Career & Workplace
Six Creative Ways to Attract Top Talent to Your Company
Six Creative Ways to Attract Top Talent to Your Company
By Michael Deane — Guest Writer, Inland Empire Business Journal
Things have changed compared to twenty, thirty years ago; these days, candidates are the ones who choose the companies, not the other way around. Finally, businesses are putting the employee at the center of their progress, making sure that everyone is not only well taken care of but also happy to come to work.
If you own a company or are managing it, and you feel a bit stuck in the way you are selecting candidates, this is your chance to step up your game. In this article, we’re suggesting super effective ways to attract top talent to your company and build a long-term relationship that will prove mutually beneficial.
Here’s how to attract the most eager candidates using creative and effective techniques:
Offer a Flexible Work-Life Balance
Businesses tend to have a prejudice toward “modern” employee requests just because they’re not used to that type of organizing things. However, if you take a step back and look at the big picture, you’d realize that these “modern requests” could actually help your business’ progress. How? If the people working with you are happy, that means more productivity for the projects at hand… that’s how. What is more, changing your business modus from old-school to modern could actually get you a handful of amazing people with a fresh take on business, attracted to your up-to-date business model.
So, next time you are recruiting for open positions, offer flexible work-life balance options. What does that even mean? Here are just a few things to offer (but you can switch it up or tone it down, as needed):
- Don’t keep employees past 40 hours a week, unless necessary
- Offer remote work a certain number of days per month
- Give employees the option to organize their own project schedules
- Offer flexible working hours
- Why embracing the modern culture at the workplace matter? Simply because it increases the collective morale and productivity.
- Offer Referral Incentives
Nothing you haven’t heard before, but it works! By initiating a referral incentive program, you are showing your current employees that you a) trust their judgment b) value their effort in finding a good fit for a position, and want to reward them for it. While we’d like to think it isn’t so, almost everything runs on money and benefits, and people get motivated by it! Thus, the moment you start your referral incentive, expect stellar candidate resumes’ piling up on your desk. In terms of what makes a good referral incentive, you can go with extra money, various types of rewards, extra vacation days, a prime parking spot, etc.
Network at Candidate-Specific Events
Tapping into local communities for the perfect candidate could just be one of the best ways to get fantastic people to work for you. Instead of merely placing a job ad online, send a recruiter from your company to events and meet-ups where professionals you are in search of getting together. This is a very creative and effective way to meet new talent, even those who aren’t actively pursuing a job change.
Host an Open House
Hosting conferences, events, gatherings, and every other type of talent get-together can get you plenty of potential candidates in the same room. Present your company culture, your staff, give them the opportunity to see how things work “behind the curtains”. If you are overwhelmed with work and stuff, hire an event planner to come in and help put things together. It’ll be a blast for both your current employees and potential candidates.
Use Social Media
The best way to find candidates is to look for them where they already spend most of their time – on social media. Although a shift has been made, and plenty of recruiters are looking for talents on social media, not many have adopted this manner of recruiting. In case your firm hasn’t, this is the perfect opportunity to step up your game and extend the search on social media, and not just LinkedIn. Yes, LinkedIn is the best business platform you can use to find good candidates; but you shouldn’t neglect the fact that plenty is happening on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.
Pay Well
Not exactly a creative way to get people to work for you, but definitely an effective one. Whoever works hard and is dedicated to their calling deserves good work conditions and the right compensation, so it’s up to you to make it happen. Plus, just think of it this way: would you work for the pay you are giving to prospective employees? There you go. The easiest way to attract talented applicants is by offering competitive pay. How to know what salary to give for a particular role? Check out the market to see what each job role gets locally and nationally.
Companies are doing their best to present themselves in the best light to attract amazing talents, and if you are one of them – the advice above will help!
