The most talented employees do the most and best work but many businesses fail at finding and retaining them.
But why is talent important and valuable to any business?
According to the book Leading Organizations by McKinsey senior partners; Scott Keller and Mary Meaney, superior talent is up to eight times more productive. Some studies have found that high performing workers are more productive than mediocre or average ones.
In the world of business, talent has a high value, and it is a rare part of your business investment. Having a highly talented workforce can create big opportunities for companies that get it right.
Here are 8 ways to get the right and best talent for you
- It’s in the details
When you want to find the right talent or employee candidate, you have to start with a detailed job description. Don’t follow the generic template that’s floating around everywhere and put in information about the job and your company that’s important.
You can make your job posting interesting for the right candidate by adding in short descriptions of a typical day in your company, why they should work for you, and the person in charge of recruitment so, that if they have any questions they know who to ask. You can also insert short videos about the company or the job description to make it more appealing.
- Breaking the “I don’t know you” barrier
Get to know your applicants. Create a list of questions that you can ask your potential employees upfront. This can make your pre-screening a more effective step. Your recruitment officers or hiring managers can also request for additional information such as portfolios, recommendations, and certifications to shortlist the right potential for your business.
It is important to note that asking vague or generalized questions may not potentially help your pre-screening process so, it would be a better idea if the questions asked by your hiring managers or recruitment officers were more specific, for you to gauge how a potential employee would perform in a real-life situation within your business.
- Perk it up
Big companies like Facebook and Google are dream companies for a lot of people looking for a job. Because their work culture and environment is highly favorable. They have a lot to offer job seekers such as a buffet meal, health insurance, incentives and allowances and so much more.
For your business to be competitive in the talent-acquisition market you need to offer perks that will attract the right candidates for you. Consider what you can give that job seeker that your other competitors can’t. Make your offer appealing and hard to decline for any job-seeker.
- Flexibility
In this modern-day generation, most employees are looking for a company where their work-life doesn’t seep into their personal life. They are looking for that work-and-life balance.
Give your potential candidates options like; weekly offs, work from home options or even special birthday leaves. A degree of flexibility with your employee’s freedom can give them a sense of rejuvenation otherwise you would blend in with the other traditional business that only provides the monotonous 9-5 work environment. This means you need to stray away from the generic and conventional working standards. Be different and flexible with the options you provide your candidates and current employees.
- Spread the message
As part of your talent acquisition strategy, you must spread the message for your potential candidates on the right platform. Meaning if the candidates that you are looking for have little to no presence on the social platform that you are promoting the job position on then there would be no way that you can get the right applicants.
You will need to monitor closely hashtags, blogs, tweets, and other industry-related topics and social media outlets to take note of where your right candidates have the highest social activity. You have to prepare this analysis before you promote your job description for you to include it in the acquisition strategy. In summary, you need to find the right social platform and target the correct audience as part of your overall recruitment strategy.
- Aligning of Values and culture
This is one of the most important steps in recruiting the right talent for your business. Your hiring officers should create a recruitment strategy where the candidates they are recruiting can align themselves with the values and culture of your company. The candidates they find should resonate with the values of your business. The reason why this is vital for any talent acquisition strategy is that if the values are not aligned between you and the candidate it will eventually lead to poor performance results.
Your hiring officers should analyze and research highly potential candidates with knowledge, work background, and passion for the industry your business is operating in. This is a basic step but has a highly impactful way of attracting a good match for your company. The candidates aligned with your business culture and values will most likely be a high-performing worker and will greatly contribute to your business success.
Shivendra helps construction companies and contractors win more projects and grow profitably. Regarded as a master of practical implementation, Shivendra has guided organizations such as Downer and Siemens as well as smaller contractors to achieve double-digit improvements to their bottom line. Underpinning his extensive industry experience are qualifications in engineering and a Ph.D. focused on rapid cost improvement techniques. He is the author of two books, The Competitive Contractor and From Paper to Profit, host of the Competetive Contractor podcast, and the founder of Shivendra & Co and The Constructors Network. You can find more about Shivendra & Co at www.shivendra.com.