2 Ways to Attract the Best Talent for Your Company

2 Ways to Attract the Best Talent for Your Company 2 Ways to Attract the Best Talent for Your Company Do you have a high attrition rate or employee turnover? Is the development of future leaders in your company important? Are you concerned? Do you believe the best candidates are lined up outside your door just because you have a good brand? Are you concerned that you may not be appealing to today’s candidates? There are essentially three generations of job seekers vying for jobs today: Baby Boomers, Generation X or Gen X, and Generation Y or Millennials. Whether you answered “yes” to any of the above or haven’t even given it much thought, now is the time. While the unemployment crisis has been dominating the news for years, a serious and related problem that companies face today is a talent crunch. Companies of all sizes are concerned about â€" and ill equipped to face â€" these three challenges: creating a differentiated employee value proposition, attracting the right talent for the future, and enhancing the retention of new-hires. Of course there are many more talent issues; the list goes on. But let’s just tackle these three challenges. Here are two new techniques you should be thinking about and acting upon to meet them. 1. Update your hiring value proposition; have a variety of versions. Are you inspired by your company’s job description(s)? Would you apply? Who wrote the copy on your website CAREER page and when was it last reviewed? Have you asked for feedback from someone from each generation? I review job descriptions with my clients and guide them to do research on prospective employers. Often I hear comments like, “This company sounds old-school.” or “I want to work for a cool, fast-paced company.” or “I want to make a difference and this reads like a dead-end job.” Re-boot your hiring value proposition: re-write your key messages to speak to the audiences you want to reach. Develop multiple angles, depending on the target generation and function (finance versus sales and marketing). Re-launch a great employee referral program and use your local and national business resources to re-position your company as a great employer. 2. Develop a talent pipeline filled with internal and external candidates. No matter what size your company, from start-up to Fortune 500, your talent needs continual shift, and should shift to stay competitive. I believe one of the biggest potential threats to many companies is the lack of a robust talent pool from which to select future leaders. And by “leaders,” I don’t mean just senior executives. Does your talent pool contain people who want to move across multiple functions, such as sales, operations, or marketing, to learn all aspects of your business? Do they have the people skills, the leadership capabilities, and global diversity sensitivity required for your company’s future? Challenge your managers to interview your current employees and clearly understand what they aspire to do in the future, what motivates them, and what is missing from their current role. Senior executives should spearhead this effort and demonstrate not only interest but take ACTION as a result. Challenge your human resources and recruiting team to do a better job conveying your hiring value proposition during the recruiting and interviewing stages AND to stay in touch with candidates who either declined an offer or who have a great background but don’t match an open position. What are your hiring challenges? Send them to Career Mojo at nncgio.