When it comes to recruiting, a lot of people take a clinical approach. Showcase what the job entails, write down compensation, then start waiting for resumes. This older approach may have worked, but when it comes to attracting top talent, you may be selling yourself short. Nowadays more than ever, recruitment has become another sort of marketing for the company. However, rather than selling your product or service, you’re selling your company as a good place to work. This means job seekers want to know more than the basics. They also want more insight into the company culture and their potential colleagues. With this new perspective in mind, here’s how you can attract top talent with your immigration ads in the Bay Area.
Message and Culture
As a start, just like if you were putting together a commercial or email blitz, you need to have a message and tone in mind that matches your brand. This helps candidates know what they can expect in terms of the environment when they work for you as an employee. It’s important to make sure that your brand voice stays consistent at all levels, keeping the messaging on your site in alignment with other marketing, video contents, and even their interactions with your HR team.
This is a bit of a balancing act. Yes, you want to make sure that the image you see is cohesive, but not completely uniform and flat. This can actually cut out the human elements of your brand, which you want when trying to attract talent. Of course, you need to make sure this stays compliant with PERM advertising requirements in the Bay Area.
In addition, you always want to keep your culture as a company in the back of your mind. A qualified talent may not be a good fit, and culture makes sure this issue doesn’t happen. As many as 83 percent of all millennials say they are more engaged with organizations that have an inclusive culture. Are you meeting the parameters of what they would call inclusive? If not, what changes could you make? You can’t force an employer brand. Instead, it’s a reflection of the culture you create.
On the topic of a brand, employees are going to be looking at your brand presentation from other employees before committing. From Glassdoor to social media platforms, most hirees will look at reviews and accounts from current and former employees before committing. Using these is a good way for you to develop feedback about your management style. It can’t all be positive, but if you see a regular trend of a certain issue causing issues, it may be something worth addressing. You don’t want to end up having outside impressions deterring people from applying with you.
This is part of a large trend going on when it comes to what impacts and defines brand perception lately. As many as 84 percent of people trust the recommendations of their peers above conventional advertising. This also applies to recruitment. As a result, you want to recruit people to try and help boost your brand outside of conventional means, from your regular staff to the hiring manager. Give your employees some freedom on social media to share parts of their working life publically. You can use these on your career social networks as well to create a more complete image of what it is like to work for you.
We’ve mainly talked about tech so far in terms of making it easier to showcase your company, but it also has a lot of practical benefits as well. Investing in hiring software platforms makes it easier and more efficient for prospects and management, ensuring that even if you don’t hire someone on, they have a good candidate experience.
How To Approach Candidates
If the approach we’re covering sounds a lot like reaching out to a customer, you’re not far off. More and more candidates, especially desirable ones, are treating their job searches like shopping. Not only are they looking for peer impressions, but may even leave their own about the candidate experience. This puts the pressure on companies to make sure that they are trying to put their best foot forward in this regard.
One element that carries through to candidates and potential customers is the use of storytelling. When you make that first contact, it’s essential that you provide regular, pertinent communication with them. To share the story of your company, you may link them to landing pages with video content relevant to the job roles available. Perhaps they provide testimonials from employees about their experiences. This is a unique chance to make your brand personal in a scenario that generally feels more faceless. The use of a narrative will help draw in candidates who could see themselves having similar experiences. This, in turn, brings in better cultural fits for the company.
We’ve mentioned video content a few times already. This is because multimedia and visual aspects can be more compelling than providing the same information through text. You can also take alternative routes here as well. Some companies use chatbots to help candidates get quick answers, or host online chats talking about the job roles and what they can expect. When it comes to going online, though, it’s important to make sure you are where your target candidates are. Trying to hire a CFO through Pinterest likely won’t work. Your demographics and open roles will matter a lot here, especially if you’re trying to hire in an area outside of your niche.
One thing you may not realize if you’re a larger company is that creating a better candidate experience helps the consumer brand as well. Many people have had a bad experience trying to get hired and ended up no longer using the company at all. Employer branding is a unique way for those outside your organization to understand your company mission. The audiences may be different, but you need to be consistent to see success.
