Picture the scene… you’ve had your budgets signed off, you’ve landed that all-important investment, and now it’s time to start that infamous recruitment drive to support your next wave of growth. It’s brilliant news, it’s exciting news, but there lies the challenge. You and everyone else.
Post-pandemic, the world has opened with even more challenges for talent acquisition teams and external recruiters alike.
Candidates now hold the power. With remote working, better work-life balance, and better salaries, they have choice. And that means more choice of jobs too. So, how do you combat this myriad of challenges and create a stand-out opportunity that is going to create intrigue and result in action? We’ve condensed that journey into 3 steps.
1. Elevation of your employee brand experience.
2. Identifying and codifying the story and purpose behind the business and team.
3. Shout about it, bring it to life, and celebrate it.
We’ve tried and tested these steps – and this combination is guaranteed to appeal to the most curious, creative, and imaginative talent.
All too often, so many ambitious, fast-growing businesses have focused on the proposition of their external-facing brand and how it will commercially deliver against the bottom line. Damn right. Otherwise, you would never have gotten to where you are now – growing rapidly and needing people to join your team.
However, we don’t get to see the culture that has made that growth possible. Suddenly, your employee brand experience is lost. It’s only been lived by the team and never translated or amplified into an external proposition, one that could support the attraction of talent. After all, where would you be without your team? That energy, drive, buzz, whatever you want to call it… The successes, the failures, the values, the collaboration – it all stems from one common purpose. But where do we talk about all of this? Does the world know what’s happening behind the scenes? How are we making this fantastic selling point known to potential candidates?
To stand out and be heard in this extremely challenging and noisy environment, you need to give your employee brand experience some welly. Take things up a notch across all the candidate touchpoints – job spec, careers site, social channels, candidate pack, interview experience – because that story is yours to own. That feeling you create, by celebrating the people behind the brand’s success, will become your hero piece (especially when everything else on offer feels the same as the next in terms of salary, benefits, the role itself…)
As a brand and people agency, we build brands from the inside out. We understand the challenges faced internally, and work with them to help to bring that story to life, externally. Everything you do comes from your people. Because, when 69% of workers are considering changing their roles in the next few months because they don’t feel valued or have a sense of belonging, the solution is simple. It’s time to supercharge your purpose and improve employee engagement. This can be your hook for those looking for their next role. Use the great resignation to your advantage by providing a feeling of value and belonging to employees and potential candidates.
Creating your story and building a purpose out of your people and their personalities can drive excitement and energy, and tie everything together. That consistent narrative has the power to be the biggest USP in your brand employee experience. The last step is to make sure you make enough noise about your story – as often, and in as many places as you can. And if you’re not sure where to start, drop us a message so we can tailor the solution to your brand, and your people.
Then, when it comes to candidates, you can ask them what they’ve learnt about you. If they talk people, purpose, and vision before salary – that’s when you’re attracting for culture and fit, not for money and status.