Let’s face it, in a highly competitive job market, information is abundant and candidates are bombarded with alluring offers or promises at each step of their interview process. This can make it increasingly difficult for companies to authentically standout to their top talent choices, and their existing employees.
When your goal is to hire and retain the right people for your team, it is critical to demonstrate those intentions at every interaction. So how do you do this? Our team has highlighted how in three critical ways:
1. Revamp your sales pitch
Consider this today’s version of an elevator pitch, start by asking yourself “what does my company offer to a prospective employee?” Anything goes, from traditional benefits to office culture and team events. xOnce you have those identified, make them easily available. Consider sharing a clean, concise overview of your top offerings in a quick one-pager that can be posted with a job listing, or shared in initial communications with candidates.
Hot topics in today’s market:
• Work location and schedule flexibility (hybrid, remote)
• Career growth opportunity
2. Be intentional
The interview experience is the first, and sometimes only, impression candidates have of you and your company during their decision making process. By being intentional in your hiring process, and thinking through the experience from the candidates perspective, you have the opportunity to create a positive, memorable experience during this process. This is critical to setting yourself up for becoming a top choice employer from day one with your talent. Keep these tips in mind as you think through your hiring experience:
• Open communication. Make this a top priority, be upfront and honest in your feedback, hiring process and the anticipated timeline
• Word of mouth is a powerful tool, work to ensure that any candidates you meet with have a positive experience regardless of if they end up working at your company
3. Invest in your people
The third, and probably most important tip to being recognized as a choice employer, is how you invest in your people every single day. It is extremely common for a company to make claims around caring for their people, providing a positive work environment or offering clear pathways for growth, but it is even more common for those promises to fall flat in the day to day work. Creating, investing in and maintaining a positive work culture is the most important differentiator of employers of choice. In today’s job market, employees have a powerful influence on the decision as to where they decide to work, and where they decide to recommend people work. Luckily, there are ways to ensure your culture is viewed as top-tier, both internally and externally.
• Focus on onboarding - the first 90 days are the most important when setting up a new employee for success. The best intentions throughout the interview process, or even the growth plan within a role, can quickly become overshadowed or missed entirely if the onboarding phase is poorly planned or executed.
• Proactive development, training and recognition - good, desirable employees yearn for continued opportunity, beyond the initial training and onboarding. How does your company proactively enable employees to evolve their skillset? How is that communicated and tracked by the managers or decision makers? Performance reviews on a regular basis are a great way to allow for continued discussions around employees goals, opportunities for growth and accolades for their work. These offerings are key make-or-break policies that can serve as a huge motivator for employees, or what kickstarts them into a job search.
• Management and mentorship - employees with a manager, or even a mentor, with whom they can trust and learn from, is one of the most common reasons for individuals to remain loyal to a team or company. By providing intentional management from the top down, every employee is given the opportunity to feel supported.
• Ongoing, open communication - across the board, a company should always maintain open, constant communication with employees. This allows for trust and transparency throughout the entire organization, and eliminates toxic working environments that often times lead to high turnover rates.
Above all else, simply evaluating your culture and asking questions about how you can standout in your field, is a great indicator of future success, for your company and your employees.
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