over our many years in recruitment, these are the exact steps we know are working now when it comes to recruiting and what we suggest to our clients.
Decide What You Want
It’s often said that wants and needs are very different. However, when it comes to an effective recruitment campaign, it’s a combination of the two. A well-known management guru Stephen Covey suggests it’s a good idea to live by this motto; “Start with the end in mind”, and relate this to what you want your new employee to deliver. A crucial first step is to identify the key criteria that will help you craft a job description that attracts rather than repels people and therefore makes it easy to write a job advert that actually works. Fact: A job description is a selling document. Though people do move depending on career development and salary, they also base their decision on the company they are joining. If your organisation is full of future opportunity that you want your new employee to be part of, it’s essential to communicate this. With our clients, we talk about the power of a job specification that describes, precisely what the role entails and creates buzz and excitement related to what it would be like working both in that position and organisation. This then helps formulate a job advert and the marketing of the role that later follows.
Use Innovative And Currents Ways To Recruit
Inbound marketing is the latest buzzword, however, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. It’s essential to consider all your options when your goal is to attract talent. The really savvy organisations use a combination of both inbound and outbound marketing. That might be scouring LinkedIn and Facebook or subscribing to a job board. When it comes to recruiting high performers, it’s vital to use every strategy available to you.
Promote Your Employer Brand
A well-worn phrase I know and yet in the skills short market we are all a part of, great new hires can pick and choose where they work, therefore developing an attractive employer brand is critical. Social media and our connected world mean that people can ‘check’ you out and make a decision on what they see, hear and experience of your brand; remember all they have to do is jump online and you are displayed in all your glory on page one of Google. First though let’s clarify what an employer brand is. Whereas marketing helps you attract new customers or clients your employer brand draws excellent talent to you by marketing what you can offer to both potential and your current employees. CIPD the well-respected professional body for HR professionals defines an employer brand as ‘…a set of attributes and qualities, often intangible that makes an organization distinctive promises a particular kind of employment experience, and appeals to those people who will thrive and perform best in its culture’. The good news is several well-placed activities, and attention to detail will make a considerable difference to delivering on the above statement and helping you become a talent magnet. We mentioned a couple right at the start, and that was your job specification and advert. I am sure over the years we have all read an advert and thought …. ‘oh no! Not the sort of job or company I would work for’. Both Rob and I are well versed in the power of copywriting and have re-written many an ad to help our clients profile their brand. Therefore, remember how important this part of the process is. In addition, there are many other suggestions that high calibre employees are looking for in your employer brand.
Have a career page: You might be surprised how few people have this as standard on their company website. If a candidate has viewed your online advert the first thing they will do is visit your site and take a good look around. How you communicate here in a friendly and enthusiastic way could make the difference in them agreeing to attend an interview or not.
Use case studies: We all like to know if an organisation has people like us working for them. Both Rob and I have seen case studies efficiently used here. If they are videos all the better.
Have active social media profiles: It’s well recognised that when someone is checking you out as an employer, they are likely to search out everything they can find about you. This will include following you on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and signing up to your newsletter the question is; can they find you and how current and forward thinking are you as their potential new employer?