Don’t be a sheep

August 8, 2022

The battle for high-quality talent is more prevalent now than ever before, and it’s a great time for organizations to assess and improve their current talent attraction techniques to stay ahead of the curve.

Priorities are changing rapidly among candidates, and the Covid-19 pandemic evidenced that benefits that were once considered impressive and ground-breaking, are now an expectation. The figurative bar has been raised, and organizations are presently being forced to think of the best packages, initiatives, and benefits to attract and retain talent in 2022.

There are countless articles and reports highlighting the clear shift in demand from candidates, citing that employers must “develop a compelling employee value proposition that includes competitive compensation and meaningful benefits, especially career development opportunities and flexible work” (shrm.org).

This demand from the market has been great to witness, as current and prospective clients are broadening their talent pools through simple changes such as improving their remote working policy or offering flexibility in working hours.

Although these changes are positive, they can result in organizations sacrificing their individuality, and running the risk of appearing homogenous in comparison to their peers in the industry. It’s important to “keep an eye” on what your competition is doing, but becoming a sheep and following the crowd could be costing you great talent, both from an attraction and retention standpoint.

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Individuality is what sets you apart from the crowd

Standing out can feel intimidating, and doing things that are unorthodox can feel like a PR nightmare waiting to happen. A great company example of standing out (and doing it well) is Netflix. If you haven’t read their culture deck yet, we highly recommend looking at it for inspiration. A poignant, and a somewhat controversial statement they have in their culture deck is the following:

“Knowing that other companies would quickly hire you if you left Netflix is comforting. We see occasional outside interviewing as healthy, and encourage employees to talk with their managers about what they learn in the process.”

Normally, organizations would panic at the thought of their employees even showing subtle interest in another organization; Netflix’s approach makes sense, stands out from the crowd, and is a subtle talent attraction technique in itself; individuality gives a brand and its employee's personality!

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Be values-driven (and talk about them all the time)

Values are the lifeblood of your organization, and they should be used for decision-making as well as for talent attraction purposes. If you create a talent attraction strategy, benefits, and initiatives rooted in your values, then your authenticity and individuality will shine through.

Let’s say that one of your values is sustainability, how can you ensure that this is present from the moment someone interviews with your organization through to their day to day?

You could implement a process whereby every candidate who interviews for a role equals one tree planted, or, as a business, you look at how you can offset your carbon on a monthly basis. You may want to discuss what tools and initiatives you have in the office to ensure that sustainability is part of everyone’s day-to-day life, and you could also run charity days that are completely focused on biodiversity or other sustainability goals.

Although this may seem like small actions, candidates who have the same values as your organization may be more inclined to consider you as an employer if you are vocal about these initiatives with external marketing, as well as during the interview process.

Staying aligned to your values will also enable you to make better hiring decisions, too! Although technical skill is incredibly important, finding individuals who are values-aligned will improve retention as well as create a culture whereby everybody is working toward the same end goal.

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What do your current employees want?

Although attracting new talent is crucial for a lot of organizations, are you also considering the happiness of your current employees? Your people make your organization what it is, and ultimately determine its success.

Before changing everything at the drop of a hat, conduct some internal research to find out what is and isn’t working. From remuneration to culture, to benefits, and initiatives. Gathering valuable internal data will allow you to make strategic decisions that will impact not only your talent attraction strategy, but also ensure that retention is prioritized.

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How can a recruitment partner help you?

There are a number of ways in which a recruitment partner can help you to carve out x,y,z (my thinking here is to relate it back to Intelletec, subtle selling, but open to your thoughts).