Unlocking Success: Mastering Talent Acquisition Triumph
I’m not sure I’ve ever met a business owner who particularly enjoys recruiting.
It’s time consuming, expensive, and let’s face it. It’s a tough gig.
In some studies, such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), they predict that every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs 6 to 9 months' salary on average so it pay’s to get it right.
Not only that, being effective at hiring great people is crucial for several reasons.
Effective recruitment strategies help you attract the top talent you need to drive your business forward.
A talented workforce puts you well ahead of your competition.
Skilled and motivated people will help you achieve your business objectives and will drive your overall business performance and success.
Hiring people with diverse backgrounds and experiences will enable you to stimulate creativity and problem solving which drives innovation.
Hiring people who are a great fit for your culture and values adds to an overall positive work environment, feeding the engagement of everyone and creating an amazing place to work.
With all of this going for it then, why do some businesses panic, hire too quickly and then spend the next few months working out how to get rid of the person they recruited, all the while pointing the finger of blame at the person who “can’t do the job”? …and find themselves back at square one all over again?
Sigh.
A bad hire is worse than no hire.
Believe me, I totally understand. When you’re in a small business and you are a person down, it’s a BIG DEAL. The impact on the wider team of increased workload alone means you may be tempted more than you should be to press the “hire” button.
And in a world where there doesn’t seem to be ANYONE out there, when someone eventually comes along who has a pulse and most of their teeth, then what’s the worst that can happen, right?
Well, actually a lot of bad things can happen, but we won’t go down that rabbit hole today.
Instead, here are our top tips on what you can do to put your best talent cquisition hat on. And if all else fails, go and talk to Rob Griffiths at Blue Orchid Recruitment, because he’s just ace.
Create a compelling job description and job advert. And no, they are not the same thing.
Your job description is not your advert. No-one is inspired to apply for a job with you when you’ve simply listed out a to-do list. Worse still, great candidates may opt out of applying if there are things on that list they haven’t done before.
Listen, of course there are various technical elements that people need to be competent in for a lot of roles, but if we aren’t talking brain surgery then consider how much can be developed on the job, and really what we want is a fit on Values. You can teach technical way more easily than attitudes and behaviours.
Find your candidates where they are.
Your marketing team know where to look for your customers… so where can you find your candidates? Where are they on social media? Industry publications? Toilet doors? Think outside the box to get yourself in front of the people you are looking for.
Sure, we love to scroll through reams of CVs on CV Library or LinkedIn, but if you can get closer to your target audience, do it!
Values based recruitment - every time.
Showcase your culture. Talk about your values. These are the things that will put the fire in people’s bellies and make them want to come and work for you. All that great stuff you do around your charity work? Talk about it. All the wonderful perks and benefits that really drive your culture? Talk about it. More and more people are looking to work at places that are ethical, that carry out social responsibility, that care about their impact on the world - these are the places people want to work.
Know your values, talk about them in your recruitment, and people will self select in (or out). Huzzah!
Improve your process.
Don’t drag your feet or create a recruitment process that takes weeks and weeks to get through or a system that asks for a candidate to provide you with five copies of War and Peace and an entire history of their life just to apply. Act quickly, value the time that people are giving you. They won’t hang around forever so if you’re stuck with a decision making process that can’t be done in a day or two, don’t cry if all the best candidates get snapped up.
Give them a great experience and feedback.
If someone has interviewed with you and they didn’t get the job, don’t palm them off with something wishy washy. They may have taken a day of annual leave to come and see you. The least you can do is give them something useful. Feedback, that will help them in the future land another role is great. Canva give rejected candidates access to a Premium membership. That’s nice. Ghosting people or simply telling them there was a better person on the day is rubbish.
Effective talent acquisition is essential for organisations to access top talent, gain a competitive advantage, drive business growth and success, foster innovation and creativity, enhance employee engagement and retention, and achieve cost savings.
Yes, it’s tough out there, and these are really important things to be doing under what are often extremely stressful and time constrained situations… but it is a strategic priority that requires careful planning, investment, and execution to ensure long-term success and sustainability.
If anything I’ve listed above came as a bit of a shock, get in touch! We can definitely help raise your recruiting game!