Winning the competition for talent

We can’t attract enough job applicants despite active, sometimes proactive measures, like joining job fairs and campus recruitment. How do we correct the situation? — Blue Moon.

​Take it this way, if the employees are unhappy, they become your worst recruiters. And that leads to pressuring recruitment to post a cycle of job ads. That’s the root cause of your situation.

​Knowing that, you must turn to non-traditional ways of attracting applicants. I’m not saying you should discard job fairs or campus recruitment; however, before doing that, you must be fully armed with a package that includes flexible work hours, career progression paths, and mentoring programs.

​Start by looking at your company’s human resources (HR) policies and practices to discover employee sentiments. Focus on complaints like poor pay and perks, but also management toxicity. 

​This can be discovered through a proactive two-way communication process that includes an annual anonymous satisfaction survey, quarterly town hall meetings, monthly department meetings, and periodic one-on-one dialogue. Don’t rely on exit interviews. They’re too late and too little. Rather, try a serious, casual “stay” interview.

​Even the maintenance of a suggestion program and problem-solving teams (like quality circles) can help you understand employee morale by asking the following questions: How many ideas, suggestions, even complaints are you receiving, say every month? How anxious are your people to help the organization define and solve those minor issues that make their work difficult? What’s the acceptance rate of these ideas to management? 

​Another important thing. Be aware of what your employees are saying (anonymously) on social media. I’ve read many horror stories being told, many of them directed against the incompetence of HR. ​

EMPLOYER BRANDING
Once internal issues are fully addressed, the next step is to communicate your value. While traditionally HR and Marketing live on opposite ends of the corporate hallway, you can fuse them in a specialized field called Employer Branding or Recruitment Marketing. The basic idea is very simple. Treat your workers as special customers and show real-life examples.

​This philosophy is best described by Doug Conant, former CEO of the Campbell Soup Company, when he said: “To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.”

​He argued that if employees don’t feel valued or engaged, they cannot deliver the level of excellence required to beat the competition.

​So, how are you going to do Employer Branding? Rather than just posting job ads everywhere and waiting, HR should use marketing tactics to “sell” the company culture and what it has to offer. Again, you don’t have to compete by offering big salaries as you may not have the capacity to do it, although it helps a lot. 

​Instead, focus on what your company can provide in terms of excellent training opportunities, coaching styles that may not be found in other industries, and a warm, positive work environment which, are the goals of young people. Take a hard look at the following:

​One, define your employer value proposition. Why should applicants take a chance on your organization. You can do that by promoting your unique character just like what other marketers do in selling their products to customers. 

​Two, create the best social media content. This includes posting photos and videos of employee celebrations. Showcase employee milestones in achievers’ conferences, monthly awards and related celebrations that don’t sound like a dry, hard sell.

​Three, map the candidates’ application journey. Make it easy for applicants to send their applications via an upload system. Analyze the process by the drop rate. If they’re called in for interviews, how many don’t show up.

​Four, develop employee brand ambassadors. Choose a group of cooperative, happy employees who are fully engaged to tell their stories on social media. If they’re successful in attracting an X number of candidates, give them reasonable rewards.

LEAN HR
​In the bloody war for talent, the “Post and Pray” style of recruitment is dead. Organizations must understand, that a bad reputation on social media and elsewhere is a serious concern that needs to be corrected right away.

​All hands must be on deck with all HR personnel performing the task as employer brand ambassadors, talent brand leads, recruitment marketing specialists, employee relations managers, and people communications strategists.

​You don’t have to create new positions for those because everyone in HR can do the job by incorporating these tasks in their key performance indicators.

​Remember, if the internal culture is broken, no amount of clever marketing will keep people from resigning, leading to a never-ending cycle of job ads. You could make employees happy by practicing Lean HR — like making HR processes easy to comply with.

​It’s an inexpensive way of keeping employees happy and productive. In the competition for talent, your culture and your employers are your strongest recruiters that no glossy brochure can match.

Consult Rey Elbo for free insights on people management. Send your workplace questions to [email protected] or DM him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X or .