Have you prepared yourself to deal with all of the changes happening in the workforce? You had better get started because change is coming. An estimated 40% of the workforce is considering leaving their employers this year.
They’re leaving due to a variety of reasons, including salary, external circumstances (like COVID-19), a desire for more flexibility, upward mobility, and management concerns. In order to attract this talent, you’ll need to have your house in order and make that known from the beginning.
These talented individuals are discerning and will be going through all aspects of your job description, initial outreach, and interview process with a fine-tooth comb. If you address their concerns, you'll be in line to receive the best of the best.
The Issue with Attracting & Sourcing Quality Talent
You need to set clear standards and expectations from the very beginning to attract the best talent. Think about it. These individuals are leaving their former job for a reason, and now they’re staring down the runway of their careers and assessing their next steps.
Many times, individuals leave their former positions due to a lack of faith in management and leadership. That one aspect of a company can leak into every other concern that we’ve found. Great employees want to know what’s expected of them. They need to see the bar in order to go beyond it.
In a recent SHRM survey, 84% of American workers say poorly trained managers can create a lot of unnecessary work and stress. You can alleviate that concern from the very beginning by demonstrating leadership, management of process, authenticity, integrity, and humility.
Quality talent will respond well to job descriptions that are well-thought-out and detailed. They need to see themselves in the role. If you start there, you’re in business.
The Solution to Attracting & Sourcing Quality Talent
You can solve these issues before they arise by setting a clear precedent from the very beginning.
Here are some ways to do so:
- Refine your job description: This is the first thing that quality talent sees. Make sure you’re doing all you can to make your job description informative, compelling, and quantitative. That’s right, quantitative.
Milestones that illustrate measurable success will engage individuals who relish accountability. Try to answer as many questions as possible in an efficient manner. You could even provide a link to a realistic job preview video to show what a day on the job looks like. - Explicitly state your hiring and onboarding processes: Explain to prospective employees with whom they will be interviewing, estimated timelines, any assessments that will be requested, and then a summary of the onboarding process. This requires discipline and accountability for all interviewers and your overall process.
If you want the same from a new colleague, you have to show them that your organization is capable of these attributes. Bonus Tip: Once an offer is accepted, ask each person on the team to send a warm and welcoming email to their new colleague. - Let them hear from the team before they meet with them: We advise our clients to build an Incumbent Interview. Simple, powerful, different, and only requires you to gather one or two sentences from future, potential peers on the team in response to four questions.
Why did you come here/to this role? Why do you choose to stay? What challenges do you encounter that the company helps you to overcome? What would you want anyone to know before they decide to join us?
Put all of the responses under each question in a single document and share this after the first conversation. We follow this best practice also and our document is called, “Why Reveal.” - Give your criteria for promotion and advancement: Great candidates are hungry to impress and succeed. Stagnation is something they actively try to avoid. To show them that isn’t a problem, outline their path to upward mobility.
Provide examples of multiple individuals who have achieved this kind of growth. Show that they have room to grow, and you’ll keep them moving forward as long as they’re ready.
Why You Need to Attract & Source Quality Talent
You need to always look for quality talent because it’s always on the lookout for you. It’s hard to retain great employees. You have to cultivate a fantastic environment for them to thrive. 52% of people are looking to make a career change right now.
With individuals resigning in droves in order to revisit why they work and what things they need in order to succeed in the workforce, the grounding is shifting under your feet. Quality talent is on the move all of the time, but this job market is especially fluid. You need to take advantage of all of this transition and give your company a platform to succeed.
Don’t wait for the best candidates to find you.
Whether you have to go directly to great candidates, cast a strategic and potent net, or even “poach” them from other companies, you need to find quality talent. The majority of game-changing talent knows they can take their pick of numerous opportunities that find them.
So, they seldom ever see job postings. These individuals will change the direction of your company and push it forward with their drive and ideas. Hey, all of us enjoy celebrating when we take a top client from the competition. So, why not celebrate when we take the top talent from the competition?
Understanding is Key
These strategies will help you locate and entice the very best candidates on the market (and even some that aren’t on the market). But it’s not a straightforward and simple process. You’ve got to understand the issues workers are dealing with at their current companies, solve those problems, and then make those solutions clear from the moment of initial engagement.
It has to be clear that you’re a thoughtful company looking to develop a meaningful relationship with the best talent.
For more on attracting and sourcing quality talent, please download our guide, The 3 Secrets to Attracting & Sourcing Quality Talent.
