If someone asked you to create a recipe for business success, you would likely include “ingredients” such as capital, products/services and customers. But there’s one you might overlook, and it’s possibly the most important of all: employees. Good ones help to make your business great, while bad ones can quickly destroy it. For this reason, you should obviously put as many resources into finding the best professionals as you do to meeting the needs of your customers. But attracting top talent is about more than a competitive salary and benefits offer (though that can help). If you want the cream of the crop to seek your employment, give the following a try.
1. Build the right company culture.
Today’s professionals are concerned with more than collecting a regular paycheck and keeping their noses to the grindstone until it’s time to retire. They want to do meaningful work at an organization that values, nurtures and celebrates its employees while making a difference in the community and world at large. Integrate these key factors into your company culture, and your business will instantly become more attractive to job candidates.
2.See the forest rather than focusing on the trees.
Sure, every employer wants to hire professionals with years of experience who can jump right into the job without the need for additional training. But focusing on these candidates alone may be causing you to miss equally—or even more—valuable candidates. The next time you need to fill a position, expand the pool by considering trainable applicants with great attitudes, passion and dedication.
3. Let your current employees do the legwork.
Study after study has shown that workers who are hired through employee referrals are a better cultural fit as well as remain with their new employer for longer than professionals hired through other sources do. As the old saying goes, “birds of a feather flock together” so tap your best employees for recruiting suggestions. They’re likely to know equally talented professionals who may be interested in joining your team.
4. Emphasize flexibility.
As mentioned earlier, the desires of American workers are shifting. As Baby Boomers approach retirement, and more professionals from the Millennial Generation enter the workforce, flexibility has become as—if not more—important as salary. If you want to attract the best job candidates, you need to offer flexible work hours, remote work opportunities, perhaps even unlimited PTO to be successful.
5. Illuminate their career path.
It takes time for an entry-level worker to rise through the ranks at virtually any organization. However, today’s professionals—especially the younger generation—are forward-focused. Unless you can clearly show them that there will be internal opportunities for growth and advancement, should they choose to work for you, you’ll never capture the interest of the best job candidates.
Keep in mind finding the best job candidates is only part of a successful hiring process.
If you want to ensure you’re making the right choice for your business, you need to incorporate an effective employment background screening background screening program. Whether you choose to conduct background checks in-house or outsource criminal history, credit history, credential and reference enquiries, use these pre-employment tools to build the best possible team while safeguarding your company.