How do you attract the best talent? 9 unstoppable tactics
As a recruiter, this notorious "war for talent", which is the subject of so much ink, can be a real headache! Sometimes you find yourself at a loss when faced with the sheer volume of CVs you receive, while the quality of the profiles is not always up to scratch.
So you're wondering what you can do to attract more (and better, please) talent? To counter all these recruitment difficulties, the secret is to become an attractive company in the eyes of candidates. 🤩
Gone are the days when an advantageous salary was the only criterion of choice for a candidate. What if your field of action was wider than you thought? Today, there are other opportunities available to you to stand out from the competition and win the hearts of candidates!
We're talking about inbound recruiting, methods inspired by our marketing colleagues, which you can incorporate into your recruitment strategy without moderation.
Here's how to stop potential talent slipping through the net, thanks to these golden rules of recruitment!
# 1 - Identify your targets
... and speak to them directly! Do you want to talk to the profiles you want to recruit, seduce them, touch them right in the heart? 💘
The first objective is to get to know your recruitment targets well, so that you can clearly define the message you want to get across to them, while adopting an appropriate form of communication.
💡 Here are a few ideas to help you identify your candidate persona:
- What motivates your ideal candidate?
- What are their life goals, both professional and personal?
- What are their interests, hobbies and passions?
- What are their digital habits?
- What obstacles might they encounter in your company or field of activity?
- How important is work/life balance to them?
- What is their professional maturity and level of experience? etc.
The idea is to sound out all the aspirations and expectations of your target audience, the better to capture their attention.
☝️ If you're wondering: " How do I recruit young talent?", it's exactly the same approach: take an interest in them first and foremost, and find out what they're sensitive to! An excellent way to innovate your recruitment procedure. 🌟
# 2 - Light the flame
... to better arouse the interest of the candidates you're after. Your mission here is twofold:
- both to make them want to work with your company,
- and get them to commit to the application process.
To do this, your hr marketing department already serves your interests to a large extent by highlighting your company's vision, history, mission, as well as its products and services.
💡 Here are the levers at your disposal, to encourage them to apply:
- Communicate about the salary package: the remuneration on offer is all the more motivating, as it includes a whole range of additional benefits (days off, RTT, profit-sharing, CE, etc.).
- Unveil the working environment: give them a glimpse of what awaits them in their day-to-day work with you: a pleasant working environment, unlimited fruit, team after-work parties, a gym, but also their future colleagues.
- Work on the promise: make them dream! The missions and the company project itself must be made attractive. Rely on their motivations, as identified above. For example, if the profile you're looking for is motivated by the technical nature of the project, focus on their taste for challenge and adventure.
- Provide as much information as possible: add to your blog, add articles to your career site, be transparent about your recruitment process, etc. In short, provide targeted content. In short, provide targeted content that meets their expectations!
The vast majority of candidates search for an employer on Google before applying. By creating a tailor-made careers site for your company, you attract the attention of candidates and explain why they should apply to you.
That's where a tool like softgarden can help:
- create and personalise your careers page: be transparent and display your recruitment KPIs, so that candidates will trust you more,
- Gain visibility on Google,
- collect opinions and comments from candidates and employees and publish them on this page.
# 3 - Defend your values
... to promote your employer brand.
As you no doubt know, job applicants are increasingly aware of the major social and environmental issues. In search of meaning in their work, they want to embark on a professional adventure with ethical companies that are socially committed and concerned about the well-being of their employees. Affirm your company's positioning with communications centred on your values.
Transparency and authenticity are essential: candidates do not hesitate to find out more about your company from the various sources of information available to them: former employees, opinion and rating platforms, etc. 💯
So make sure you align your messages and actions and look after your e-reputation, a major issue in the digital age!
💡 Here are a few tips to put in place, to highlight your values:
- Create engaging videos that spread inspiration, emotion, and reveal your company's DNA;
- Use storytelling to tell the story of your brand, its raison d'être, its mission, its vision, etc. ;
- Promote key events in line with your values on social networks;
- Feed your career site with a dedicated page or content reflecting your values, etc.
# 4 - Sharpen your secret weapon
We've named your corporate culture!
Closely linked to your values, it must also be reflected in your communications: what do you have to offer the talents who are considering you?
Flexible working hours, management styles, work/life balance, emphasis on collaborative working, performance bonuses... The implicit message: "Come on, we're good!" Give an overview of everything that characterises you as a company, and which contributes to the well-being of your employees.
