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Attracting and retaining top talent

22nd Aug 2014
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Understanding the needs and the wants of the modern job seeker is crucial for employers to attract and retain talent into their business, says Jayne Florence of Sift Talent.  

Around 80% of job seekers are in employment – this is a direct result of the recession years followed by an almost explosive growth in the job market. Permanent roles are more highly sought after than temporary and contract positions. The main reason people are looking to leave their existing position is to seek a new and stimulating challenge after years staying put during a period of economic recession/stagnation. While salary is an important factor, there is a high emphasis on work/life balance. 

The split between people who are actively seeking another role (active candidates) and those who would be interested if approached or who browse advertisements (passive candidates) is 50/50. Social networks are growing in prominence with 54% of jobseekers using them to discover opportunities.

Passive candidates do not have an up-to-date CV and are generally disengaged with the usual type of job adverts. Passive candidates can still be attracted to opportunities, however they need to be approached. Sift Talent uses a technique based on this methodology.

All areas of the UK are experiencing a huge rise in the recruitment market. So how do we attract and retain Top Talent, who can demand higher salaries in the big cities, to the more remote and rural communities?

Well one way is to make sure your Employer Brand Proposition (EBP) is on point.

Employer branding is the process of promoting a company or an organisation, as the employer of choice to a desired target group, one which a company needs and wants to recruit and retain. The process facilitates the company’s ability in attracting, recruiting and retaining ideal employees – referred to as the 'Top Talent' in recruitment – and helps secure the achievement of the company’s business plan.

If employer branding is the process, then the employer brand is the identity of a company as employer of choice. For effective employer brand promotion, however the company can only attract future employees if it has an identity that is true, credible, relevant, distinctive and aspirational. To achieve this, extensive research needs to be conducted, so as to ensure the employer’s identity addresses the demands of top talent (as well as top management!).

Establishing an appealing internal and external employer image, therefore, necessitates the understanding of both the talent’s and the company’s needs and wants. What are the talent’s career expectations, and what are the company’s strategic objectives?

After gathering the information the company can then start to define its unique identity.

What makes it an exceptional employer? In the employer branding discipline, this is known as the Employer Value Proposition (EVP). In essence the EVP is the unique employer offerings which are considered valuable to the top talent.

So to attract and retain top talent the EBP has to be just right.

But what if we are restrained by our location?

Does this role need to be 100% of the time in the office? Now is the time to re assess the total package on offer. The virtual workforce is becoming more and more acceptable and certainly with the cloud ensuring accessibility it may be time to reconsider options.

The virtual workforce is becoming stronger and stronger and actually can increase efficiency. GOTO Meeting, Skype and Google Hangouts are all enablers allowing the day-to-day  activities to continue seamlessly.

Perhaps the solution is a flexible working arrangement, combining the two work environments. The opportunity has to be interesting: Consider what more can be added to the role which will make it more attractive, define career progress and exposure to new environments, describe working processes and of course the opportunity to be mentored by experts. Spotlight your areas of expertise.

The market has changed and top talent can afford to be choosy after so many years of sitting tight and putting up with second rate working practice, lack of career progression and salary caps.

Once you have attracted the top talent think about how to present your company and what you are offering, see previous (EBP), think about your interviewing techniques and what you have to do to engage them. Now more then ever the company is being interviewed as well as the individual. You have to sell the opportunity to them if you really want them.

Look at new interviewing techniques which are in the market and don’t assume that it has worked before…the stakes are now higher,  you need the top talent to take advantage of the current explosion in the market place and to increase your bottom line.

For further insight and advice on any of the above please contact me at Sift Talent.

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