**This post originally appeared here in The Asia Pacific Headhunter blog last year.**
Your company isn’t
only selling services and products to customers. Your company is also
selling itself as a GREAT EMPLOYER to prospective employees, in
particular, motivated and talented people. The more talented people you have,
the more services and products you create and sell to more people. Take Steve
Ballmer’s word for it. In the December Business 2.0 article My Golden Rule ,
which compiled the single most important philosophy for each of 30 business
visionaries, the Microsoft CEO chose: Make Hiring a Top Priority. He explained,
“You may have a technology or product that gives you an edge, but your people
determine whether you develop the next winning technology or product.” I’ll
take it a step further – your people market and sell that winning technology –
determining whether or not your business grows.
Attracting talented
people takes a lot of time and effort. And that’s why so many companies are
investing in better HR departments, or outsourcing to third-party
recruiting/executive search firms. But there are many fundamental things you
can do to position yourself as an attractive employer to top talent.
To take a look at how
Google does it, read here.
Also check out their recruiting video targeting female engineers from an
earlier post.
Certainly, Google has
the capital to invest in all these things, so Google aside, what can smaller
companies do without spending a huge chunk of their budget? Here are 5 steps to ATTRACT TOP TALENT to
join your company.
How to Attract Top
Talent:
1) Build your
Company Culture
2) Be
Employee-Centric as well as customer-centric
3) Have an excellent
Onboarding Program for new hires and excellent Review Program for employees
4) Be Transparent
and Accessible
5) Be Proactive in
Marketing and Recruiting to prospective candidates
Company Culture
Probably the first
place to start is to define your company culture. What are the values that you
uphold? These values should go across the board, to which every person in every
department or position adheres. What is the mission statement of your company?
What are the long-term goals that your company is striving for? These goals
should be clear for all employees to align the way they work within your
company. Listen to Adaptive Path's Janice Fraser's podcast on company culture that I
posted earlier.
Employee-Centric
Most companies already
focus on the customer. That’s where the revenue comes from, right? Unfortunately,
some of those companies seem to set employees aside as a secondary priority to
pursue revenue and marketshare. Well, if you don’t focus on your employees, you
probably won’t retain many, nor will you get the best results from them –
affecting the bottom line in the end. So think about the kind of environment
that your company creates. Is it supportive? Do you consider the big problems
that your employees face that set them back from doing amazing work? Is the
environment flexible enough? Is it structured enough? Is there strong
leadership allowing for a give-and-take relationship? Do you allow for
employees to give constructive feedback and take it into consideration? Are
there clear opportunities for employees to advance or self-improve? Do employees
feel energized and motivated?
Did you know that one
factor that consistently ranks high for employee dissatisfaction (thus leading
to resignation) is poor management? Employees who have a poor
relationship with their direct supervisor/manager, or who feel their manager is
incompetent, unhelpful or hostile, leave their company sooner rather than
later. So it’s essential to focus on a manager’s supervisory role, requiring
accountability on their part. Clarity of objectives and targets and fostering
an open environment for communication and feedback will help supervisors to
maintain a healthy and productive relationship with their subordinates.
Onboarding and Review Programs
In an earlier post, Onboarding: 8 Ways to Get New Hires Onboard, I explained why onboarding is
critical in not only retaining your new hires, but also for building your brand
of being a great employer for future employees. Word of mouth is very strong –
people always talk about their work – especially when they’ve just joined a
company. It’s so important to integrate those new employees and get them up to
speed and EXCITED about being there.
It’s also important to KEEP them motivated about being there – show them that there’s a clear pathway
for growth and development. That’s why a review program is just as important as
an onboarding program. You should allow for some kind of structured review with
clear benchmarks that takes into account performance based on defined
goals/outcomes, as well as feedback from that employee, colleagues and/or
managers.
Transparency and Accessibility
Now that you’ve got
your defined culture and employee-centric focus fostering productive
creativity, you’ve got to let everyone know. How can you be transparent
and accessible to others who are interested in you as a possible employer? Open
up. Reveal more on your website regarding company culture. Encourage
employees to give “testimonials” of their positive experience as a member of
your company. Encourage employees (or
even better, managers) to maintain blogs about working at the company or in the
industry. Encourage or participate in online communities, usergroups, industry
associations and forums. Host regular sporting or recreational events for your
employees to bring friends to. Not only does this provide a benefit for
employees, but it also allows for networking. Many companies sponsor recreational sports teams and host competitions.
Get involved with local universities and student groups who will soon graduate
and become part of tomorrow’s sought-after workforce.
Proactive Marketing to Candidates
This should really be
a whole other post, but I’ll address it quickly here. This goes hand-in-hand
with being transparent and accessible. The big key is to always think in this
mindset – that you’re not WEEDING out
people who want to work for you; you’re trying to ATTRACT people that YOU want
to join your company. So when you are actively networking and participating in
different events and online communities, or even writing up a job ad,
you are always marketing to a targeted audience. Be prepared with your selling
points about your company – how does your company benefit people in their
pursuit of personal and career growth and success? What does your company stand for? And why is your company the
better company to work for over the competition?
While proactive recruiting and executive search are the most effective ways of finding top talent, all these other factors I’ve mentioned are things that a recruiter can’t do for you. In building on your company’s culture, environment and branding as a GREAT EMPLOYER, you can work even more effectively with a recruiter to get those top people you want.
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