💡 Keep these few tips in mind:
- Taking care of your corporate culture is the best investment you can make ahead of your recruitment. To do this, start by listing the elements that make it up (the ideal time to take stock?).
- Develop your own unique tone, so that you can build a close relationship with candidates who will recognise themselves in what you have to say.
- Pay particular attention to the onboarding of your new recruits, to help them familiarise themselves with your company and... acculturate! An essential ingredient in successful recruitment. ✨
This is valid even (and even more so!) at a distance, at a time when hybrid working and dispersed teams are tending to be democratised.
# 5 - Diversify your fields of conquest
Multi-posting your job offers on as many job sites as possible is basic. But what if you thought about your candidates in the same way that your marketing colleagues think about their leads?
At that point, you open yourself up to the possibility of trying out different, offbeat, unexpected and innovative approaches. The aim is to maximise your chances? Multiply the points of contact with your recruitment targets.
Don't be afraid to get out there and see things from a new angle. What's more, you'll gain new skills!
💡 Here are a few ideas for reaching out to your ideal candidates:
- Assert your presence on social networks: define the most relevant communication channels for your target and create appointments to keep their interest ;
- Take part in professional events (networking, trade fairs, etc.), as well as cultural, humanitarian and sporting events, if your company is a partner or sponsor;
- Communicate internally: going out to find candidates also means creating links with the people in your company, and creating interaction to encourage collaborative recruitment.
Need a helping hand? Taleez is an online recruitment solution that automatically multicasts your job offers on over 70 recruitment sites and 15,000 higher education courses. It identifies the most relevant advertising sites according to your needs and maximises your chances of finding the ideal talent!
# 6 - Build on the candidate experience
... to make it memorable! Do you want to leave a lasting impression? Then the candidate experience you offer must be second to none.
Make sure your candidates have a pleasant experience during recruitment, an engaging way to start the professional relationship, which already says a lot about you!
💡 Here are some avenues to consider to improve the candidate experience:
- Define a clear and structured recruitment pathway, where each of your employees knows their role.
- Provide information throughout the process, about the job and the stages of recruitment, eliminate friction points, and reassure them.
- Personalise your exchanges with candidates as much as possible, to show that you value all applications, and be responsive in your dealings.
- Look after the online user experience: on your website, application forms, landing pages, etc. Encourage the user to carry out the desired actions in a fluid manner.
- Offer new experiences: to stand out from the crowd, you're free to use innovative recruitment techniques based on gamification, putting candidates in competition with each other, challenges, etc.
And anything else you think will leave a positive impression on your candidates!
# 7 - Protect your talent from the competition
... to attract them, but also to retain them once they've joined your company. To do this, maintain the relationship you have with them, and remain attractive to them.
In other words, to avoid your talent turning your heels in search of new adventures, make sure you provide them with benefits, but also allow them to develop and improve their skills.
💡 A few tips for retaining your talent in your organisation:
- Incorporate new challenges : to remain a source of motivation, and aim for their fulfilment at work, develop their sense of challenge... and reward their progress and successes.
- Make the most of continuous training: set up training programmes tailored to their needs and missions, to help high-potential employees progress.
- Encourage a learning culture: sharing know-how internally, co-development workshops, team learning or coaching sessions, etc. Skills can be both technical and soft skills.
# 8 - Train ambassadors
... so that their enthusiasm is contagious! What could be better than employees who themselves convey a positive image of your company?
Employee advocacy refers to employees speaking out about their company, and it's up to you to supervise this.
If your workforce is motivated and speaks up for the company, you can be sure of multiplying the impact of your recruitment campaigns!
💡A few tips along these lines:
- Highlight office life on your communication channels, and encourage positive interactions.
- Encourage your staff to become ambassadors, and even influencers on your social networks. To do this, you can define a real strategy to support this approach.
- Align your missions and your vision with the day-to-day realities experienced by your in-house teams.
# 9 - Become an icon
... so that you can attract the best talent, without having to invest any effort. Eventually, the right candidates will come looking for you!
This is the coveted Holy Grail - your reputation as a model company will have spoken before you do!
In a nutshell 📝
As with any battle, don't go to the front without proper preparation. 💪
Here, your key assets are inbound recruiting strategies. In other words, methods borrowed from marketing to be implemented outside the recruitment process.
From highlighting your corporate culture to working on your employer brand, not forgetting promoting the value of your assignments and offering advantageous working conditions, your different assets will be as many elements in the recruitment process as your employer brand.These are all elements that will create interest in and attachment to your brand among candidates from the outset.
To convince them to be part of your collective adventure... and make them want to stay!
Article translated from French