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So, you’re a company.
You want the best people to work for you. Really talented people, unique even, with experience and skills and personalities that will bring even greater success to you.
But why on earth would they want to work for you?
Do you know why? Can you articulate it? Does your company have a strong brand, an attractive brand? Do people perceive you as a leader in your industry? Are your existing teams filled with people who actively share their skills and knowledge and expertise for the betterment of the whole?
Understanding a candidate’s expectations of your company and its culture is critical from the very start. If a disconnect exists between a candidate’s expectations and the reality of the situation, it can quickly lead to problems with engagement, performance, and business productivity. The candidate needs to know what is expected of them as well as feel a sense of strong company culture that is not only clear but inviting.
So, how do you go about building and leveraging a positive talent brand?
Brands are a powerful combination of symbols, messages and beliefs about a product or employer. You need to think about your potential candidates like a marketer would think about their potential customers. Take a look at the current advertising your company conducts. How does it come across? What are the key messages being put out? Who are you trying to attract?
The objectives that a good brand will achieve include:
– Delivering the message clearly
– Confirming your credibility
– Connecting with your target prospects emotionally
– Motivating the buyer
– Concreting loyalty
In terms of attracting the best performing people to work for your company, your branding is about getting them to see you as the only one that provides a solution to their problem, ie, working for an exceptional company, and industry leader, that satisfies their professional needs and provides an arena in which they can contribute their skills and talents, make an impact, and continue to learn and grow.
To succeed in branding you must understand the needs and wants of your customers and prospects. As the thrust of this blog entry is about attracting high performing candidates to your company, our most recent online poll asked: “High Performance Employees: what is the #1 thing your organisation offers to attract them that works?”
The results were:
#1 – Providing opportunities for continued learning, both formal and informal – 25.0%
#2 – Having a confidence-inspiring company “brand” that ensures high-performing people want to work for you – 16.6%
– Providing a leadership and mentoring program – 16.6%
– Paying above-market rate salaries – 8.3%
– Having a defined career progression plan in place – 6.2%
– Being decisive and quick to make job offers so the high performers don’t go elsewhere – 4.1%
It is interesting that money was fourth in our respondents’ list of priorities. Perhaps this reflects the fact that it is a given that high performing people will be appropriately compensated for their contributions and competencies anyway, and that exceptional people are seeking more than just monetary reward?
Clearly working somewhere that has a gold-standard reputation as a top employer is very important, but a culture of continued learning is number one in people’s list of priorities when seeking employment opportunities, something for all organisations to bear in mind when formulating brand strategies and during recruitment exercises.
This week’s Challenge Consulting News features two articles on this topic – for your free subscription, click here …
