If you’re a CEO, entrepreneur, recruiter, or hiring manager, you know how important it is to hire the right people for the right roles. But hiring the right people for the right roles goes way beyond simply attracting “the best and brightest” of your industry. Just because someone is highly qualified, great at what they do and has impressive experience, doesn’t mean they are a good fit for your organization or your culture. If you want your business to thrive in the marketplace, you need to filter out potential employees who may not be a great fit for your organization and attract those who are the most likely to thrive. Here are three ways to attract potential employees who are more likely to fall in love with your brand.
Give candidates a realistic job preview
According to LinkedIn, the biggest concern candidates experience when searching for a job is not knowing what it’s really like to work at an organization before they apply. If you truly want to give candidates a transparent look at your organization, including the not-so-glamorous side of the role they are applying for, consider adopting Realistic Job Previews as part of your recruitment strategy. Realistic Job Previews (RJPs), as the name suggests, are designed to give candidates a realistic peek behind the curtains of the role they are applying for so they can make well-informed decisions on whether the job is one which they will love and thrive in.
Some companies, like Boston Consulting Group, allow candidates to take a 3D tour of the company and to register for a job simulation. Other companies, such as Marriott, use gamification to give candidates the opportunity to perform the digital equivalents of the tasks they would perform on the job if they are successful in their application. This gives candidates a close approximation of the difficulty level of the jobs they are applying for and can help them decide whether the job they are applying for is a good fit for them.
If you simply don’t have the budget for these high-tech solutions, an effective low-tech alternative may be to simply allow candidates applying for a job at your organization to spend an entire day in your workplace shadowing team members in the department they are applying to be a part of and speaking with any of your team members individually or in groups—unsupervised and without any intervention or interruption by any member of our leadership team.
This allows candidates the opportunity to have a truly unfiltered and uncensored view of your business from the perspective of employees without management running interference. Candidates who like what they see will be more likely to apply for (and love) a role at your organization, while those who don’t will look elsewhere for employment (saving you valuable time and money). This is RJP in its purest and most transparent form.
Don’t worry too much about scaring off candidates with the truth, because when you stop and think about it, if they join your team, it won’t be long before they see both your strengths and weaknesses for themselves. It’s much better to be upfront with candidates so they can make an informed choice rather than to hide the truth and have your new employees quit after a few months, weeks, or days after they experience your culture for themselves!
Articulate an inspiring purpose
Research by Gallup shows that employees with a strong sense of purpose in the workplace are 5.6 times as likely to be engaged in their jobs compared to those with a low sense of purpose. And research conducted by McKinsey indicated that 82% of employees believe it’s important for their company to have a purpose. That’s why it’s important to carefully articulate your purpose in a way that inspires potential employees who are aligned with your purpose to want to work with you.
If your purpose is, for example, to help alleviate poverty, it will attract individuals who love the idea of helping people improve their quality of life. If your purpose is to create technologically advanced products that improve the lives of customers, that purpose will help attract individuals who genuinely love being involved in the process of technological innovation. And, if your purpose is to help preserve the environment, you will attract employees who are passionate about conserving natural habitats.
If your company doesn’t have a thoughtfully articulated and documented purpose, take the time to do so right away—it just might help you to attract individuals who will love working at your organization.
Demonstrate that you value career development
If you want your employees to love your organization, let them know upfront what career opportunities they may be eligible for across the organization beyond the role for which they are applying. Deloitte’s Explore Your Fit initiative does a good job of this by using technology that allows candidates to answer a series of questions about themselves, their experience, and their interests. Based on the responses, Deloitte will provide candidates with a custom digital guide to help them navigate career opportunities within their fit area.
If you prefer a more personal touch, have a conversation with candidates that includes a review of your organizational chart, and what positions they may be eligible for if they excel at the position they are currently applying for—especially if your company has a history of promoting from within the organization. Some companies that value career development have even been known to create custom positions for high performers they want to retain even after they have outgrown the positions they originally applied for—something you may want to consider if you want to ensure that you retain your top talent, even in roles you may not have previously envisioned.
When employers demonstrate that they value career development, candidates are more likely to have confidence that their work will be meaningful and lead to future opportunities within the organization—helping them make a more informed decision and more likely to fall in love with the jobs they have applied for.
Of course, there are several other ways to attract employees who will love working for your organization, but these three activities are an excellent way to start the process of having potential employees who will fall in love with their roles in your organization.