Why on earth would top talent from your biggest competitor want to join you?
Working with a close client of ours this week talking talent and transformation made me think.… ‘The golden egg’ of candidates is considering a new challenge, your company would be an excellent fit, but what do they really know about working for you?
The truth is – not much. For the best part of a working week they are in direct competition with your brand.
90% of their company banter is around how their managers would never work for you…
“their service levels are shocking”
“It’s death by micro-management”
“it’s a horrible working environment”
So what are we doing to counteract and pull the wool from the eyes, other than a standard issue job advert that stands out about as much as an outfit in Mr. Bean’s wardrobe.
The difference in reality vs fiction when running a successful talent engagement strategy can be stark. How we engage, retain and communicate with that talent will ultimately define our success in creating a successful employee value proposition.
A couple of bullet points to set the scene…
- Attracting talent is hard – the way people interact with brands differs from candidate to candidate.
- Lots of businesses are trying to be the best when it comes to brand perception
- It can sometimes feel like a thankless task if engagement is low for a particular job advert or social post
The key…. CONSISTENCY
When considering social media as one vehicle for attraction, the first failing of 90% of those companies is that they lack the consistency and quality of regular, engaging content to start driving traffic towards the role or bench you are looking to create.
What type of content should I post?
- People want to work somewhere POSITIVE – Don’t be afraid to release photo and video content praising or recognising individual or team success.
- Talk about business goals and what culture the brand is looking to drive internally – not what you’re selling as that makes up 90% of the content the marketing team is already releasing!
- Celebrate collaboration between internal teams… project the image you are working to implement.
Make it personal, don’t regurgitate a generic company advert as you will see next to no engagement in comparison to a personalised story around why the brand is looking to hire.
Make yourself available for a conversation, this gets CV traffic coming into the business and people feel like they are applying to YOU as opposed to the “attract team” which can be impersonal and difficult to generate candidate loyalty.
What happens afterwards?
If your content strategy and candidate journey is on point, you should see an influx of active and RELEVANT applications!
Collect as much specific candidate data as possible and communicate with regular, interesting internal content to maintain engagement. (competitors just DO NOT DO THIS – you can be ahead of the curve)
When you have formed a dream talent bench, keep in touch with them monthly and make sure you are the first option when they decide to push the big green button of a career move.
Remember, consistency and dedication to the cause is key. Don’t have time…. Outsource it, delegate it to a trusted colleague, just don’t forget it!
BECOME A DESTINATION NOT A SOURCE
Thoughts on a postcard… kurt.wagner@logicalresources.com